Star.
London, England, 1825-07-29 00:00:00

PARIL4MENTARY PAPER.

REPORT •ROM THE SELECT commirratx ON CONVEYANCE
AND PORTERAGE OF PARCELS.
Your Committee have called before them all the
witnesses most calculated to give them information
upon the subject, and to explain the inconveniences
arising out of the defects of the present law.
The object of the Act 3 William and Maly, 'was to
insure a moderate and fair charge upon the transmission
of all gm's by land carriage to all parts (;f the king-
dom; and to effect this object, k empowered the Jus-
tices of the Peace, in General Sessions assembled, to
assess and fir the rate to be charged for the conveyance
of goods by any common waggoner and carrier, and to
certify the fame to the several Mayors or other Chief
Officers of the places through which such public car-
riage passed. The provisions of this Act were tuttlier
enforced in the 21 Geo.ll. by obliging the Clerks of the
Peace to send to the Lord Mayor of the City of London
a certified copy of such rates. •
From the evidence taken before your Committee, it
ap; ears that these two Statutes are alroci.t inoperative
at present, as, cut of all the counties in England and
Wales, not more than six returns of the appointed rates
have been made to the Lord Mayor. But even if the
provisions of the laws had been cart ie.! into execution
more accurately, the altered circumstances of the
country since the period of the passing of those Acts,
the great inctease in all the modes of public conveyance,
and the great advantage arising to the public from
constant competition, have contributed to render legis-
lative restriction, less necessary than formerly ; and
your Committee are of opinion, that the 'public on the
one side, and the proprietors of public carriages on the
other, are so much alive to their mutual interests, that
legislative checks are no more necessary in the deal-
ings, than in the transactions, carried on by persons in
any other business or trade. It appears also to your
Committee, from the evidence adduced before them,
that even in the few, counties where the rate has been
fixed by the Magistrates, =that the,public has not been
benefited by the practice, for instances have occurred
where, from the spirit of competition, the price charged
by the proprietors of public coaches has been lower than
that fixed by the Magistrates.
Under such circumstances your Committee are of
opinion, that so far from imposing any additional
checks by law, the Acts of William and Mary and
of George H. ought, from being. inapplicable to the
present times, and indeed from their complete inopera-
tiveness, to be repealed.
With respect to the 39 Geo. 111, commonly called
the Porterage Act, it appears to your Committee that
several parts of it might be amended. Complaints
have been made, and with great justice, of the exces-
sive charges demanded for the conveyance of parcels
by porters from the office of the coach proprietors to
the residence of the individuals to whom such parcels
are addressed. Cases of fraud also in forging rite
tickets, and altering the sum written in the tickets, have
been made out. A check to this system has been ap-
plied with success, as may be seen in the evidence of
Mr. Waterhouse, by paying attention to the characters
of the porters taken into the employment of the pro-
prietors, and demanding a security for the honest dis.
charge of their duty ; but as this system is not general,
and as great inconveniences have arisen to the public
from the inadequacy of the law, your Committee are
of opinion, that that Statute is capable of amendment.

The Hereditary Prince of PRUSSIA left the Palace or
Lathan, on Tuesday se'nnight, to return to Berlin.
The Act allowing Newspapers to be sent to the Bri-
tish Colonies at a rate of postage of three half-pence
each paper, does not corn. into operation till the 10th
of October next. And then it will be necessary to put
the Newspaper into the Post Office on the day on which
it is published, otherwise the paper will be charged
postage as a letter.
CAMS OF EXIITRR, JULY 22.—Among the cases
heard before the Magistrates this day, was a complaint
by Ann Quick and Ann Hill, two servant-maids,
against Admiral Swiney, of St. Thomas's, for arrears
of wages. It appeared that about three months since,
the Admiral put his family, including the complainants,
into mourning; that a few days after, Mr. Swiney
told the servants, that if they did not stay in her service
six months, the mourning was to be returned. The
complainants, as they stated, and which was not denied,
were dismissed because they allowed two potatoes to
boil to pieces, there being but three in the saucepan.
Mrs. Swiney refused to pay their wages, because they
refused to give up the clothes. The complainants, how-
ever, did not seem disposed to leave off mourn-
ing so soon, and therefore procured the summons
to recover their wages. The parties were satis-
fied with the drcision of the Magistrates, which was,
that as the complainants appeared to look well in their
clothes, they should cantinue to wear them and give up
their wages, which were not of so much value.
The following affecting circumstance recently oc-
curred at Middlezoy, Sonters:t :—.4 woman residing
at that place, named Rich, had been to Bridgewater
market, and was returning to her home in a cart, when
she was descried by her little silt, a child of only three
years of age. The fond creature, in the excess of his joy
at again seeing hi, mother, ran and laid hold of the
wheel of the cart in which she was tiding; when he
was carried under it, and su.tained a fracture of the
skull, of which he died on the following day. Mr.
I .
Carries, of Langport, held an Inquest on the body, when
a verdict of " Accidental Death" was returned.
About one o'clock on Wednesday morning, a loud
ringing at the bell brought the porter of the St. James's
Hotel, Jeranyn-street, to the door. He there saw a man
fashionably dressed, who hastily to k what appeared to
be a gold watch from his fob, and asked the porter to
lend him S. upon it till the morning, when he would
return the money, with some gratuity to boot. The
porter, thinking that he had to deal with some Gentle-
man who had foolishly lost all his cash at one of tl.e
gambling houses, which abound in the neighbourhood,
readily lent him the money. The Gentleman, how-
ever, never called to redeem his watch next morning ;
hich is not to be wondered at, since it turns out to be
worth only a few shillings. On the same morning, the
porters of the Royal Hotel and White's Club House, in
St. James's-street, were defrauded by the same fellow,
under similar circumstances.
CORONATION A NECDOTE.—One of the unfortunate
little birds which was let loose in the Cathedral, at
Rheims, on the Coronation of the King of Prance,
having burnt its wings, and scorched itself sadly, at
one of the numerous chandeliers then lighted up, fell
on the head of an English Gentleman, who, taking
the bird in his hand, dryly observed, " What a fine
country this France is, where larks drop down already
roasted."