The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-25 00:00:00

PORAL OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN

AND IRELAND, IN PARLI-ASIENT ASSLMBLED.

The Humble Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of the
Inhabitants of the Western Portion of the Metropolis,
SIIEWETH:

That your petitioners beg leave to submit to your Lord-
ships, that the principle of the Acts of Parliament, under
which several Companies supplying the Metropolis with
Water were instituted, was to encourage competition ; see-
ing that is only from competition that a perfect security can
be had for a good, a cheap, and a plentiful supply.
That, nevertheless, by an arrangement entered into, about
the year one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, between
the several Companies supplying the Metropolis with Wa-
ter, all competition was put an end to, and a monopoly of
this necessary of life virtually established.
That the water taken up from the River Thames, at
Chelsea, for.the use of the inhabitants of the western por-
tion of the metropolis, being charged with the contents of
the great common sewers, the drainings from dung-hills
and lay-stalls, the refuse of hospitals, slaughter-houses, co-
lour, lead, and soap-works, drug-mills, and manufactories,
and with all sorts of decomposed animal and vegetable sub-
stances, rendering the said water offensive, and destructive
to health, ought no longer to be taken up, by any of the
Water Companies from so foul a source.

That the Grand Junction Water-works Company, hav-
ing engaged to supply their customers with water of the
purest and most wholesome quality, to be drawn from the
Rivers Coble and Brent, and from an immense reservoir of
nearly one hundred acres, fed by the streams of the Vale of
Ruislip, have, nevertheless, since the month of September,
1820, drawn their supply from the Thames, at the foot of
Chelsea Hospital, and nearly adjoining to the mouth of the
Great Ranelagh Common Sewer.

That the Water supplied by the Grand Junction Com-
pany, to more than seven thousand families, has been pro-
nounced, by professional men of the first eminence, to be a
filthy fluid, loaded with decayed vegetable matter and other
substances equally deleterious to health, and unfit for do-
mestic purposes.

That the Grand Junction Company, having promised to
supply their customers with water, at a comparatively
small charge, have, nevertheless, exacted an increased rate,
equivalent, in no came, to less than fifty per cent., and ex-
tending, in most instances, to ninety and a hundred per
cent. ; and that they obtained, in May last, the sanction
of the Legislature to a new table of rates, by which an ad-
dition of from fifty to three hundred per cent. may be
levied on their customers.

That your petitioner are convinced, that if an inquiry
be instituted by your Honourable House, the several allega-
tions of this petition will be satisfactorily established, and
that means will be discovered for placing the Supply of
Water to the Western portion of the Metropolis on a sure
and lasting foundation.

Your petitioners therefore, humbly pray, that your
Lordships will forthwith cause an inquiry to be made be-
fore a Committee of your Honoureble House.

And your petitioneis will ever pray.
Earl STANHOPE presented a petition from an indi
vidual of the county of Middlesex, complaining of the pre-
sent Bankrupt Laws.

Lord DACRE presented petitions from a hundred in the
North Riding of York ; from a hundred in Warwick ; and
from several parishes in Sussex, against the Corn Laws.
Lord KING presented petitions from Dundee, and from
the Board of Police at Dundee, in favour of the Corn
Laws. The Noble Lord had a petition to present from an
individual, who thought it better that Corn should come to
him cheap, than that he should be obliged to go to cheap
Corn. But as there was some informality in the petition,
his Lordship would not then press it.
Lord TEYNHAIII presented a petition from the county
of Kent, against any &Iteration in the Corn Laws.

Lord CURZON presented a similar one from Henley,
in Leicester.

The Earl of ABINGDON presented a similar one from
the vicinity of Abingdon, in Berks.
Lord DELAWARE presented a similar one nom Kent.

The Earl of DARLINGTON presented a petition from
the Protestant Dissenters of South Shields, praying for a
Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. His Lordship
read an extract of a letter which accompanied the petition.
The writer of the letter disclaimed, in the most unqualified
terms on the part of the Dissenters any intention to im-
pede or embarrass the present Government. The petitions
were then laid on the table.

Lord DUDLEY presented returns of the expenditure of
the Foreign Office department.

CORN BILL.

