The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-04 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF LORDS.—(YESTERDAY.)
ROYAL COMMISSION.
The Royal Assent was given by commission to the
following bills :—The Consolidated Fund (8,000,0001.)
Insurers of Lives (Abatement of Income-tax) Continu-
ance ; Ministers Money (Ireland) ; Court of Exchequer
(Ireland) ; Calcutta and South Eastern Railway ; Ports-
mouth Railway ; North-Eastern Railway (capital) ;Dun-
barton Water; Islington Parish ; Brighton Hove ; Preston
Constant Water Service ; Exeter and Exmouth Railway;
Cork Gas ; Kidsgrove Market ; Great Yarmouth Brit-
tania Pier ; Bridgwater Market and Fairs ; Waterford
and Tramore Railway; Dublin and Wicklow Railway;
and Scotscraig Estate.
The Royal Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor,
the Earl of Harrowby, and Lord Monteagle.
Their lordships adjourned during pleasure.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
The Earl of DARTMOUTH presented a petition from
Bridgewater praying that corn might be sold at one de-
finite wei
ebt throughout the country.
Lord BELPER presented a petition from North-
ampton in favour of the .Te wish Disabilities Bill.

SECOND READINGS.
On the motion of Lord RenesnanE the following bills
were read a second time :—Caree's Estate, and Strat-
ford•upon-Avon Railway.
THIRD READINGS.
The following bills were severally read a third time
and passed :—Shepherd's Disabilities Removal, Wilm-
ston and Lawton Road, Fraserbury Harbour.
THE RATE OF EXCHANGE IN INDIA.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH called attention to
the alteration made in the rate of exchange to which the
East India Company are parties, in reference to the
reception of funds from this country, an an•
nouncement to that effect having appeared in the pub-
lic newspapers. The alteration was a mere reduction
in the rate of exchange of one farthing, being about 2i
in the pound. The alteration would come in propor-
tionate reduction in the price of bar silver and dollars.
It might be that the East India Company bad adopted
that course with a view of checking the export of silver
from this country, whip had increased to a great extent.
But whether sech was the purpose, or whether it was for
obtaining a larger amount of funds by offering more fa-
vourable terms for them, the effect would be precisely
the same. The Indian Government remitted money to
England in the following way :—Money was advanced
in India upon the receipt of goods hypothecated to the
Company, and it was transmitted hither in the shape of
bills. If those bills should happen not to be paid, it
was an act of bankruptcy. If, however, they were paid,
the danger of the Government at present was very great
in paralysing the operations of commerce. The revenue
of India was subject to great danger. In the first place
there was great danger in the non-collection of imposts.
There was further danger from being unable to
transmit the remaining funds to this country. He should
be glad to know the course the Government intended to
pursue under these circumstances.
Barl GRANVILLE—The Government were fre-
quently indebted to the noble earl for his suggestions.
The subject alluded to by the noble earl bad not
escaped the notice of her Majesty's Government.
There was no fear to apprehend a total drain in that
country. He assured the noble lord the Government
wculd closely watch the matter, and take care that the
finances of the country were kept in a safe and healthy
condition.
IRISH REPRESENTATIVE PEERS.
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the following
resolution :—That all petitioners claiming a right
to vote at the election of representative peers
for Ireland, by virtue of peerages under
which a right to vote had been admitted by the House
of Lords of the United Kingdom, bs referred to the
Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to
consider and report thereupon, and the Lord Chancel-
lor or Lord Keeper is upon such reference to consider
the matter of the said petition, and to make his report
thereupon to the house.
After a few observations from Lord REDESDALE
the motion was agreed to.
THE MURDER OF MR. PRICE.
Earl TALBOT rose to move for the production of
correspondence relative to the murder of the late Mr.
John Price, of Melbourne, inspector of convicts. He
did not think it necessary to go into the details of this
most barbarous transaction. Suffice it to say that Mr.
Price was among the convicts in the execution of his
duty when they set upon him and stoned him to death.
From the best information which he could obtain he
thought there was no doubt that this offence was the re-
sult of a plan among the convicts, and that they were
induced to carry this plan into execution by the false
and morbid sympathy which bad been excited by the
case of a man earned Melville, who had committed a
murder, but was acquitted on a legal point. Tile jury
at the inquest found a verdict of wilful murder against
fifteen persons, and appended to it an opinion cot.
curred in by all but two of their number, that
" one cause of the unfortunate occurrence has
been the misplaced sympathy exhibited by a portion
of the public, which has by some reason become known
to the prisoners." He thought that this showed a case
for investigation by the executive Government, in order
that provision might be made that the men should be
properly guarded and kept from influences such as these.
This unfortunate relative of his bad been 15 years in
Norfolk Island, where his character was unimpeach-
able, and where he performed his duties with great
firmness, but with great kindness. When the convicts
were removed from Norfolk Island the same duties of
'inspection were imposed upoe him as he had formerly
discharged in that colony. The feeling wh:ch existed
with regard to this matter was shown by a letter which
appeared in one of the Melbourne papers, in which it
was stated that the convicts had obtained some copies of
the report of the citizens' committee, which was a self-
constituted body, which professed to inquire into the state
of the prisons, and also some of the journals con.aining
the report of a public meeting at which Mr. Price was
held up to public indignation as a cruel monster. The
result of this was the production of much insubordination
among the prisoners, who alternately threatened and
jeered the warders, reminding them of the citizens' com-
mittee, and threatening them with public indignation.
At the inquest Mr. Blandford, the superintendent of the
Lysander hulk, said that on the day of the murder Mr.
Price's manner was very kind—almost fatherly. Since
the Melville business they had had a very difficult time ;
discipline bad been relaxed. Mr. Price bad made con-
cessions, and the officers had lost control over the men.
On the day of the murder Mr. Price was firmer than
usual in refusing further concessions, although he did it
in the mildest manner. It was stated that the officers
were unarmed, and the reason given for for this Ras that
as there were only 12 or 18 men to control 150 or 160
of these desperate ruffians, they were afraid that
if they carried arms the convicts would seize them
and turn them against themselves. He thought that the
facts which he had stated were quite sufficient to justify
him in moving for the production of this correspondence
and in asking the Government to give an assurance that
the matter would be inquired into and justice done to
the memory of his late lamented relative, for whose
widow and six orphans he was glad to learn that the
colonial Legislature had made a handsome provision, and
who had an additional claim upon this country owing to
his having married a near relative of Sir J. Franklin.
The noble earl concluded by moving for the correspon•
dence.

