The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-17 00:00:00

COURT. OF SEWERS

A special meeting of the Court of Sewers for the City
and Liberty of Westminster, and parts of the county of
Middlesex, was held yesterday at the offices of the Court
in Greek• street, Soho, for the purpose of proceeding
with the examination of applicants for the contemplated
appointments of new Assistant-Surveyor and Fourth
Clerk of the Works, and other business.
Mr. WILLou` cuny took the chair at twelve o'clock,
and the examination of the different applicants for the
office of the new Assistant-Surveyor (of which there
were no less than 32) having been concluded, it appeared
that the Court had selected only six gentlemen out of
that number to be put in nomination as candidates at a
future day It was afterwards proposed, and after some
little discussion carried, that only three of that number
should be put in nomination, and that the election should
take place the first Court day aft►r Friday next. Every
Commissioner present, with the exception of Mr. Leslie
(who protested against the whole proceeding), having
sent in to the Chairman the names of the three gentlemen
they thought most efficient to fill the office,
The CHAIRMAN announced that the choice of the
Court had fallen upon Mr. Fowle, Mr. Hawkins, and
3,1 r. Hughes, to stand as candidates for the office of the
new Assistant Surveyor.
These gentlemen were then called in, and informed of
the decision of the Court ; as were also the other three
gentlemen who had been omitted; the latter of whom with-
drew, after a high eulogium had been passed upon them
by the Chairman for the talent they had displayed in the
answers given by them to the questions put by the Court.
The Court then proceeded to examine the candidates,
and their testimonials, for the office of Fourth Clerk of
the Works. Six individuals applied for this office, and
out of that number only one—a person named Phillips—
proved himself at all competent to fill the office. After
some discussion as to whether another advertisement
should be put in the papers calling for further applica-
tions, it was determined that that step should not be
adopted. Mr. Phillips was then called in, and received
no doubt, to him, the gratifying intelligence of the pro-
bability of the Court electing him to the office on the
next court-day after Friday next. It was then inti-
mated to him that he must attend on that day, but the
Court, doubtless thinking it unnecessary, issued no sum-
mons, warrant, or decree, for the purpose of compelling
him to do so.
The CHAIRMAN having officially announced that the
election would take place on the first Court day after
Friday next,
Mr. LESLIE suggested that it would be but decent
that the election should not take place till the Court had
decided upo❑ his motion, the effect of which was, that
neither of these officers should be appointed.
The CHAIRMAN said that the Court could not specu-
late upon the result of a motion to be proposed by any
Honourable Commissioner. He then called upon Mr.
Leslie to proceed with the motion of which he had given
notice, with respect to the appointment of Chairman.
Mr. LESLIE then, in an able and unanswerable speech,
which we are unable to give at any length in consequence
of the lateness of the hour at which it was brought for-
ward, and the bad arrangements of the Court to dispel
artificially the declining light of day, brought forward
his motion for the repeal of the 17th Bye-law, under
which they elected a chairman annually. He was totally
at a loss to know under what authority they made such an
election. The Court was constituted under the authority
of the statute of Henry the Eighth, but that statute gave
them no authority to elect a chairman. The Court, in
electing a chairman annually, was acting under a bye-
law, which was at variance with the principles of justice,
law, and common sense. The statutes of Henry the
Eighth and Elizabeth had been found defective, and to
remedy those defects the Act of the 3d and 4th of Wil-
liam the Fourth, chap. 22, had been passed ; and that
Act had been further improved by an Act passed in the
present reign. Now, what did the Act of the 3d and
4th of William the Fourth provide ? Why, that the
chairman should be elected daily. He knew how he
*shOuld be Met on 'this point, and that was by stating
that that Act did not apply to that Court ; he asserted
fearlessly that it did, after having had conversations with
some of the most eminent legal men of the present day.
It was true they had the opinions of Sir Wm. Home and
Sir J. Campbell, when Attorney and Solicitor-Generals,
that it did not affect them ; but it must be remembered
that those opinions
,were founded on cases got up
by some of the mysterious proceedings which had
for years surrounded that Court, and which he
wished to put :an end to. It was not his
desire to hold any threats over the Court ; all
that he was anxious for was the public interest, and
the public good ; they all sat as Commissioners there
for that purpose, and that alone, and nothing on earth
should induce him to swerve from the line he had

chalked out for himself, which was to make the Court
as serviceable as possible to the public. As he had said
before, he wished to hold out no threats, but if his pre-

, .
sent motion was negatived it was his determination to.
morrow to direct his solicitor (of course at his own ex.

pense), to apply to the Court of Queen's Bench, that the
order made by that Court (the Sewers) should be en-
tered on the files of the Court of Queen's Bench. The

Hon. Commissioner concluded by moving that the 17th
Bye-law should be rescinded, as contrary to the Statute
of Sewers, particularly the 3d and 4th of William IV.
Some considerable discussion then took place, in which

Mr. White, the Chairman, and several other 'Commis

sioners, joined, which ended in a show of hands being
taken, when there appeared—
For Mr. Leslie's motion
Against it 8
Majority against Mr. Leslie's motion —2
Mr. LESLIE submitted that two Commissioners pre-
sent not having voted there was no legal majority against
his motion ; but the worthy Commissioner's observations
were tDtally unheeded amid the noise of the Commis-

sioners leaving the Court, no doubt anxious to get home,
fearing their dinners might be cold.
The Court adjourned at half-past six o'clock.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS

FROM TIM MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
CITY, TUESDAY EVENING.
TIMES.--The 'premium on gold at Paris is 12fr per
mille, which, at the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. loid.
per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 25
46i ; and the exchange at Paris on London at short
being 25 60, it follows that gold is 0.54 per cent.
dearer in London than in Paris.

