The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-21 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, FEB. 21, 1870.

MINISTERS are fairly taking away our breath. Be-
fore we have done admiring the Land Bill, the
greatest piece of constructive legislation which this
generation has seen, we are called upon to admire one
which scarcely falls short of that, the new scheme of
Education. Two such measures were certainly
enough to signalise one week. But there were
more great projects to be unfolded, and
within twenty-four hours of Mr. FousTEn's exposition
came Mr. GoscHEN's scheme for equalising the poor
rates throughout the kingdom, and Lord HATIIER-
LEY'S reform of the judicature. The last of these is
as important as any, or rather it will be so when the
entire reform is complete. For that happy event we
must be content to wait awhile. In the meantime,
we are happy to have a foretaste of happiness in a
simple enabling measure that will tend to
remove the judicial block which suitors now
find so exasperating and so costly. At
present, for reasons best known to attorneys, the
Court of Queen's Bench is much more popular than
the other courts. The consequence is that while
there is a glut of business in the first, the judges
have not half enough to do in the others. Unfortu-
nately, as was pointed out by our Lon lon Correspon-
dent last week, a death vacancy has occurred
in the very court where there is most
need of judges. At the same time an economical
Government could hardly, seeing the waste of
judicial power in the other courts, caused by the ap-
pointment of three new judges under Mr. DISRAELI'S
Bribery Act, fill up this vacancy. When a judge is
able to spend the whole of term in keeping holiday,
there must be so much money thrown away.
It would, therefore, have produced a bad effect if;
while dockyard men are being discharged
by the hundred with ruthless haste, another
lawyer had been endowed with £5,000 a-year
to do the work that Baron BRA3IIVELL might as
well have done instead of touring. Therefore it was
determined not to appoint another judge in the
place of Sir GEORGE HATES, even though Mr. DEN-
MAN should thereby suffer loss, and instead of
appointing one it was determined to introduce a bill
enabling any judge to sit in any of the three Common
Law Courts.

The reasonableness of this arrangement is at once
apparent when we remember that there is no
vital difference in the Common Law Courts, and that
when a judge is selected no consideration is paid to
the fact that the vacancy has occurred in the Queen's
Bench, the Exchequer, or the Common Pleas. But
this is only a small portion of the changes which the
LORD CHANCELLOR hopes to effect very speedily.
The bill just referred to is only a temporary measure
intended to meet a present and pressing difficulty.
But the larger scheme which Lord HATHERLEY de-
scribed involves far more than this. It will involve
the fusion of law and equity, and consequently will
enable any judge to sit in any Court, and
it will constitute two new courts of appeal. These
two measures will be introduced very shortly. The
first will put an end to a grievous anomaly, the cause
of much delay and expense to suitors, as well as of
absurd contradictions. How absurd, Lord HATHERLEY
himself shewed when he told how a suitor might
in one court do that which in the other would
render him liable to imprisonment. Moreover,
two actions may now be going on at the same
time about the same matter. Of course this
complexity and confusion have arisen from a very
laudable motive, the desire to temper the harshness
and strictness of the old law by the more merciful
principles of equity. But now the time has come
when this must be effected in a less clumsy manner.
The reconstitution of the appellate jurisdiction will
involve important changes. A permanent High
Court of Appeal will be established, consisting of
the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, fuur
permanent members, representing the Lords Justices
and the chiefs of the Common Law Courts, and
three members selected annually by the CROWN from
among the judges of the Courts of First Instance.
This Appellate Court will be like the Court
of First Instance, separated into three divisions, so
that three sets of appeals may be heard simul-
taneously. The House of Lords and the Judicial
Committee of Privy Council will still remain as the
ultimate and superior Courts of Appeal. Lastly,
there is no present intention to alter the circuits,,
except that the Home Circuit will be abolished, and
cases arising on that circuit will be tried in London.
There will still remain another great measure for
constituting provincial legal centres. This will,
we trust, not be long delayed, for this reform is
nearly as important as the others. Meanwhile, we
must congratulate the Government and the country
upon their determination to go as far as they are now
prepared to go.

Tne march of intellect in the nineteenth century
cannot have been through the streets of Rochdale. 'We
learn, from the Manchester Courier, that a young woman hits
been imposed upon by "a wise woman" in the following
manner:—The latter, pretending to be dumb, offered to tell
the fortune of the other, and for five shillings offered to pro-
vide her with a husband and five children. With -this
desirable object in view the young woman was induced to
pay the money, and accept some absurd directions. By
some means, not explained, she was induced to bring the
,:aso before the magistrates, and the witch was sentenced to
three months' imprisonment.

The recent events in Madagascar must have aug-
mented the interest generally felt in an island especially
rich in its stores of missionary experience. The London Mis-
sionary Society, which has been the pioneer of Christianity
in that part of the heathen world, is now making an
urgent appeal to the pr.liUe to ecablo it largely to ex-
tend its operations in this promising field. Sixteen
additional agents are required—twelve ordained, and
two medical rnisgoncries, and two schoolmasters. The
total cost of their outfit is estimated at £1,400, and
£2,000 more will be required for houses to be erected on the
island. The annual additional cost to the society will
amount to £5,000, so that it is clear the proposed uLdertak-
ing is in every sense a large one.

A. I.4I7ALIFIED 'TEACHER.--The ibllowing is said
to be a verbatim copy of an application made to the
Truro Board of Guardians for an appointment as indus-
trial teacher in the workhouse : fab 4 1870. Sir I
Offer myself to you for that place to the board which I
am wall quilfide for nay adge 3s 402,"