The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-17 00:00:00

,lightest degree, the view which we took a few
Jays ago of the state of the country; hut every
thing, on the contrary, to confirm it in its fullest

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY Nov. 16.
FELLOWS V. LORD GWYDYR.

extent.

" At the public dinner, in celebration of the open-
ing of the Leeds Commercial Buildings," says the
Leeds Mercury. " Mr. Gervase Walker, one of the
Trustees of the Leeds White Cloth Hall, took oc-
easion to say, ' that an improvement had already
:;:ken place in trade. and that he expected a still
further improvement.' fhe accuracy of this obser-
vation having been publicly called in question, and
'sir. Walker having been referred to the state of
own district in refutation of his remarks, that
eentleman has called upon us to request that we will
say, on his behelf, :hat his observations on the above
occasion were trade after due reflection, and that
further inquiry has fully confirmed their truth. He.
wishes us also to add, that if the state of the cloth-
ing district, which he represents as Trustee, may be
taken as a proof of the general state of trade, it esta-
blishes instead of refuting his observetion; for,
though three months ago, a considerable number of
persons of the woiking classes were unemployed,
there is at the present time scarcely an individual in
the neighbourhood, of sober and industrious habits,
without full work.
" Mr. Walker did not wish to represent that
there was existing any great degree of prosperity in
trade ; he meant only to assert, that after a severe
depression a revival had taken place, which he and
every friend to his country roust wish to see still
further extended. The domestic clothiers who have
suffered for many years from the extensive use of
machinery in large manufactories are, he has reason
to hope, at present rising superior to their difficulties,
and that valuable body of men, with good manage-
trent, and- with the economical advantages of their
country situations, are likely again to hold a re-
spectable station in the manufacturing districts of
Yolk .hire. The improvement, Mr. Walker ob-
erves, is not confined to the woollen cloth trick,
but has extended to the woollen 3,arn also, and
the manufacturers in that line in Llorbury and the
neighbourhood are more actively employed at this
time than usual in executing orders for the hosiers."
Now even this statement, the most favourable
that has yet been published, utterly deities that
there is " any great degree of prosperity in
trade ;" while in the same paper it is mentioned
that " certain manufacturers at Meltham, near
Huddersfield, are paying the wages of their
workmen in shop-goods, which are •10 per cent.
dearer titan at Huddersfield, and the poor ope-
ratives are obliged to be silent, or go without
work. Slaithwaite is catching
.the contagion,

His LORDSHIP also gave judgment in this case.
After considering the case as made by Counsel at, the
bar and by the evidence, he saw no mason for sup•
porting the defence which Mr. Page had set up.
lie thought it was not trade to appear that the
treaty entered into by him was made with Lord
Gwydyr and with nobody else, and that he was
therefore bound in eqqity to perform it.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Nov. 16.
STANFORTII V. LYALL.

Mr. Serjeunt STEPHEN moved for a rule to show
cause why the damages awarded by the arbitrator
in this cause should not be increased from nominal
damages to. 5001. The plaintiff was the owner of
the Sesostris, which was chartered by the defendant
for a voyage from England to New Zealand and
back, he binding himself under a penalty of 5001.
that his agent should put a full cargo on board at
that place. The agent was unable to fulfil this con-
dition, and the vessel was taken to Batavia cn her
way home. She there procured a full cargo, from
which the plaintiff derived considerable profit. The
action was brought for breach of contract, on the
part of the defendant, in not shipping a cargo at New
Zealand ; and the defendant contended he was en-
titled to set off the profit derived by the plaintiff
from the cargo shipped at Batavia. The question
having been referred to arbitration, the arbitrator
allowed the defendant's claim of set off, and gave
the plaintiff only nominal damages. The Learned
Serjeant was proceeding to argue that the arbitrator
had acted mistakenly, when
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE observed, that as the
question was one of great importance, it would be
desirable that it should receive the most solemn con-
sideration of the Court, in the shapeof a special case.
The Learned. Counsel on either side having no
objection, the suggestion of the Court was adopted.