The Order of the Day for the House to resolve itself
into a Committe having been read,

Lord GODERICH rose and speke to the following
effect —lf, my Lords, I ask on the present occasion for
your patience and indulgence, I can assure you, I
do not ask it as a matter of favour, because inde-
pendently of intense importance of the question—inde-
pendently of the great interest which it is calculated to
excite among all classes; indeed, I may say, the vehement
feelings, if not passion, with which it is regarded
by its friends and opposers out of doors,—independently
of the ardour with which one class regard it a measure of
benefit, and of the terror with which, on the other hand, its
opposers contemplate it, independently of all these considera-
tions, I cannot, my Lords, but recollect in whose place I
now stand,--(Cheers.)--If my Lords, the Noble Earl,
lately at the head of his Majesty's Government, had not
been unable to attend and assist in your Lordships'
Councils, he would have been here to explain to
you the principles and details of this most import-
ant measure. When I recollect the number of years
during which that Nobleman acted a distinguished
part in thr deliberations of this House, when I recol-
lect that he had a capacity endowed with a clearness almost
peculiar to himself to explain, and simplify the most diffi-
cult and complicated subject ; and finally, when I recollect
that no man within these walls ensured by his per-
sonal character as well as by his strength of mind
and larger share of the confidence of your Lordships.
It is impossible that I should not:feel the weight which this
measure must have derived from his advocacy--(Cheers)
—and the immeasurable distance at which I am placed from
him. There is, however, my Lords, one point in which ,
(Left Speaking.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SPEAKER took the Chair, this day, precisely at
4 o'clock, and the House proceeded to business.

STIRLINGSHIRE ROAD BILL.
On the motion for the second reading of the Stirlingshire
Road Bill,
Mr. FERGUSSON proposed a clause to exempt the

Careen Company from toll, in conformity with some pre-
vious agreement. The Honourable Gentleman concluded
by moving, that the clause should be added to the Bill by
way of rider.

Mr. HOME DRUMMOND opposed the motion on the
ground that the introduction of the clause proposed by the
Hon. Gentleman would subject the county of Stirling to a
perpetual burthen, by obliging those persons entrusted
with the repairing of the road, to take the materials from
the Carron Company.

The clause proposed to be added to the Bill was nega-
tived without a division.
TEST 'AND CORPORATION ACTS.

Sir W. GUISE brought up a petition from Burton,
Gloucestershire, praying for the repeal of the Test and
Corporation Acts.

Mr. PORTMAN presented a similar petition from Dor-
chester.

A Message from the Lords brought up their Lordships'
asset to several Private Bills.

Mr. C. N. PALLMER brought up the report of a bill
to regulate the carriage of goods.
Mr. C. N. PALLMER presented a petition from the
Dissenters of the County of Surry, for the repeal of the
Test and Corporation Acts.

Mr. SOLICITOR-GENERAL brought up a report of
a bill to prevent arrests for debts under 201. upon mense
process, which was read a first time, and ordered to be read
a second time on Monday next,

CoIoneIISIBTHOPRE presented a petition from Lin-
coln, praying that a duty should be imposed on foreign
wool.

Mr. CURWEN presented a petition from Blunker-
hasset, in the county of Cumberland, praying for the re-
pert of the Teat and Corporation Acts. A similar peti-
tion was presented from Haylesbury, (Wilts.)
Similar petitions were presented from Wickly in the
county of Glamorgan, Newport, in the Isle of f'l'ight,
Ive, in Suffolk, and Royston, in Cambridge.
Sir N. COLTHURST presented a petition from the
Dissenters of Cork, praying to be exempt from serving the
office of Churchwarden.

Sir J. WROTTESLEY brought in the Bill for regu-
lating Election in Coventry.

Lord MOUNTCHARLES presented a petition from the
Grand Jury of the County of Donegal, praying the House
to pass an Act explaining the powers of Grand Juries.

Mr. J. WOOD presenting a petition from the Dissen-
ters of Horrich, Lancashire, for the Repeal of the Corpora-
tion and Test Acts.

Lord ALTHORP presented a similar petition from Long
Buckby, Northamptonshire, and another from Thame, in
Oxforshire.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL presented petitions for the
Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, from the Dis-
senters of London and its vicinity, from Hainwester,
in the County of Huntingdon ; from Cross-street Chapel,
Manchestester ; and from the Borough of Wallngton. Obser-
vations were made as to the feelings of the Dissenters upon
the Catholic Question, but he believed that the Dissenters,
like other classes of the community, were very much
divided on that question.

Mr. HUME presented a petition from the prisoners in
the gaol of Aberdeen, praying to be allowed some means of
support whilst in prison, and that the House would consi-
der the expediency of revising the laws connected with the
smuggling of spirits.

Arr. HUME also presented a petition from a parish in
the county of Galway, praying for the repeal of the Church
Rate Bill, and Parish Vestry Act.
Mr. HUME moved for a copy of the evidence given to
the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of free
labour in Trinidad.—Ordered.

Mr. J. W. DENISON presented a petition from King-
ston, Surrey, praying for the repeal of the Corporation
and Test Acts.