The Sun.
London, England, 1802-12-17 00:00:00

A BILL

for alipointing,COniniissioners to l?iciuite and ekatrinie
any Irregularities, Frauds, and'Abus:-_•s winch are or have
been !ate % practised by Person,`employed ii the several
Nai•al Departaients therein trieationti, and in the
Of Prize Agents and to reparf ObsrvitiOns as
Occur to them}; for preventing stich Irregularities, Frauds,
and Abuses hi future; atid for the better condihtling
managing the business cif the said DepartrrientS; and of
Prize Ageritt.

Whereas it is highly eXpecilent lot -the pabliC
vice, that an inquiry should be made respeding the
abuseSwhiCh may have eiisted arid been pradiSed by
persons employed in the several Naval
hereinafter-Mentioned, arid in the bUsin:-ss of Prize_.
Agents; the modes of conduding and carrying on the
Public Service; and the fees; gratuities, perouE;itesi
and eMolunients received and taken therein, With I
view to stich Regulationii as Shall he judged eXpedieri
and proper for the corredion of abuses which nati';'-.
have arisen ; for the better Mamiging and condaEiinj
the btisiness thereof; and to Cifea such savings as
may be made in each ; that is to say; the office of the:
Commissioners for executing the (Ace of Lord
High AdMiral of the United Kingdom of Greac
Britain and Ireland, the office and department oa the
Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy, the Trea-
surer of His Majesty's. Navy, dire Commissioner:;
victualling His Majesty's Navy, the COmnaissioners;
for taking care of Sick and Wounded Seatiien; the
Commissioners for Transports and PrisOndfs of t'Varl
the Commissioners foi- the receipt of sixpence A
month paid-by all Sea Men in the Merchant Serviee
for the use of Greenwich HoSpital, Agent fot
and all persons concerned in the dist ribatiOn oforize
money, and in the receipt acid miianagewent the
monies paid on account of the Chest; of Chatharri;
His Majesty's several Dock-yards, and Naval-yards
in the Counties of Kent, Hants, and Devon respee.::.
tively, or elsewhere within His Majesty's domi,
nions, the Royal Hospitals and Naval Hoi;pitals for
Seamen at Hasler and East Stone-house, and eit,e7
where within His Majesty's chminions, and the
late Prisons for Prisoners of War, Prison-shiPS,
Prison .hospitals, and Prison-ship-hospitals in the
said Counties of Kent, Hants, and Devon resi:,ec..
tively, or elsewhere within Majesty's domi;
Mons;

Be it•therefore enacted by the King's Most Excel.
lent Majesty, by and with the adVA:e and consent
of the Lords Spiritual and TeMporal, and Co‘,rnDnSti
in this present Parliam‘mt assembled, and by the
authority of the same, That the Commissioners for
executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the
United Kingdoth of Great Britain and lrelandshalt;'
with all convenient speed, lay a:1 such informatiori,
and documents as may in any Way tend to the
closure or discovery of the irregularities, frauP,
and abuses which have existed, or may exist, in any
of the before-mentioned. Offices or Departments re.-
speetively, at home or abroad, or true copies of
such doctnnents, or in the business. or Prize AgentS.,
together with copies of all such letters Or any other
papers as may from time to tithe he required, Le.
fore tvho are hereby con:
stituted Commissioners for m;kiug the inquiries in.
tended by tisis Ate ; and that the said Com Missioners;
or any of them, shall and they are hereby
required to examine and to take into their conside-
ration, and td investigate all such corrupt ^ l frac.
duleot pradices, irregularities, fraudS, and abose.;;;
or other miscondua, as mAy be found to have ex.
isted or to exist in .all or any of the several Offiee4
and Departments above-mentioned, or in the busies
ness of Prize Agents, or to have been comthittel by
any person or persons concerned in the management
thereof, or of any or either of them, and.to proceed
thereupon according to such instrufrions and dhcc.
tions as they shall from time to time receive froul
the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council ; and
the said Commissioners shall from time to time re.:
port and certify their proceedings in writing, undet
the hands and scale of them, or any of them, ter
the King in Council, upon each office or departitient,
and in the business of Prize Agents, specifying such.
trial-pradices, irregularities, frauds, or abuses; as
they may have discovered or fully investigated, add.:
ing at the same tinie such observationS' as shall oc-
cur to them, and such plans either for correaion
improvement, or for abolishing or regulating any of
the said departments or offices, or in the business of
PriZe Agents, as may appear to them to be proper
to be adopted for the time to come;

