The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-14 00:00:00

DIVIDENDS.

March 5, R. and M. Stodart, Strand, booksellers—March 5,
W. T. heath, Cushion-court, Broad-street, merchant—March
8, W. M‘Gowan, Newark, Nottinghamshire, tea-dealer—
March 14, J. Gilpin, Westbury, Wiltshire, surgeon—March
9, J. Woodward, Banbury, Oxfordshire, upholstcrer-3larch
11, W. W. Bromige, Hartlebury, Worcestershire, tailor—
March 10, G. Lyall, North Weis, merchant—March 5, J.
Bigsby, Deptford, brewer—March 7, J. Troughton, C. A.
Newcomb, and .1. and B. Truughton, Coventry, bankers.
CERTIFICATES, MARcu 5.
T. Birch, liroseley, Shropshire, iron-master—W. Batcher,
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, grocer—G. Capon, Oxford-
street, upholsterer—W. Forbes, Gateshead, Durham; nursery-
man—W. Stevens, Alphington and Hevytree, Devonshire,
builder=-C. Pearson, Grosvenor-place, Surrey, grocer—J. G.
Rose, Brompton, dealer—J. Levy, Smith's-buildings, Good-
man's4ields' feather-merchant—j. Thomas, Piccadilly, draper
—J. Brook,Clioppard's-in-Wooldale, Yorkshire, clothier.
PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED.

E. and W. Mayle, Bedford, auctioneers--E.}ind 11. Mayle,
Bedford, grocers—G. Thornton and R. Cogswell, Manchester
and Sowerby-Bridge, common-brewers—H. and E. Tootal, J.
Broadhurst, F. Marris, It Henson, and 1). Broadhurst, Man-
chester, silk-merchants—T. Brittain and S. Shufflebotham,
Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, hat-manufacturers--C.
and T. S. Donne, Castle-Cary, Somersetshire, flax and
cotton-spinners--B. Taylor and B. Grocock, Oldham, cotton-
spinners—R. Helm and J. Withnall, Heaton-Norris, and .1.
Beaumont, Salford, Lancashire, machine-makers—S. and R.
Thom pson,H artshorne-Pottery,D erbysit i re, earthenware manu-
facturers—R. Anderton and T. Hoyle, Manchester, dealers in
calicoes—H. Ilartop, J., J., J., and H. Sorby, and .1. Little-
wood; Milton Iron Works, Yorkshire, iron-masters—W. Shel-
ley and J. Shaw, Lane End, Staffordshire, manufacturers of
earth en w are—C. Trimmer and H.Hunt, jun. Liverpool, dealers
in roasted corn—H. illeeski and G. Sherborn, St.Jarnes's-
square, tailors—D. Lonsdale and .1. Green, Manchester, cot-
ton-spinners—E. and T. Reed, Cookham, Berkshire, plumbers
_W. Parkes and E. Tonkinson; Birmingham, plane-makers
—R. Stevens, Layton, Essex, and W. Richards, New City
Chambers, arbitrators—S. and G. T. Brown, Mark-lane, sack-
makers—R. 11. Bousfield and J. Woodfield, Manchester, ea-
landerers,

PRICE SEVENPENC E.

FOR THE SUN.

ON THE FEES OF CORONERS.