and Howley, Almondbury, atlton, and other
places, it is feared, may be driven to follow the
pernicious example." This is tantamount to
saying that employment is not yet sufficiently
abundant to enable the workman to denund his
wages in the current coin of the realm, and that.
though he nominally receives what might appear
decent-wages for the exertion of his industry,
the manufacturer is obliged, in order to pay
them, and secure a remuneration for his capital,
to have recourse to means which leave in his
hands 10 per cent of the whole sum. • This is
anything but " a revival of trade," or an " abun-
dance of employment ;" but copying still from
the same paper, we find in it, under the head of
" Turn out among the Farmers," the following
rather startling announcement :
" We stated," says it, " in our paper of the 10th
ult., that a great number of the farmer;, finding it
impossible to pay their present rents, had intimated
their intention to quit their farms, and that one
landlord in Cheshire had, in a single week, received
notices from twenty-four of his tenants, of their
intention to quit at the end of their year; this ex-
ample is spreading, and a gentleman who represents
' one of the oldest families in Lincolnshire, has re-
ceived notices from nearly forty of his tenants, of
their intention' to quit their farms from their inca-
pacity to pay their present rents."
In another part it is mentioned that " the
defalcation in rents will, it is supposed, prevent
many fami!ies from visiting London this winter,"
and we do not in the least doubt such being the
result ; for the contraction of the currency by
the suppre,sion of the stnall notes, has not only
added greatly to the rents of all those who had
contracted with the landlord for money payment,
and, by injuring trade, diminished the consump-
tion, and, of course, also the prices, of agri-
cultural produce, but deprived them of that ae-
cominodation and those facilities in obtaining
loans from country bankers, which saved many
from bankruptcy during a temporary pressure of
distress, and tended to alleviate the burthen of
more permanent calamities. The accounts Of the
cattle markets in every 'mit of the country, amply
prove the fall in the farmer's receipts ; while
it is rather under, than above the mark,
to state, that by the contraction of the cur-
rency, full twenty per cent. has been added to
the rent payable by the farmer. We make these
observations, not for the purpose of aiding to
the already gloomy state of our markets, but
from the more laudable motive of preventing rash
and ruinous speculations. At every similar
season to the present, when a partial revival of
business has succeeded to a severe depression,
there have never been wanting hundreds of indi-
viduals with more money than wisdom, who,
speculating on a continued rise, have rushed
into the market—needlessly raised the demand
for labour, and the price of goods, for a season,
and afterwards discovered, when failure and
bankruptcy had overtaken them, that the im-
proved market on which they calculated was no
where to be found. Now we are desirous of
impressing on our readers that there is nothing
in the present state of trade to encourage specu-
lation—that the only safe business is that which
passes almost immediately from hand to hand—
and that those who attempt to do it on other
terms, attempt it at the hazard of all that they
may embark in it.—Morning Advertiser.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER, Nov. 16.
THE NEW CUsTo3I-11oUsE.
HENRY PETO U. TIIE ATTORNEY-GENERAL,
This cause, which had been postponed on ac-
count of the Court not being full, came on by ap-
pointment this morning.
Mr. PEPYS (on behalf of the plaintiff in equity,
Mr. Peto), rose to support a motion for an injunc-
tion to restrain his Majesty's Attorney-General from
proceeding to issue an execution upon a judgment
obtained against Mr. Pew in a court of law. The
judgment itself was now of two years' standing, and
yet the law officers'of the Crown, who had thought
it advisable to let it remain in abeyance so long, now
wished to sue out execution. Mr. Pepys then pro-
ceeded, before he went into his own case, to detail
the whole of the proceedings from the commence-
ment. In 1812, advertisements first appeared, call-
ing for tenders for building the proposed new
Custom-house according to plans and specifications
then to be seen in the office of the Custom-house
Secretary. Mr. Peto, among others, sent in a tender,
which was accepted, for completing the work for a
sum of 165,0001., of which 153,0001. was for the
erection, and 12,0001. for piling. A bond was then
entered into between Mr. Peto anti Mr. John Miles,
who was joined with him, and the Commissioners
of the Customs, and the building was stipulated to
be completed by March, 1815, provided possession
of the ground could be obtained within a given time.
It was also stipulated that Mr. Peto and Mr. Miles
were to provide good and sufficient materials of all
kinds necessary for the work; that the materials
were to be subject to the inspection of the Surveyor
of the Customs, or such other person as the Com-
missioners should direct, and that the Commis-
sioners or their surveyor might order extra work
to be done besides what was stated in the specifica-
tions,
or might order less, the valve of which should
be added ;o er deducted ft om the amount of the con-
tract as the case might be. The piles were directed,ac-
cordimg to the specifications, to be driven not less than
two feet under the stratum of hard gravel. This was
the nature of the contract into which Mr. Peto
entered, It appeared, in the plans exhibited to Mr.
Pew, that there was a s:ratum of gravel five feet
six inches under the surface of the earth, and the
piles being to lie cerried two feet into the gravel,
the piles would be seven feet six inches, and allow-
