The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-18 00:00:00

IMPORTANT DECISION.

By the statement we published yesterday, it ap-
pears that the Conservatives have objected to no bass
than 2,279 voters, while the Liberals have only ob-
jected to 1,181. Deaths and removals could scarcely
account for such a sweeping riddance of men who
only a few weeks before were entitled to the fran-
chise. The cases which have been brought before
this Court explain the matter, and the decision to
which the Revising Barrister has come seems very
well calculated to put a stop to this wholesale system
of making objections.
The process is this :—The Conservatives—and for
aught we know the Liberals too—have a list of the
voters before them ; they send canvassing letters to
these voters through the Post-office ; to these letters
either no answers are given, or the letters themselves
are returned, endorsed "Not known," " Gone away,"
"No such person," &c. T,!ereupon, notices of ob
jection for non-residence are served on the overseer,
or the clerks of the Livery Company, as the case may
he, and they are sent also to the supposed residences
of the voters. The time comes for adjudicating on
these notices, but the agent meanwhile has ascer-
tained that he has no foundation on which to rest his
objections, and when the parties appear in Court the
agent says, " It is a mistake, and I withdraw my
objections." The voters then claim their expanses.
" No," says the agent, " I have withdrawn the ob
,iections, and therefore you have no right to any ex-
penses from me."

This is exactly the shape in which the question has
come berore this Court.

The question is argued thus :—The objecting agent
contends that, unless the duplicate of the notice of
objection (which is in his own possession) is produced
in Court, there is no proof of any objection having
been made; and as he is the only party who can pro-
duce that duplicate, he, by withholding it, protects
himself against the liability of the charge of having
made a frivolous and vexatious objection, and cannot,
therefore, be made subject to pay any costs to the
voter.

On the other side it is argued that the objection
enures from the moment the notice is served, and
that the party objected to is under the necessity of
appearing in Court to sustain his vote, otherwise he
would be disfranchished. The vexation, therefore,
has been committed the moment the notice is served,
and on the voter appearing and proving his right to
vote he has a claim for costs.

Several cases involving this argument occurred
both yesterday and to-day. We will mention only
one of them, as showing the extremely vexatious na-
ture of this mode of proceeding :
Mr. Nias, of Islington, and a freeman and livery-
man of the Blacksmiths' Company, was objected to
by the Conservatives for non-residence, and yet that
gentleman stated on his oath, that he had been an in-
habitant of his present residence thirty-one years, was
the owner of twenty-one houses in the neighbour-
hood, was a professional man, and was as well known
as anybody living in that part of London.
To this Mr. Brown, the Conservative agent, had
nothing whatever to say, except that he had been
told that there was no such person living at the house
mentioned in the list.

Mr. Nias said, that the Conservatives had come into
his neighbourhood canvassing about the tune that
his house was undergoing repair, and during that
period he occupied the adjoining house. He sup-
posed the assumption of his not being a resident there
arose from this circumstance. .

Mr. Brown thenSai4,—that he saw Mr. Nias in
Court yesterday, and told him that he had ascertained
that there was no objection to his vote, and that he
need not give his further attendance.
Mr. Nias—Yes, but I told Mr. Brown that as a
professional man my time was valuable to me, and that
I should expect my expenses.
Mr. Brown—l offered you ss.
Mr. Nias—Five shillings to a professional man!
Mr. M'ClinisTlE awarded Mr. Nias 20s. costs, and
then said, that the general rule on which he should
act with regard to these notices was, that he should
require the objections to be gone into, and if they
proved to be vexatious he should impose costs on the
objector.
Mr. Brown could not understand the justice of such
a decision, seeing that by his agreeing to withdraw
his objections the parties were not put to any trouble.
Mr. M'CnaisTlE—Not to any trouble ! First, the
overseer was required to attend ; then, the secondary
to record the notice; then, the clerk of the company
was also to attend, and he himself had to take cogni-
zance of the notice ; and, beyond this, the party ob-
jected to, a professional gentleman in this instance, was
taken from his home for two days. Surely this was
trouble enough.
The money was paid.
Subsequently Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown applied
to the Court tor an adjournment. They observed,
rhat in consequence of the rule laid down by Mr.
Nl‘Christie respecting the nature of these objections,
they wished to have an opportunity to confer to-
gether in order to determine what course they should
hereafter take.

Mr. M'CiiiiisTlE suggested that at the close of this
day's proceedings the Court should adjourn till ➢lon-
day.

Mr. Smith—l have no doubt that by such an ar-
rangement the business of the Court would be greatly
expedited.
The lists were then proceeded with, and in every
case where the objection appeared to the Court to be
groundless, either on account of the question raised
having been already decided, or the inquiries not
having been made with sufficient vigilance, costs were
a warded.
Adjourned till Monday.

EXTENSIVE FlRE.—Last night, about half-past
eleven o'clock, a fire, that for nearly an hour completely
illuminated the western portion of the metropolis, broke
out upon the premises in the tenure of Mr. Miles, a
cabinet• manufacturer, situate in Neal's-yard, Seven-dials,
a very narrow and densely.populated neighbourhood.
The flames were first noticed by Mr. Ilillsman, the corn-
factor, who occupies the lower part of the building; at
which time the two upper workshops appeared to be in a
general blaze. Not a moment was lost in sounding the
alarm, and with all speed engines from Messrs. Combe
and Delafield's brewhouse, together with numerous
others belonging to the London Brigade, West of Eng-
land, and County establishments, reached the scene of
conflagration. The flames at that time were rusAiing out
of the front and back windows with such fury that
the destruction of the contiguous buildings appeared
quite certain. The firemen, however, having settheir
engines to work, mounted the mole of the adjoining
houses, and by carrying the hose with them, they
were
enabled to pour the water in such directions as to nom
pletely encompass the flames. This was a work of con-
siderable difficulty and danger, but, fortunately, not one
of the men received any personal injury. Owing' to
their indefatigable exertions, they succeeded in e
tinguishing the fire before twelve o'clock; not, howeve.v,
until Mr. Miles's premises were burned out, and th,tt
contents, including the workmen's tools, were totally
consumed.

AWFUL FIRE.—On Thursday last a most extensive
fire occurred at Needingworth, a village near St. Ives,
in the county of Huntingdon, which has rendered it ono
scene of misery and desolation, upwards of 80 houses, in-
cluding farming-houses and cottages, being entirely de-
stroyed. The fire was first observed about 12 o'clock
at noon, and originated through a poor idiot servant
girl throwing some lighted straw into a yard ; the wind
at the time blowing a hurricane wafted some o the straw
to the thatch of the cottage, which was immediately
enveloped in flames ; it then communicated itself to an
adjoining farm, and in a few minutes the whole of the
property, on the right hand and on the left, was one
terrible fire. The farmsteads destroyed are six in
number, together with the produce of nearly 3,000 acres
of land, and about 70 houses and cottages. The amount
of property destroyed has not at present ben ascer-
tained, but it must be very considerable, and a large pro-
portion of it is, we are informed, insured. Several
engines were upon the spot, but in consequence of the
wind and the scarcity of water were quite useless. We
understand a subscription has already been set on foot
for the relief of the sufferers.

A NEW DAILY PAPER.--A new morning journal
has just appeared in Paris, under the title of the Con-
servateur. Its name indicates its politics.