The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-03 00:00:00

;VMMARY.

IMPERI

AMEN T

HO USE OF COMMONS, Jur, r 2.
In consequence of a ballot on the Inverness-shire Election
Petition, the gallery was not opened until 20 minutes past
four o'clock.

MEDWAY NAVIGATION BILL.
Sir E. KNATCHBULL moved the Order of the day for
resuming the debate upon the Medway Navigation Bill.
Mr. HUM E called the attention of the House to the
resolution of 1826, by which it was agreed that all
committees should report. The cause of justice demanded
that the standing orders of the House should be imperative,
or what would be the situation of those whose claims were be-
/
fore the House, if they were to be destroyed by the votes of a
majority of members who never heard one word of the discus-
sion, and were not at all acquainted with the merits of the
case ? The parties so treated by any Committee, had no op-
portunity of appealing to the House. Since yesterday only,
he had heard that the merits of this Bill were so simple that a
Committee of 48 members could have entirely decided the
case. Ho trusted that the House would, for the sake of jus-
tice, observe the resolution of 1926.
The SPEAKER said it was certainly decided by the re-
solution of 1826, that all Committees should report upon
every private Bill, and that the parties connected with such
Bills should comply with the forms of the House. That re-
solution, however, was never made a standing order; the
House was therefore at perfect . liberty to deal with this ques-
tion according to its own judgment, freely and independnely,
being unshackled by any standing order whatever, 'Various
Bills were brought up, of which no Report ever was made.
Mr. WA RB URTON said the House must be obliged to the
Speaker for his statement, but he thought from what had faller
from him, it was clear that the Committee had not c,,-
with.plied the standing orders of the House, for
were not required to report the Bill; tl,-. Z; om-met tees
Y were required to
report the minutes of the proceed;- before- the Committee.
It was expedient that Corr
both in private and r . ....nittees gshould report the minutes
r üblic Bills. He would either give notice
at once that resDlution of 1826 should be made the stand-
ing order,. or Zive notice of bringing it oh to-morrow, which-
ev9' .:utd be most convenient to the House.
Mr. LUS HI NGTON—It was clear from what had been
stated by the Speaker that there was no standing order, nor
was it the practice of the House to make a. Report, and under
these circumstances lie thought the Committee in the pre-
sent instance were not bound to report.
Mr. HUME would not say that there was any standing
order to this effect. In the resolution which he had
proposed, and which had been adopted, there were two
parts, the first that the Committee should make a Re-
port, and secondly that they should report the minutes
of their proceedings. No. 27 of the standing orders
provided that the minutes of every Committee, upon every
contested private Bill, should be brought up.and laid on the
table of the House, with the report of the Bill. Here there
was a contested Committee the parties differed. The Com-
mittee had sat, but they had neither made a Report, nor
brought up the minutes of their proceedings ; and, conse.
quently, they had not complied with the standing orders of the
House.

ss-r!L

of asserting it; but it should beileeeollated that these
parties did not deny the authoritY of the • HousO,,- but
came before them in the form of respectful application.
They surely ought not to require those persons to perform
these duties without compensation—at least Ihey ought to
take timely notice of the application.
An HoN. MEMBER said that, instead of being paid, these
parties ought to be severely reprimanded. It seemed to hi,
that these Gentlemen were very well paid for the services
they performed.
Sir ROBERT INGLIS said it should bo recollected
that these parties were spending their money for the good ot
the public.
Mr. HUME thought the system under which these effieeli
were paid was in some way defective. The
tountry ought
to pay them a proper salary, and then
they should do
whatever business was required by thatHouse.—(Heari
hear.) Some of them bad merle charges of a moat
of nature, for the Returns forwarded by order
of the House of Commons; and if a proper salary we-, allowed
them, their whole time olould be devoted to the puUic business.
He had looked at the salaries paid to Clerk., of the Peace,
and he We bound to say, that on else average, they
were amply remunerated for all they did in their re
spective counties, and all they did for that Some general rule inould be laid down for the purpose of preHouse.
-
venting the e...ters of that House ft:CAI' being neglected ; a
great ck•lay occasionally took piLee, in consequence of tht,se
Returns not being made oi!.: "until the officers had ascertained
if the county would Tr.-y. them. He thought if the Returns
were not made, tie Clerks of the Peace should be called to the
bar of the 1-7.otise.
ifEATHCOTE hoped that while the inter.ats of the
Clerks of the Peace were attended to, those of the country
would not be neglected. Gentlemen we:e not, however,
aware of the heavy expense to which they were put in making
out these Returns. He had been informed, that one-fourth, and
frequently one-third of the annual charges made by the
Clerks of the Peace, were for Returns ordered by that House.
Under these circumstances he thought it would be better that
they should be paid out of the public funds than out of the
county rates.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
some of these officers were bound to make these Re-
turns without any charge at all.—( Hear.) Charges of
700/. and 8001. per annum had been made by some Irish
Clerks of the Peace, and after the matter had been taken up
in Parliament, the charges were discontinued, and the duty
was done free of any expense to the public.—(Hear.)
The Hon. FOX MA ULE had received no Return from
Buckinghamshire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, and only a
part Return from Pembroke. The Clerk of the Peace for
Caernarvon had stated that the Return was wade out, but al-
though three applications had been made to him, he had re-
fused to forward them until he had ascertained by whom ho
would be paid.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave
notice that if these Returns from Caernarvon were not made
forthwith, he should move that the Clerk of the Peace be re-
quired to attend at the Bar of the House..—(Loud cries of
" Hear, hear.")
After.a few words from Sir Matthew White Ridley, Major
Beauclerc, Mr. Aglionby, and Mr. Goulburn, tile uestion
was put from the Chair, that the Clerks of the Peace
f qor these
counties be required to make their Returns forthwith, and
was agreed to.