The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-18 00:00:00

IN RE BAKER.

The bankrupt in this case, was described as a mer-
chant, and had been well known as a large dealer in
corn. The amount of debts was stated to he immense.
Mr. Commissioner EVANS having inquired if army
creditor wished to examine the bankrupt, and no per-
son answering, the proof of debts was proceeded with.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS. • •
(THIS DAY.) •
RENTAL OF THE COUNTT-•SYSTEM OF ASSESSMENT.
The CHAIRMAN said, as the case of one parish stood
over from the business of yesterday at the Guildhall,-
Westminster, which was:the .receiving parochial re=
turns of assessments for the purpose, of making the.
county rate and, as the return from the parish re-
specting which there had been then some, difficulties,

was now put in, he would take the present opportu-
nity of stating what it was important to the whole
county to know—namely, the state of the law as to

the county rate. About four or five years —4;, an
Act, introduced by Mr. Poulett Scrope, was passed
for the purpose of making the rating equal all
throughout the country upon the real property.
That Act had created great difficulty, and it was sur-
prising how different were the assessments in different
parishes. As far as separate parishes were considered,

it was of no importance to the parishioners individually,
how the assessments were made, if they were upon an
equal rating. But it made a great difference to the
other parishes of the county, if in one parish the
rating was lower than in those others, as they had to
bear more than their fair proportion of the rate.
On this sukect there was considerable complaint in
some of the greater parishes of Middlesex, that others
were not rated at their proper rate ; and many at-
tempts were made to remedy the disease. But he
thought there was only one way in which that could
be done, and that must be by the aggrieved parishes
themselves, by appealing against the improper rating
to the Magistrates at Quarter Sessions, under the Act
of the 35th of George the Third, under which the
Magistrates themselves had now power of taking initi-
ative measures. If St. George's, Hanover-square, and
St.Marylebone felt aggrieved by the too low rating of St.
Pancras, they would send in an appeal to that bench,
who had the power to relieve them, and would take
care to do so. There was another mode, under the
Act of the 55th of Geo. 3d, which applied to all the
other counties in the kingdom except Middlesex.
That Act gave to Justices the power to adjudicate on
petitions, in such cases. But under the Act which
he had referred to, the Magistrates could not initiate
proceedings, without revising the entire assessment of
the county, the rental of which was five million
nine hundred and ninety odd thousand pounds
—a task, which it was not for them to un-
dertake whilst another remedy was at hand.
He, therefore, recommended the aggrieved parishes to
appeal, and assured them that the Court would give
the fullest consideration to so important a question.

OPPRESSIVE BAIL.
A middle-aged woman having been acquitted of a
trumpery assault, on a charge of which she had been
imprisoned already upwards of a month, having been
committed by Mr. Clive (at Kentington) for want
of bail,
The CHAIRMAN said the woman ought never to
"bate been imprisoned at all. There was no more
oppressive abuse of English law than the practice of
committing accused persons to prison for want of
In this case the Magistrate ought not to have sent the
woman to prison for a month on such_ a ground.

Lord Prudhoe, when a boy of 14 or 15
years o
ar,e and holding the rank of Alidshipman in the navy,
was on board the late Admiral Cochrane's ship on the
West India station, when a terrific hurricane de-
stroyed nearly all the houses, plantations, &c., on the
island of St. Kitt's. The more wealthy inhabitants
of the-island set on foot a subscription for the relief
of their indigent neighbours, and, after a considerable
sum had been raised, sent the subscription list on
board the fleet. Admiral Cochrane added his name
for 1001., which sum was also subscribed by the. Ad-
miral who was second in command. The list was
then passed to the Captains of the several ships, who
subscribed 501. each ; the Lieutenants followed, with
201. each ; and the Midshipmen were then called on
for their contributions, some of whom subscribed 51.,
some 11., and some smaller sums, according to the state of
their " lockers." When the list was placed in the hands
of Lord Prudhoe, then Lord Algernon Percy, his
Lordship wrote with a bold hand—" Percy, 1,6001."
The list having been returned to the Admiral, he was
greatly surprised on beholding this entry, and sent
for the young Lord, of whom he inquired if he had
the means to pay the amount he had placed opposite
his name. His answer,,wic, thAadtmofiralenßuaiinde warm-
heartedhe,,
e
answer
sv
le%
.er not, Britishbut
seemed
the
st
ona
old
atetrhisotmice,
dc
characteristic c
noble, that Admiral Cochrane deterNa‘ma'nildilnptehad'3e'toiatc:;
of Northumberland, to whom: he immediately
commu-
nicate the facts to his Lord.,
wrote.
rn To
se
p's father, the late Duke
'When his Grace received the Admiral'sin reference
letter he burst
into tears, and exclaimed,
per to his son,
" He is worthy the name of
be paid," and immediately transmittede3thetomtohnneym- shallana.
mana-
gers of the fund for the relief of the sufferers a check
on his bankers for 1,0001,--Durham--DurhamAdveritiser.