ing a foot and a half waste for driving the piles,
made the length of the piles nine feet. This was
according to the plans, though it was denied by the
other side. When Mr. Pew began to open the
ground, instead of a stratum of gravel, nothing but
old walls, the ruins of decayed wharfs, &c. were
found, and also mud, which had formerly been
part of the bed of the river. Mr. Laing, the sur-
veyor to the commissioners, then reserved to him-
self the power of directing that the piles should
be driven differently, as it was impossible to drive
them according to the plaits. Under Mr. Laing's
directions, therefore, the alterations were made, and
the building eventually completed, though in a dif-
fin eat way from that specified in the plans, as a
proof of which it was only necessary to oloserve,
that instead of its costing only 165,060/., the origi-
nal araount of the contract, it cost 371,2351., to
such an enormous extent were the provisions of the
contract departed from. In 1817, the building
being then completed, Messrs. Srnirke and Browne
were directed by the Commissioners to examine if
it was completed satisfactorily, and they, on the
19th of December of that year reported that it
- was. On the I Ith of May, 1820, Mr. Laing re-
ported the amount of Mr. Peto's claim, which was
371,251., of which sum 315,7731. had then been
paid.
Baron VAUGHAN—Was it on the trial contended
or conceded that Laing had any authority to order
the alterations ?
Mr. PEPYS said that was one of the wain points
in dispute. However, there appeared still to be due
to Mr. Peto 55,4621, which was to have been im-
mediately paid, though in point of fact, 13,7601.
more was due, but would not be insisted on ; its it
• was not paid, of course Mr. Peso's demand was
now 69,2221. In 1823, Mr. Pcto offered to
refer the mat ter to arbitration, but that
the Commissioners refused to agree to; he then
proposed to have an action brought, which was
agreed to, but after the case was set down for trial,
the Crown officers withdrew the record, 011 the
ground that the Commissioners could not be made
personally liable. While Mr. Peto was thus strug-
gling to obtain a settlement, two of the piers of the,
building in January presented symptoms of decay,
'I:11E BITER BIT.—On Wednesday last, a and gave way. One point in this case was what
dashing traveller, with a horse and gig, called at the house was the cause of this failure ? The earth was then
of a country gentleman, six miles from Nottingham, and cleared away, and the foundation exposed to the
tfftred sonic woollen cloth for sale. Ile succeeded in view of any persons to explore it; upon which Mr.
making a bargain, and received four savereigns ear a piece, Peto even then agreed to a reference, which was
which he said cont.tined seven yards ; but on examination, refused. In Trinity Term, 1825, the Officers of
the Crown instituted two proceedings, one against
after Lis departure, fi:und to measure only three yards and
Laing for improper conduct and neglect of his duty,
a half! This was too gross a fraud to he passed unno-
ticed, consequently the circumstance was made known flcias
against Mr. pet°,
survey and architect, and the other was a tcire
fur the forfeiture of his
without delay to an active / °astable, who immediately
bond. In action against Mr. Peto were eleven
went in pursuit, and succeeded in about an LOW' and a
issues. ith these Nines the case went to trial be-
•
half in meeting flee traveller at 2outhwell. On being W
asked if he had not just sold "MC woollen cloth to a lien- fore the Lord Chief Baron, and the Jury found for
tlernin a few miles off, he replied, "Oh yes, nail I have the Crown only on tire first issue, and for the de-
woele a mistake." He eras then requested to return in fendant on all the others. An application after-
ii
' propria persona, but 1:e alleged that his bory was too wards was made for a new trial by bsth parties, and
much fdigued. Finding, however, that he must return, lat length the Clown Officers entered up judgment
lie at length engaged a post-chaise, in whicb, with the on the ground that Mr. Peto hail no authority to
constable, he was conveyed to make the aavude honour- depart from the terms of his contract ; it was that
able. On arriving at the house, he euleavoured politely
which compelled Mr. Peto now to come to this
.."-'ottrt far an injunction. .after detailing still fur-
to ap(degise for the mistake be had male, and sans eere-
await returned the four sovereigns, in fle expectation that
of his ease, the Learned Counsel was
he hhould the-rehy be allo,..'ed to depart in peace ; hut, un-
fortunately for hiat, ;:s it often happens to others, he lead
sezucely g,;,t cut of one difficultY etc another met him, for I Mr. Baron Gattnow (it being past three o'clock,
itil:tett: rr tli:TertifT.C.l ethy
having been apprehended by Mr. LOVETT, inspector of and the !ferried Couesel having begun his speech
Hawker,' Licences, he was requested to produce his at eleven 0 clock), who asked if Mr. Pepys would
(Trice. Here he fell short again ; and after some hesita- be long before he concluded, as Mr. Baron Vaughan
tion, he confessed he had not get otie. This again COllld was obliged to leave the Court.
The SOLICIToII43PNERAL must beg. to inform
not b.t! suffered to pas unnoticed, and information being
immediately ]dill before Roam PaDLEY, the yen-
Mr. Pepys, that when lie (Mr. Pepys) should have
stated his case, he intended to take an objection to
tienern was vonvicted in the penalty of 101., for having
the_jurtsutetion of the Court in this matter
exposed for sale a quantity of cloth, without being duly. - . _
u,I,IIF.Fc,BIRON—Wbat is your ground licensed. The money was instantly paid, and he was suf-
fered to depart, under the consoling reflection that " ho-
nesty is the best policy."—Sheffidd ../Ifrorg, The NAteiToß-GENERAL declined at preient,