The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-27 00:00:00

CORP°.It.etTION REFORM.

-- -
A C3urt of Common Council was held yester-
day at Guildhall, the Lord Mayor presiding, to con-
sider the report delivered in on the 20th inst. by
the Corporation Inquiry Committee, relative to the
Toiadon Corporation Bill in Parliament, and with a
e lition to the House of Commons against the con-
clauses of the bill, and generally against
the roce.sure as altered and framed by the select
committ,,te of the house.
Mr. J. STOOD (chairman of the committee) moved
that the rep ')rt should be read, and, the motion
being agreed toy
Mr. WOODTE-010E, deputy town clerk, read the
report, as follows :--
" We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, of your
Corporation Inquiry Oommittee, to whom, on the 18th of
February last, it was roferred to prosecute the petition of
your hon. Court against the bill `For the Better Regula-
-:tion of the Corporation or the City of London,' brought
into Parliament by her Majasty's late Government, do cer-
tify that since our last report to your hon. Court, the select
committee of the House of Commons, to whom the said bill
was referred, have reported the same with amendments to

the house.
" That in pursuance of the order of your hon. Court
copy of the said bill, as amended by the select committee,
has been sent to every member of the Court.
se
contains
"That the said bill, as reported to the house,
manyalterations
many clauses which, in the opinionundesirableour coniittee,.are
exceedingl7 objectionable ; and
have been made in other clauses.
"That the corporation was nooent pearmEdiutgteide
etloausbeeohfeatrhde
before the committee except
several said bill ;and they have therehforhaeved no
al other provisy of
enforcing their objections to t
therein contained.
"That the deliberations of thuetr
csoemlecultitctoeme mweitrteebeubteiimng.
conducted with closed doors, To
perfectly informed of th details of the amended bill until
after it was reported to the House of Commons, and printed
iu its amended shape.
"That. as the bill willehortly be discussed in committee of
the whole House an opportunity will be afforded of pro-
posing such amendments as may be considered expedient
the several clauses of the bill.
l'es"There is, however, one most important subject upon
which your committee are of opinion that immediate and
energetic action should be taken. The clauses confiscating
the metage and other revenues of the corporation have been
allowed to remain unaltered in the bill; nor has the case of
the corporation, in support of their rights, been heard be-
fore the select committee, nor any provision made for corn
pensating the citizens of London for the loss thus inflicted
upon then.
" A statement respecting the metage dues on corn, &c.,
belonging to the corporation, which was submitted to the
select committee, is hereunto annexed for tie information
of your hon. Court. [This statement has already appeared
in our columns.]
" That the second reading of the said bill was unopposed
by the corporation, on the understanding that they should
be allowed to present and enforce their case against the
several provisions of it before the select committee, and
that ample opportunity would be afforded them by their
counsel, agents, and witnesses to establish their various
objections to the bill.
" That under these circumstances your committee are
of opinion that great and manifest injustice has been
done to the corporation, particularly by the abolition,
without compensation, of metage dues. We, therefore,
recommend your hon. Court to present a petition to the
House of Commons to recommit the bill to the select com-
mittee, and praying that the corporation may be heard
against the confiscatory clauses thereof, and generally
against the measure.
That Mr. Remembrancer has by our directions prepared
the draught of a petition accordingly, which is hereunto
annexed, and which we submit to the approval of your
hon. Court.
" All which is respectfully submitted. Dated this 20th
day of May, 1858. "JOHN WOOD, &c."
Mr. WOOD, in commenting upon the report, said
the committee had considered both the bill intro-
duced by Sir G. Grey and that introduced by desire
of that Court, and had hoped that the result of the
two bills iu the house would be to give them a bill
of a satisfactory character. He regretted, however,
that this was not the case, and especially that the
select committee had determined to hold their sit-
tings in private, so as to prevent the corporation
from watching the details of the bill as the work of
the select committee proceeded. (Hear.) hey had,
however, been heard by counsel against the clause
of the bill which deprived them of their metage dues
without compensation ; but, nevertheless, those
dues, amounting to 15,0001., and for which at the
outset a good and valid consideration had no doubt
been given, were swept away without compensa-
tion. (Hear.) With regard to the general question
of corporation reform he knew tbera was a great
diversity of opinion existing among the members
of that Court, but he hoped there would be a per-
fect unanimity of earnest and manful exertion upon
the part of the Court to get the confiscatory clauses
struck out of the bill. (Hear.) If the House of
Commons should reject their petition, which he did
not anticipate would be the case, they would have
