The Sun.
London, England, 1822-10-12 00:00:00

place, and of this your Committee.cannot but express their dis-
approbation. The grants to the Corporation, conveying an
authdrity to levy money from the subject, were evidently in-
tended for the public service, and not to be converted into a
epurce of
.priv.atO emolument,
There is anbthei descriptidn of lights, of which the patents
have also ,been -produced to your Committee e the erection of
whichhave. been, at different tunes, assigned to individuals by
the CrOwn, and the power of collecting dues at the 'same tune
granted to them, under the
.obligation of erecting and maintain-
ing• such lights ; the lights at Dungeness, Harwich, Wynter-
ton; Otford, Spurn, Skerries, and Tynemouelt, are those
ed to. Your Committee have not before them, accounts of the .
receipt and expenditure of each .of 7 these lights ; as however,
the rates are not lower than of those under the immediate Ma.-
nagement of the Corporation Of Trinity House, and the ex-.
pences attending them, not, apparently larger, they have ,no'
reason to believe, that the income does not exceed the necessary
expenditure, in the same degree. that it does in the various
other. lights referred to, and that great. incomes are de-
rived _from them, and enjoy by individuals, at the expence
of the shipping of the country. By a reference to the patents
granted for erecting them, it appears that some have re-
cently expired, which your Committee understand have been
renewed for further. periods, on new conditions ; and others
will expire in the course of a few years, which will then fall in-
to the hands of the Crown. Impressed with an opinion thatmuch.
advantage would arise, from the Lights being generally-placed'
under the Trinity House, your Committee feel it incumbent
upon them to suggest, in such an event, that on the expiration.
of the terms, the patents in question, instead of being renewed
to individuals, should be transferred to the Corporation,and the
Lights made subject to the same conditions, and placed in every
respect on the same footing as the other lights under . its ma-
nagement. Your Committee also, strongly convinced that
public convenience would be greatly promoted by the whole of
the Light Duties payable in London,. being in future collected
in one and the same office, recommend it to the proprietors of
the private lights, and of the lights which have been let on,
lease, and also to the Commissioners for the Northern Lights
and Trustees of Greenwich Hospital, to authorise the collec-
• tions of all the dues of the said several lights by the Trinity
Corporation, at their house on Tower-hill, allowing 2j,; per cent.
for the collection, and accounting with them for the proceeds
respectively, at stated period's.
Your Committee now proceed to submit such suggestions as
they believe may usefully be adopted by the Trinity House,
with a few to affording; some relief to the shipping, at present
highly desirable ; =din doing this, they trust it will appear
they. have, in no case, lost sight of what is either necessary for
the maintenance of the establishments connected with the public
service; the remuneration of the members of the Trinity Cor-
poration, for theiluties performed by them, or the attention due to
the objects of their charities. On the other hand, they have to
hope, that having regard to these necessary imposes, they shall
notappear to have .recommended the continuance of such an
amountof charge on the shipping of this country, or of foreigner,
as may notbe fully warranted by the objects for which it is in:
tended to provide. •
'With respect to the Ballastage department; yotir Committee
hits already adverted to it ; nor does any alteration appear re-
quisite, but that of reducing the expense of the establishment,
and the equalisation of the rates, under the condition stated in
-respect-ter the charge en British and Foreign ship.
• The surplus pilotage yottr Committee have also adverted to,
on this their reconimendatienn confines_ itself to the reduction
of the expense of collecting it where it is necessarily continued,
and the total reduction of it in all cases in which a foreign
powersliall consent, and actually es:tend
.to the British ship
the same advantages in the pert* of the country, In respect to
'the payenent of charges, as are afforded to the native shipping.