And beit further enafted, That it shall andn'ay
be lawful for the said Crinaissioners, or any
of them, and they are hereby empowered, authotiiedi
and required to examine upon oath (which oath
they, or any of them, are hereby authorized to
administer) the several persons employed-in any of
the offices or departMents before mentioned, or in
the business of Prize Agents, whom they shall think
.fit to summon,- at such time or times, place or
places, as shall be fixed, on application to be made
to the Principals of the said ()likes or Departments
for such -purpose, and all other persons who .have
liad any contraas, dealings, or transaaions with the
said Offices or Departments, or the representative,'
of such persons, or the Agents for Prizes, or their
sub-agents or clerks, whom the said Commissioners,
or any . of them, shall think fit to examine,
respelling all irregularities, frauds, or abuses, re;
lative to such contraas, dealings, or tr?:nsaftionsi
and touching all other matters and things necessary
for the execution of the powers vested in the said
Commis,sioners by this Aft ; all which persons arc
hereby required and direaed puriatially to attend
the said,commissioners at such time and times, and
place and places, as shall be appointed ; and also to
observe and execute all such orders and direlion3
as the said Commissioners, or any of them,
shall make or give for the purposes before men-
tioned,

The next Clause enables the Commissioners to
send for persons and papers,;

'And be it further enafted, That in case any per-
son or persons, upon examination upon oath before
the said Commissioners respeCtitrely as before men.:
tioned,-`shall wilfully and corruptly give false e vi_
deuce, every such person so offending, and being
thereof duly convicted, shall be and is, and are here,
by declared to be subject and liable to such pains
and penalties, as by any law now in force, persons
convicted of wilful anti corrupt perjury are subje:A
and liable to,

LAW •kEPORT.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, D. c. 15.

!SNOB BEFORE LORD iLLENBOROUGH, IN GUILD-

HALL, LONDON.

FRENCH V. GRANGER.

