The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-26 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.

Yesterday th• court met for the despatch of public
business.

A. communication from the Board of Works was read,
announcing the intention of the Government to employ
an officer of the navy to make a survey of the Thames,
and asking for the plan made under Mr. Telford's direc-
tion in 1823. The request is to be complied with. A
report of the General Purposes Committee on the metage
of potatoes was presented by Deputy 1131 t, recommend-
ing that the whole of the subject of metage should be
taken into consideration. This was agreed to, and re-
ferred back to the committee to be put into execution,
with a view to holding a meeting of the corn trade and
others interested in the question, and negotiating with the
Meters about the abandonment of their claim to metage.
There was a motion of Mr. Besley's, that the Court
should proceed to discuss the Corporation Reform Bill of
last session, but the Lord Mayor held that as the bill had
been withdrawn, the motion could not be entertained.
It was then moved by Mr. Wool), and seconded by
Deputy PRITTRESS—" That it be referred to a committee
to consider and report their opinion as to the alterations
and provisions which should be made, and generally
what should now be done for the better regulation of
the Corporation of London, and the management of its
affairs ; stating what can be effected by the powers of
that court, and what would appear to require parliamen-
tary aid."

Several members spoke on this motion, expressing
their opinion that they were bound to do what th-y
could, by themselves, to remedy the existing defects in
the municipal constitution, and that it would be better
for them to seek parliamentary aid for that purpose than
to have a bill forced upon them perhaps by a hostile
Government.

Mr. 11. L. TAYLOR suggested that the words " to a
committee now toi be appointed," and " to'report thereon
forthwith," should be added to the motion.
Mr. WOOD having assented to this alteration, the
motion was put and carried ; and a committee, consist.
ing of the Lord Mayor, the aldermen present, and a
commoner from each ward, was at once appointed to
carry the object of the motion into effect.
Deputy LOTT moved, " That the bye-laws passed by
this corporation, at the instance of the Markets Im-
provement Committee, to prevent the driving of cattle
through the streets of the metropolis on Sunday, and
which were represented by the Secretary of State to the
inhabitants of Islington, petitioning for a change of the
market-day from Monday to Tuesday, as sufficient to
prevent all nuisance arising therefrom, having been
decided by a polite magistrate to be invalid, and cttle
of all descriptions being driven about the metropolis on
the Lord's day with impunity, to the great annoyance of
inhabitants, it is the duty of this court, in order to keep
good faith with the public, to remedy this evil by ob-
taining :an efficient legis!ative enactment for the sup-
pression of the nuisance, or by courteously complying
with the prayer of the numerous petitions, to change the
market day to Tustiday."
The motion, after a discussion, was negatived by an
overwhelming majority, only three hands being hold up
in favour of it.

EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.—We understand that
the committee of shareholders appointed at the recent
meeting of the company have called upon Mr. Faue,
Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Packe, to retire from the board.
PENRHYN CASTLE.—"A Constant Reader," writing
on the subject of the inconvenience attending a visit to
Penrhyn Castle, says :—I went—a stranger—to an hotel
in Bangor to take car for a visit to the slate quarries
and the castle, and was told by the host that tickets for
the castle were only procurable through two stationers
in the town. I called on the first, but the young man
in the shop wished me to call again, as his master was
away. I then calla on the second, and politely asked
bins to favour me with a ticket, which he said he could
not ; it was now near 1 oclock, and the caste is only
open on Tuesdays from 2to ; we started for the quar-
ries, and then returned to Banger to the first stationer
to repeat my request. He went into his back parlour
for about 10 minutes to see if he hail any at liberty,
during which time his young man was placing before me
all kinds of b:mks ; and thinking, if I did not purchase
I iniOlt he minus a ticket, I bought a popular work for
3s. 6]., which I could buy in this town !or about half
the money ; and this, with 2s. 6d. I paid for teeing
through the castle, makes it rather an expensive visit.
THE NAVVY'S HOLIDAY.—Some of our northern con-
tractors have been a little embarrassed by the preference
sho Nn by Irish "navvies" for the sickle over the shovel.
Farmers, during harvest, have been more in favour than
constructors of railways and other works, not so much
on account of any difference in wages, as of the love of
change. When the cern is ripening, the expert Irish
reaper throws down his shovel, and betakes himself to
the farm, just as the merchant, the manufacturer, or the
tradesman forsakes his desk, his loom, or his counter,
awl hies to Harrogate, or Scarborough, or the continent.
A month in the harvest-field is a holiday to the navvy,
an agreeable variety, and a welcome relaxation. It
stands him in the same stead as a few weeks' sport on
the moors to the doctor or the lawyer; and he likes it
none the woree because the farmer pays him and feeds
him well, and gives him free quarters at night in the
barn.—cageakcigi Observcr. ,4