With respect to ;the Trinity dues, which are so complicated
and various, it would be desirable that. they should lie hence-
forth consolidated, aml, one charge made under that head, for
buoyage, beacOnage ldaihnanege, and primage. That the
tate in future Shouldle.eetablished on all British and oversee
traders and foreign cosec's, (in the, condition above stated, en-
tering and 'departing from the port of London, at one penny
per ton, accordini to their registered. tonnage : such duties to
be received at therrinityehouse or.Cdstom-house, and applied
according to the tanottr of the charteree grants, and,' acts ,of
Parliament, to the maintenance and repair of buoys and bee,'
eons, and the StirpluS to the increase of the charity funds of
Corporation. • . •
Referring to the general state of the accounts of the Trinity-
house, your Committee see no advantage frotri so.' large a ba-
lance of cash remaining in the hands of the Secretary, from
which an annual profit of 5001. is derived, and therefore sub-
mit that if should be discontinued ; conceiving the use of pub,
lie balances to be the worst form in Which remuneration for
public services can be made. And, in addition to the reduc-
tions mentioned, they. have ferther to recommend, that the ac-
counts of. .this.body, in the same manner as those of the Irish
and Northern Light Commissioners, and Liverpool Light-
houses, Ramsgate and Dover Harbour, shmild, in - a detailed
manner, be annually laid before Parliament, within six weeks
after the commencement Of each session.
It has been represented to your Committee, that a great in-
convenience and dissatisfaction arises from the variety of rates
levied-for different lights, and that great advantage would be
the consequence of an equal rate, and the charge being the same
foi each light (with an addition for the floating lights,) on all
vessels passing them, according to their respective descriptions,
staking the charge on what are termed over-sea traders, double
the charge on coasters and Irish traders ; foreign vessels to be
chargeable at the same rate as over-sea traders, except in cases
where British ships shall not, in respect of charges, be placed
upon- a footing of reciprocity in the ports of such countries to
which such foreign vessels may respectively belong ; in which
cases, the charge on the foreign ship to be double in amount of
that on the British. That the charges on all over-sea traders for
_light duties, shall in future be one farthing per ton, and on
coasters and Irish trailers one-eighth of a penny per ton, being
a diminution of full one half of the present rates ; and that the
ships importing coals and cuhn from Wales, should be in this
respect put on the same footing as those importing them from
'the ports of Northumberland and Dtirbam.
.The expences of maintaining the floating lights being parti-
cularly heavy, your Committee propose that an extra charge of
one farthing per ton should be made upon all British over-sea
traders and foreign vessels passing the same, the latteisubject
to the conditions before expresSed, and no charge for light du.:
ties in any case to be made, either prospectively or retrospec-
tively, but confined to the particular voyage either out or home
in which the vessel may be engaged.
Al calculation of the receipt according to that principle has
been made, to which hasleeen added a statement of the view
according to which your Committee recommend the whole of
the receipt, disbursement, and expenditure of the Corporation
of the Trinity House should in future be regulated; subject at
all times to future revision, when the charitable disbursement
shall have been reduced in the manner hereinafter proposed,
within the amount of the funds directed by the authority either
of acts or charters, to be applied to such disbursements. The
calculation annexed to this Report has been, made upon such a
scale as to afford, ample means for the maintenance of the
lights : leaving such a surplus as would. not only be suffi-
cient to satisfy the present amount of charitable appropria-
ea on, but providing a liberal fund for the various esta-
blishments under the Trinity House, and the contingencies
belonging to them, as well as a fair remuneration for the various
services of management and supervision performed by the act-
ing elder brethren, ,and the officers of the corporation. It
'proceeds on-the supposition, that the vacancies occasioned by
death among the pensioners. dependent on these charities shall
not be filled up, until the demands for them are reduced within
the amount of the produce of duties strictly applicable to the
`relief of poor mariners, iSed. being about 16,0001. per annum,
and that, the surplus fund shall be allowed progressively to in-
crease, until it shall have attained such an amount as may af-
ford to the public a further reduction of the light dues, and
other dues now payable to the Corporation, and assist them in
the Means of purchasing the interests of individuals in the pri-
vatelights, and in the beneficial leases which have been grant-
ed by the Corp Oration, by which all the light establishments
might be eventually brought under the supervision and manage-
ment of the Corporation of the Trinity House.
- ( To Le continued.)
\t.

On Saturday last there accidentally met toge-
ther, at the Castle Inn, Butchery-lane, Canterbury, eight per-
sons, who, from their relative connexion with each other, form
the following curious fact in consanguinity :—There were four
sisters, five daughters, one grandmother, one grandfather,
three aunts, one grand-daughter, one brother-in-law, three
sisters-in-law, one son-in-law, two mothers, one father, one'
niece to three aunts, one uncle, two wives, and two-husbands.