By advices from Hamburgh the price of gold is 4361
per mark, which, at the English Mint price of 31.175. 100.
per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 13 10t;
and the exchange at Hamburgh on London at short
being 13 11, it follows that gold is 0.12 per cent. dearer
in London than in Hamburgh.

The course of exchange at New York on London is
109 per cent., and the par of exchange between Eng-
land and America being 109 23-40 per cent., it follows
that the exchange is 0.58 per cent. against England.
But the quoted exchange at New York being for bills
at 60 days' sight, the interest must be deducted from
the above difference. _ .

The annual— meeting of the Proprietors of the St. Ka-
tharine Dock Company took place to-day, at the Dock-
house, Tower-hill, and it appeared from the accounts
and statement then made, that the credit balance brought
forward on the Ist of January, 1843, was 121,1841. 19s.
9d., while the like balance brought forward on the Ist
inst. was 112,911/. 18s. sd. It therefore shows that the
nett earnings during the past year have been less than in
the preceding year, although by the official returns it
seemed that the business transacted in the docks during
the year, as regarded goods and shipping, had, upon
the whole, increased, when compared with 1842. Mr.
Took, the chairman, stated that the decrease in the
amount of earnings was therefore not attributable to a
diminution in the extent of business, but arose from the
circumstance of the description of articles landed having
been of a less costly character, and the rates, conse-
quently, not so productive. The Directors, therefore,
upon mature consideration, determined to recommend
the declaration of the usual dividend of 2f per cent. for
the half-year ending the 31st december, the amount of
income-tax to be defrayed by the Company.
SUN.—The Funds closed much the same. Consols, 96k;
Exchequer Bills, 80s. prem. ; and Reduced Three-and-a-
Half per Cents., 102 f Bank Stock was at 187 to 188.
The Foreign Market was quiet. Spanish Actives
were 22f to f ; Mexican, 32i ; Colombian, Ilk to k ;
Brazilian, 77.

,
The Railway Shares have been again quiet, but the
leading lines have supported their value.
The Foreign Exchanges did not vary to any extent.
Paris were a shade lower.

There were no exports of specie during the week up to
Thursday last.
COURSE OF EXCHANGE.—(YESTERDAY.)
Amsterdam CF. 12 6i Gibraltar ..
Ditto, at sight
Rotterdam ...2 U. 12 6i Genoa , 26 8
Antwerp -26 0 Milan
Hamburgh : M. 8.-13 15 Venice
Altona
Paris, 3 days' sight ... 25 75 Palermo, per oz 118 i
Ditto, 3 months 25 95 11 isbon
Marseilles
Bourdeaux 26 5 Rio Janeiro 23
Frankfurt on Maine ...122 Bahia
Petersburgh, 3 Us. ;... 36i Buenos Ayres --

Berlin.

.••,..• 00000000 7

New York, 21 days sight 46i

Vienna, effec. fl. 3M. 959
Trieste, ditto ... 10 0
Madrid ... 36.1
Cadiz 36*
Bilbao 36
Barcelona
Seville

Philadelphia 4€
PRICES OF BULLION, PER OF.
Foreign Gold, bars £3 17 9
Portugal Gold Coin.. 317 5
'New Doubloons 0 0 0
New Dollars 0 4 19A
Silver in Bars... 0 4 1*

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTEL-

LIGENCE.

COURT-MARTIAL.—The Lords Commissioners of
the Admiralty, at the request of Colonel Parker,
C. 8., commandant of the Woolwich division of Royal
Marines, have ordered a court-martial to assemble this
day at Woolwich, for the trial of a private marine,
named Knowles, for striking a non-commissioned
officer.

The Hon. R. Pakenham, Envoy Extraordinary to
the United States, and W. Bankhead, Esq., the newly..
appointed Minister to Mexico, have arrived at De-
vonport, the former to embark in the Vestal, 26,
Capt. Talbot, for New York, and the latter in the
Ilelena,l6, Commander Sir C. Ricketts, for Jamaica.
SURVEYING EXPEDITIONS BY THE AMERICANS.—
The Phoenix, American sloop-of-war, Lieutenant
Sinclair, is ordered by the American overnment to
proceed to Cuba, for the purpose of ascertaining and
laying down the accurate position of an island called
Bax del Combo, said to be situated in a channel
through which all the American West India vessels
cruise, on the south side of Cuba, and near the noto-
rious Isle of Pines. This island of Combo was thrown
up a few years since many feet above the level of the
sea, by one of those mighty and violent convulsions
of nature which so often agitate and disrupt that de-
lightful portion of the globe.