Earl GRANVILLE was sure that their lordships
would entirely approve the language in which the noble
earl had spoken of this diabolical outrage. The Govern-
ment had not the slightest objection to the production of
this correspondence, which would give the detail of this
most cowardly murder, and would also exhibit the cir-
cumstances which had led to it.

TRANSFER OF LAND.
Lord BROUGHAM rose to call their lordships' at-
tention to the ruinous expense imposed by the law with
regard to the transfer of real property. He had the
honour of presenting a petition from Mr. Fawcett, a
conveyancer of great eminence in the county of Cumber-
land, who, in conjunction with the late Mr. Aglionby,
had been the author and originator of the. Summary
Jurisdiction Act. Mr. Fawcett in his petition detailed
the great grievances under which landed proprietors and
those who wished to become purchasers of land laboured
in consequence of the state of the law respecting the
transfer of real property ; he recommended a general
measure for the registration of titles, and he offered in
support of it the results of his own experience. He states
that in one of the largest manors in the county, contain-
ing some 400 or 500 tenements, of which he had been
the steward for 30years, neatly every tenement had been
transferred by sale or death. The deed of transfer in 113
terosnesa,o
fnptaairnceelsmb oeyreotnhda nt
hle9no
uwmo rbdesr ; tot htehree
tweeereemneondteistic rt ihpe.
manor-book. During the whole time that he bad been
steward of that manor there never had been a question
rased of boundary or identification of parcels, and the
expense of transfer, whether it was of one or 100 acres,
instead of been 6001. or 7001., had never amounted to
more than 7s. This proved, at the very least, that a great
and salutary change might be made in the law in respect
to the conveyance of land. The Master of the Bolls, in
giving evidence before the commission on th.e subject,
said that our system of conveyancing, and, indeed, our
whole law relative to the transfer of real property, was
one which might have been devised expressly to render
laud as little an article of commerce, and as littl vendible
and purchasable as possible. Bills were sent down from
this house on the subject in the years 1852 and 1863, and
in the latter year the subject was referred to a select
committee of the other house. That committee recom-
mended that a commission should be appointed to in.
quire into the whole subject. 'bat was done, and the
commission had just presented a report containing a
number verythe
useful suggestions.
valuabt eNothing
information,
Jpresent state of the law on this subject. Land, instead of
masssefu
being as easily transferable as bank stock, was, owing to
the principle and practice of our law, the most difficult
article of transfer. In fact, it was in tome cases actually
sad
abe
worse
t h o
impossible to transfer it. He therefore heartily rejoiced
to hear that the commission Lad recommended the in-
troduction of two most important measures with is pert
to this subject, and he should be glad to learn from the
noble and learned lord on the woolsack that these mea-
sures were in a state of forwardness. ft was most judi-
cious of the commissioners to recommend that along with
a measure for the registration of titles, there should also
be a measure for the improvement of the law respecting
the transfer of land. Generally speaking these impoi taut
measures would meet with no great opposition. There
might be some difficulty with respect to the registration
of titles, from the want of the proper charts and maps. The
Select Committee had found that a great difficulty. But
the Tithe Commissioners possessed a great body of maps
and charts, as did the municipal corporations, so that he
would fain hope there might be found a sufficient body of
maps and charts to render legislation effectual. He