the power of opposing the clauses in a committee of
the while house; and if the bill in its present shape
passed the House of Commons he hoped they would
be prepared to give it their most decided opposition
in another place. (Hear.) In conclusion he moved
"That this Court do agree with the committee in
their report."
Mr. hi L. TAYLOR suggested that, before the
discussion was proceeded with, the al erations made
in the bill should be read at the table.
The Court acquiesced, and the alterations were
read by the deputy town-clerk accordingly.
Alderman CUBITT then said he was anxious to ex-
press to the Court the desire which the aldermen
had to carry out the bill according to the compact
which had been made between the two courts The
Remembrancer had prepared clauses for that pur-
pose, and they having been committed to his
charge he moved them in committee ; but although
he in. ome cases insisted upon a division, the com-
mittee would not accept some of those clauses.
There was a clause regulating the number of com-
mon councilmen which was objected to, he did not
remember exactly by whom, but he thought by Sir
G. Grey„ and seeing it hopeless to do so, ho did
not divide the committee on that clause. (Hear,
hear, and " Oh, oh.") There was another clause
making it obligatory upon the Court of Aldermen
to present quarterly to the Court of Common
Council a statement of their actual expenditure
for the past quarter, and also a statement of their
estimated expenditure for the next quarter, upon
which also objection was taken by the committee,
and which he did not, consequently, press to a divi-
sion. If he had done so nothing would have come
Of i but to leave him and Sir James Duke in
a minority ; but, since he found an impression
p. availing among many gentlemen there that the
ineerests of the Court of Common Council had not
been sufficiently attended to—(hear)—he was sorry
he had not divided the committee on both those
clauses. (Hear, bear.) This matter had been dis-
cussed at a Court of Aldermen, and a resolution
had been adopted, expressing the regret of that
Court that the clauses, drawn up as a compact,
had not been accepted by the committee, and ex-
pressing the wish of the Court of Aldermen cor-
dially to co-operate with that Court in an endea-
vour to get those clauses yet adopted, the confisca-
tory clauses struck out, and the bill amended in its
general provisions. (Hear.) If in his place in Par-
liament he could be instrumental in producing such
a result it would give him great pleasure, and he
would spare no exertions to do so. (Cheers.)
Mr. ABRAHAM was very glad the worthy alder-
man had repeated the explanation which he had
before given to the committee, as before hearing
those explanations he (Mr. Abraham) had been of
opinion thatthe bill was an alderman's bill. (Hear.)
No doubt the bill as it now stood was open to grave
objections upon its details generally, but on that
occasion he advised the Courts to throw over all
other Clauses and deal only with those of a confis-
catory nature. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. BLAKE said the bill was important, not only
as regardedfthe city of London, but also as regarded
every body corporate in the kingdom—(hear)--
since it was the first attempt that had been made
by act of Parliament to confiscate the property of a
body corporate without giving them compensation,
or even allowing them to be heard in opposition.
(Hear, hear.) There had been a promise given by
a Secretary of State th .t the corporation should
have ample opportunities of being heard in com-
mittee against the clauses of the bill ; but, not-
withs'anding, the select committee had set with
clo"ed doors, and had only allowed them to be
heard by counsel against one clause of a most ini-
quitous character, which sought to deprive them
of their coal-dues, and at the same time to compel
them to make compensation out of their private
r.sourciee (Hear, hear.) It was shown that
this would draw so largely upon their re-
sources as almost to make them insolvent ; and the
committee, growing ashamed of such an iniquitous
clause, allowed the city to retain its coal-dues.
With regard to the metage dues, however, those
the bill still proposed to confiscate without compen-
-I.l2,th:in, although there was no possible justificationubr Finch a proceeding, which was in reality a scheme
of plunder, althoughit was introduced by a Liberal
Min istr ,and so far, sanctioned by a reformed
Rouse of C
fraught witohmdrnanog
property—(hear
nes; (Cheers.) The scheme was
to the whole law of private
hE?ar)—and he hoped that Court
the confiscator
would use its sneetiesseto the utmost in order to get
y
Mr. Deputy liAtatiseostruck out of the bill.
N agreed with the propriety
of presenting a
petition,
asrer
tTrnended in the
report of their committee,
d but a
one, and tehastame time be
thought more should be
steps should be taken to secure the r ..mhotrse
oafc ttihve
e
corporation. He wanted to have full information
disseminated in all quarters, for he felt assured that
if the question were once fully understood it would
be impossible for the bill to pass. As a mewl, of
forwarding his views in this respect he moved to
add to the recommendation of a committee, with

regard to petitioning against the bill, a recommen-
dation that the committee should take all other
measures that might be deemed advisable, either