~:
MR. EDITOR—The Pre'ss being unquestionably
the most efficient channel for laying our sentiments before the
world, and of eliciting, to a certain degree, the opinions' of public
men upon all proposed measures of State-policy, I shall make
little apoliagy Sir, (because of your well-known readiness to
open your columns pro bona public()) for troubling you with
the following observations upon a subject which, to: my appre-
hension, isof some importance—connected as it is with the
public security, and the administration of tilt laws of this great
and enlightened country. The Grand Council of the Nation
,having just assembled, for the constitutional purpose of-amend-
ing the LaWs, is an additional motive for my taking up the
pen,'—because What I am about to offer is, in a main degree,
addressed direetly to the Members of the Legislature.
The office of CORONER, the reader must be aware, forms a
distinguishing branch of the popitlar part of the British Consti-
tution, and is recommended to us alike by its high antiquity
and its great utility. The individual filling it is a Magistrate
at common law, and takes rank in the county next to the High
Sheriff; nay more, he is not unfrequently called upon to be the
locum fenens of that dignitary, and to discharge de ,into his
functions upon particular occasions. How such an individual
ought to be qualified I shall not just now take upon me to
decide; but this I will say, the slender scale of remune-
ration which the law accords to the Coroner, may be a
reason why improper persons, as to qualification, might get
appointed. This - ought not to be a possible case in a
trust of such great public responsibility. But it is notorious
there is not- an office-bearer under the Crown who is so very
inadequately rewarded for the services he. renders the State ai
the Coroner. The Coroner has to. perform an equally labori-
ous and irksome duty; he is called frOm home at a moment's
warning, and undertakes a journey of perhaps 50 miles, or up-
wards, which may occasion him to be absent from his family .
two, three, or even four days : And the very maximum of his
fees in such a case is sixty shillings, or three pounds ! a re-
muneration totally inadequate to indemnify him for his
necessary expences, upon the most moderate scale, without
taking into account the time lost in his own private business,
(for most of the Coroners are professional men.)—And, in point
of fact, it must be sufficiently obvious that individuals of this
class are, by education and legal experience, best fitted to dis-
charge the (in many instances) highly important and intricats
duties of the office. Under such circumstances it were a waste
of words to do more than point out the paramount necessity
there is for confiding this responsible office to men of
competent attainments ; in other words, to Gentlemen
of respectibility, whose condition and place in society itt
once offer a pledge for the correct fulfilment of their official
duty. But can it be expected that such individuals, as
are here alluded to will subject themselves to the toil
and privation incident to the office in question, for the conside-
ration of the truly paltry fees the county at present pays them ?
By no means. At the early period of the creation of this office
Many centuries ago, we have no certain knowledge as to what con-
stitutes the honorarium or fees annexed to it ;but there is ample
reason to believe, that the emolument accruing to the Coroner was
far from inconsiderable, if we may institute as a comparison the,
current value of money in the time of Henry VII., when the
first legislative enactment took place to regulate the Coroners'
fees, with the value of money at the present day. And it must
not pass unnoticed, that there has been no increase of fees since
that period, except what took place in the 25th year of the
reign of George 11., when newly Shillings were allowed for
each inquisition taken, and Nine pence per mile for the distance
travelled from home ; which fees, by the way, are the identica:
fees now paid to the Coroner out of the county rates. How
it happened that the very judicious Bill which 'Mr.
Mellish brOnght into Parliament in 1816, having for its
object an augmented remuneration to the Coroner, ultimately
miscarried in the Lords, I cannot take upon me precisely to
state, though, as well as my memory serves me, T would say-
its fate was unfortunately the result of the casting vote in
the House of Lords, on a very thin attendance of Peers, at
the third reading. lam free to declare, however, that Ido
not think the Legislature could be more usefully employed than
in taking into Consideration, with a view to amend the parti-
cular Statute which regulates the Coroners' fees, in the man-
ner above stated. The increased population of the country,
and what is, unfortunately, ' a concomitant, the increase
of crime, render the office of Coroner a very different thing
from what it was 70 or 80 years ago. It must be the conces-
sion of every candid mind, that a fair equivalent ought to be
given to the Coroner, as a proper incitement to a diligent and
efficient discharge of his duty—a duty by no means light or
inconsequential, when we consider it in its full extent and com-
prehensiveness. Indeed, when we view the office, as we ought
to view it, as presenting one of the most effectual checks to as-
sassination, and as connected with the preservation of general
tranquillity, there is no jurisdiction in the empire more justly-
entitled to the favourable regards of the Legislature. But
what are the facts ? As the case stands at present, the very
clerks of Government,Surveyors receive, for the performance
r of a mere mechanical service, thrice the amount of salary paid
to the Coroner of the County ! proh pv.dor ! Is this fans—is
this just? Is it not rather a deep reflexion on the country, that
a public officer, of the dignity of the Coroner, should have his
fees doled out to him in such a way that he is actually a loser,
at the same time that the Statute-Book professes to remunerate
, him for his labours

..—..-. ...........___
The Ministry of the present day, all parties admit, are pur-
suing a most liberal and enlightened career ; their Administration,
in fact, is one alike honourable to themselves and to , the coun-
try. But engaged as they are in matters of. finance, and the
details of Government, it were too much to expect that they are
to originate every measure for the improvement of the country.
Why do we send Members to Parliament but for the express
purpose of making known our wants, and to modify the laws.
according to existing circumstances ? Let then some inde-
pendent Senator bestir himself in a cause which, he may rest
assured, will not diminish his popularity. A general electionb
cannot be far distant; and I mistgke egregiously
foundfriend
friends,
possess
Coronersstsheessno smano
ifntiue
nCounties,ee in inre t conjunction,ir
ni
returning
r the i theirfl:i•itthe "
Members.t
ena them to
Suppose, therefore, (and I would strongly 0,
it a sine qua non with the canvassing. ca
to an enhanced scale of
advocate In Parliament their just claimsdoubt whatever of the etli-
do so), that the body of Coroners througnieitacttient,etchoautnhteryshmoauckeld
remuneration. In this case I have no
ed that a suitable augmentation tlhefeetleesstroonfglihpeseersuvaerdy.
useful public officers would g p :faction to the country
cacy of the measure ; and, what is mstoaortei
- wt. justice to reward such indi-
generally, because it is an
actsaome time, by making them truly
respectable, you offer the highest inducement to a correct and
viduals properly ; while at tle
attach to the office. I take y
a Charta, most earnestly recommending
phasic words of ilfax;:n.
n of the Legislature —,
them to the consideratio
njmllS, NIJLLI DIFFEREMUS JVSTITIADE.
diligent fulfilment of th_e stneriotilesavaenfdor itmhepoprrteasnetntti,uitnietshwe hen
Nut.r.t NEOA -
PATRIOT US.
N........,, tith Feb. 1825.

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