The Sun.
London, England, 1825-05-28 00:00:00

ST. KATITARINE'S DOCKS' BILL.

On the_motion of Vicolint TonallgoToN, the St: Katha-
rine's Docks' 13111 "was read a third time and passed.
Sir'J. Yorke, Sir E. Harvey, Mr. Blackball, and other
Members of the House of Commoris, brotight up the Isle of
Dogs Collier Docks' Lill, and several private Bills, which were
'read a first time.

11.1 r. Mason, from
,The East Indio. Ifeuw, presenfed the an-
nual ACcounts of the sale of goods and tnerehandize by the East-,
India Company.

EQUITABLE LOAN BILL.
The Earl of LAUDERDALE presented a petition from
the town of Liverpool against the Equitable Loan
on the table.

• On .Lord DaCRE rising to move the Order of the Day for
the second•reading of the Equitable Loan Bill,
The Earl of LA UDER LE said • there was an understand-
ing that, previous to the second reading of the Bill, the House
should decide on the motion for hearing Counsel a:rainst the
Bill at their Lordshipte•; bar ; he would therefore move that
Counsel be n'ow called inand hea d.
After some-observations front Lord DA C RE, the Earl of
LAUDERDALE, and the Earl of TANKERVILLE, the question
wasput.
Lord •DACRE said he should oppose the motion for hearing
Counsel'at the bar'against the Bill. .The principle of that Bill
-was, that. a Company formed should be allowed to authorise.
-their officers to enter into the business of pawnbrokers, and as
every pawnbroker was obliged . by law to haVe his name over.
his door,- to permit those officers so to place their namesinstead
of the names of the whole company. He could not think their
Lordships would be satisfied to have their time occupied in
hearing argumentsof Counsel on so narrow and contracted a
point. If It were aTerteral measure to authorise all Companies
to sue and be• sued by: their officers, •it would certainly be ek-
.pedient-toltear legal arguments upon it but when the .prin-
ciple of thiS Bill was to allow persons to act as pawnbrokers in
a manner the most beneficial to distressed persons, by adVatic-
ingmoney at the legal- interest of five per cent:, he could not
concelve.that their Lordships would consent to have their time
occupied by the learning which he understood would be.brought
to their Lordships' bar. He would not regard the irregularities
that might have occurred relative to the transfer of Shares, be-
cause those irregularities could not affect that body, which, he
contended, was now promoting .an object of a nature the most
beneficial and-advantageous to thecountry.• This body did-not
assume to be a corporate body. In its origin,. its intention, as
their Lordships knew, was to assimilate its institution to those
on the Continent, which had met with the approbation and ae
praise of every. one who had been abroad. He could not .con-
.templath any opposition to the Bill, without • conceiving that
some interested motive was at the bottom of it. If he stood in
. need of proof of the good effects of this Bill, .he found it in the
opposition of those who, by their monopoly, had entailed so
much sorrow and suffering on the poor.. If this society pro-
duced-better effects than those of the pawnbrokers under the
most favourable circumstances, there could be no reason why
the Honse.should not give it their sanction. Any objections
that might be made to it would be made with propriety in
(committee. As he could not -conceive-there could he any ra-
tional objection to a society that produced so many advantages;
he woulttoppose the production of Counsel against it at the bar
of the House. •

The Earl of LAUDERDALE rose •to shew the necessity for
hearing Counsel against this Bill. He complained that .the
Noble Lord had .not objected to hear Counsel fortherly,
.as it
was a serious. thing. to induce Counsel to be. brought into the-
House at 'considerable expence, and then to refuse to hear them.
-But the •Noble Lord thought.' to get 'ti number of their Lcrrd.
•ships to vote with him, and thus to supiort a Bill which wanted
other suppeirt- . The Noble Lord hitd totally misstated the sita
`-ation of the-Company.; he had- admitted. that it had acted
gaily until the contract of coliartncrship had been - formed.—
He ( Lord ,Loderdale) believed he was accurate in this state
It came, before their Lordships then in the shape of: an illegal
Company. The House ought not,. then, to be- called upon to
-settle the differences of illegal perties, lest many other parties
who stoodprecisely in the same situation shoul&come before the
House,land the House ivould be unable to refuse to hear them;
and to do.theni justice. His Noble Friend (Lord Dacre) -had
said, that the chief object of. the Bill 'was to' provide relief for
.the poor. Now, if their Lordshipi would hear the arguments
of Counsel, they would be. satisfied that this company from its
comthencement was intended fornothing'but to deal•in shares,
Lie would'certainly oppose this Bill at every stage, and would
maintain the necessity for their Lordships now hearing the ar.:
guments of Counsel against it.

The LORD CHANCELLOR difFered in his opinions some-
what from these which had been delivered in judgment else-
where. He did not thinit it possible to deny that whatever the
Company might have done before the. execution of the deed was
illegal. It was Said that the Company did not' act as a Corpo:.
rate Body -; but, if' its whole system was that of a Corporate
Body; was the denial to be taken in defiance to evidence ? It
was important those points should be well discussed: Ile would
not agtee to the decision which had been given in the Court. of
Kin:s Beneli: Ire could not agree that the authority given
to one individual out of a body took the whOle Company out of
the Agt of George the Third. lie' did not believe ' that gteater
public mischief had ever been
.done than that which had ariset
from Joint-Stock Companies, within the last three or four
Ii by icalling`Counsel to the Bar,
-
years. If nothing more was produced than the present deed, he
should find it his bounden duty, with regret he said it, to op-
-Phe°sceotuhled nbillt b persuade
ine
everysta ..
of its -propriety, then he should be
the first to say, pass that Bill. Ile did not mean to contend that
good, but let no one suppose, that without an Act'of
tompanies might not, or should not,, be incorporated for the
public good,
or a Charter,' it was possible bY.pay.ing those fbol-
ish Bills to give sufficient security to
it.ohceilipsilltabnlidc:inLflaw:leenrst
nth°atitliunngless Companies were incofpotat,
tiiirattided neither Security nor remedies.' This
would satisfy their Lordships in ten minutes, if their Lordships
:in'Arrion ; for he had been called upon in judi.
late to consider the subject 'deeply. lie ‘in-
impertnaeneoticnapsz,leivnhthiejs:,hn
theirtf;s 0:4::
petwwlciiiaoecintli-nidsioiotiunhteeeahaaloi:cl(l
alsp..:ttritst:y"ire'sio.si)
vited those :indiViduals who. became' -Members of such Coin.
Ip)oatwileers
ofto telol6rislaitilverwianswnhoattssurffitu:it;o4ttloleyen'Trgohot
tibieelrpolabcieitdaitfiot)lnei
toward, ear
had not been
ships could not call for too much information. He could only
cbo6uttr:rtec
tit'
.6tllo,l;ttiTel,bfoer? on
gfeJ,,ho Joint
It
Stockwas
h other.. A more