MR.ERSKINE stated this to be an Action for the
srm of 91. 3s. 5d.. nominally, but the real sum in
dispute between the Parties, was a very small one,
no more than Is. 9d. but the question was never-
theless important,_ for it applied to the whole,Trade
of the Plaintiff; because, if the Plaintiff could not
recover this stun, he could not recover any thing of
any other individual, under -similar circumstances,
and then there would be an end of his trade, and of
the trade of every other person in his situation.—
The Plaintiff was a Sworn-Broker, that is, a person
who disposes of goods for others, by Public Sale.
The Defendant was a Lighterman. On the t Sth of
June last, the Plaintiff, as Broker, put up a number
of articles for sale at Lloyd's, and the Defendant
became the Purchaser of a lot of Hams :--the Sale
was according to the form of a printed Particular of
the Conditions, which specified that a certain sum
should be deposited, by the Purchaser, ,in propor-
tion to the value of the lot putchased, and all charges
to be paid, without any dedudion, before the de-
livery of the goods the Purchaser to , have until
the 24. th of the month to take away the goods, but
if he did not then take them away, the Deposit to
be forfeited, and the goods to be resold. In this
cause the whole charge made upon the Defendant,
was 91. 3s. sd. including is. for the:Lot-money,
Arid 91 for the Delivery, being at the rate-of one
halfpenny per ham, there being i 8 hams ill the lot, and
also one halfpenny per ham for rewaiehousing; and
the further stun of one farthing per ham, for a week's
ware-hduse rent, the hams not being taken away in
due' time. All this arose from the obstinacy of 'the
_Defendant, who after he had purchased the hams,
saw them weighed at the Broker's warehouse, and
went with the Broker'S Clerk to
.settle at the
Coontingjmuse, but resisted the demand made for
the lot-money, saying it was only 6d. and as to the
money for the delivery, he 'would not pay any
thing for it. He was told that this was the constant
charge in the course of trade, and he was referred
to the Conditions of Sale, which specified that he
Was to pay the usual 'charges ; but he would not
do it; on which the further charge of one half:penny
per ham was made for re- warehousing, and the
farthing per ham for the week's rent, that being
the custom of the trade ; but the-Defendant did not
cause tO Comply with these well known customs.—
The sale .of the hams to the Defendant by the Plain_
tiff as Broker, was proved, as also the hams being
weighed, and the charges being regularly made,
which 'charges was the constant usage of the trade,
and the Defendant's refuszll. to pay these charges,
and also their being re-warehoused and put up, were
all proved. But it appeared that the Plaintiff had
sued out aWrit against. the Defendant on the 18th
of June, on which account, it was contended by the
Defendant's Counsel, that the Plaintiff ought to be
nonsuited on this ground : that the Defendant, had,
by the Conditions of the Sale, time from the i Bth
of June to the z+th of that month to compleat his
purchase ; that therefore the Plaintiff brought this
Aaiun too soon, by suing out the Writ on the rBth.
In answer to this it was stated, that there are
cases which determine that the suing out of a
Writ is not to he considered as the commencement
of an action, unless the Plaintiff chuses to make it
so, for that it is merely a process to compel an ap-
pearance. That the commencement of an action
'is the filing of a hill, or delivering a declaration.
This dodrine was laid down in the case of FoSter
and Bonner, in I Wilson. There was another
case in the Term Reports, by which it was decided,
that a deinand which accrued between the time of
suing the writ and the filing of the declaration,
is recoverable in such action ; and here the declara-
tion did not assume any thing to be due before the
24th, when it was the Defendant's duty to complete
the contrad.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH said, these cases would
have been.decisive of the point; had it been neces-
sary to resort to them ; but he held it, that the
time allowed, until the 24. th, was to be considered
as a condition for the benefit of the purchaser, but
if he chose to take any, day previous to that for
the conclusion of the businness, and to demand the
delivery Of the goods to him, he was bound to do
on that day'every thing which by his contra& he
engaged to do on the z+th ; and that, therefore,
there was nothing in the objedion. As to the
customs which had been proved, his Lordship held
it important to trade that they should be abided by.
Verdid for the Plaintiff for the whole of his de..
rnand, 91. 35. sd.

On Wriday night, about half past eight o'clock,
a young man, who drives for Mr. Cooper, of the
Three Kings Yard, in Piccadilly, coming from
Dartford with a return chaise, in which he had' a
sailor, on approaching to WestminsteGhridge, drove.
down to a place where coachmen generally ride
through in the water to wash their horses and car-
riages. _The tide ran at the time rather high, and he
soon drove out of the depth of the horses, by which
means,they and the chaise were forced through one of
the arches of Westminster-bridge, it being on the
return of the tide. The Sailor, who was inside of
the chaise, screaming aloud, alarnied some watermen,
who hurried to their assistance, and providentially
arrived time enough to liberate him from perilr;us
situation, by tearing off the door of the chaise,
which was quite overturned. The post-boy was
also with much difficulty saved. One of the horses;
by cutting the harness, and enlarging him,'reached
the shore ; the other was drowned. The surviving.
horse was very much cut and lacerated;
On Friday last ,two children of - Randall,
labourer, of St. Lawrence, Thanet, the eldestlour
years and a half, and the youngest IS months, being
left a short time by their mother, on her return she
found the youngest suspended by a cord, which had
been incautiously left, and quite death It appeared
the little innocents hathbeen twisting it round each
other's necks, without being aware of the too fatal
consequences which ensued,

Lk) N 1)(1N pr:ntrd by 131)C1- A N hI`MILLAN, (ot itow-Street, Covent-GA-den); and Publihed by WILL:AM ARM:, I 1 5.7 SVItifIVIOI ton-Street; Grosvenor-squire)
At the SuN-OFFIci, Not r tz, Strand; where ildverkilemcnts, Orderi for the -Pater, I,rtari ..)t the .6riiio6-./...t0c ;I:psilaid); must t)e Addrebbed.