Star.
London, England, 1827-05-18 00:00:00

CRIMINAL LAM.

Mr. PEEL gage notice that he should, to-morrow, move for
leave to bring in a Bill for the improvement of the Criminal Law.
The 13111 would hat• for its specific object the removal of those ob-
i niece technicalities which operated as clogs and impediments to the

course of justice; he would instance In Illustration of his meaning,
.Bettefit of Clergy—(Hear, Iwo).
wtw SOUTH WAI2I.
Mr. W. HORTON moved fur have to bring in a Rill to provide
for the administration of Justice, &c. in New South Wales, and fur
the'Crril Government of that Colony.—Leave granted.

A new Writ was ordered to be issued for the Borough of
Newport, in the room of the lion. Wni. Lamb, who has accepted
the Office of Chief Secretary for Ireland.
ILECTION IX PP NC P DILL.
On the motion of Lord ALTHOItr, the House resolved itself into
a Committee on the Election Expeaces Bill, and the Sstaxis left
the Chair.

Some verbal amendments were agreed to, and the House having
resumed, Mr. TeNNYSON (the ChAirni.in of the Committee) brought
up the Report.which was ordered to be received to-morrow.
serum; GUNS BILL.
On the motion of Mr. TENNYSON. the Order of the
Diy was read, for taking into consideration the Lords
Amendments on the Sp: ing Guns phl.
On the motion that the Lords' Amendments be read
a second time,
Mr. N. CALVERT said, that the Bill, as amended
by the Lords, prevented the setting of spring guns in
eny place except dwelling houses, when it permitted
`diem to be set from sunset till sunrise. A few days ago
he had presented a Petition from a class of persons who
were greatly entitled to the consideration of that
House. lie alluded to the market garderkrs in the
vicinity of the Metropo!is. The alteration proposed
would affect them materially, for it set uld expose their
property to great danger. They had been in the habit,
from time immemorial. of setting springguns within
their walled gardens; they had proved an ereellent and
effective means of protection, and he had never heard
of any instance in which they had caused either death
or injury to individuals. He should, therefore, pro•
pose an amendment at the proper time to this effect—
's, That it shall be lawful tooset spring guns, kc. from
sunset till sunrise in all gardens, hot.houses, and con-
servatories which are enclosed by a wall seven feet high."
• Mr. G. BANKES objected to the amendments of the
Lords in lota, and was determined to give his decided
negative to the Bill as it then stool.
Mr. PEEL said he had objected to the practice of
setting spring guns for the preservation of that which
was kept merely and entirely for amusement, and he
did so still; but he thought there was a wide distinc-
tion between such cases and those in which persons
had recourse to them for the preservation of property,
which was perhaps essential to their sub,istence. For
instance, the market-gardeners.—(Hear, hear.)—He
dissented therefore from the Lords' amendments.
But he dissented from them on other grounds. AM-
,though the police in large towns was in general good,
still for the most part it was extremely bad in their
neighbourhood, and it was there that gardens were
for the most part situated.—(Hear, hear, hear.)—
That consideration was not of recent ft rmation, for the
House would remember, that at the commencement of
the Session he had given notice of his intention to move
for a Committee to enquire into the state of the Police
in the neighbourhood of the metropolis—(Hear). At
present a large and populous district was mainly in-
debted for its peace and good order to the activity of a
single Magistrate, a Gentleman who acted gratuilously,
and might leave the country, or move to another part
of it whenever he thought proper. He was cf opinion,
that the increase of crime, when that subject should be
inquired into, would be found to proceed more from
depredations on property titan any other cause. It was
well known that the more heinous crimes were now
rarely committed, comparatively speaking with for-
mer times, an that the offences against property were
but too greatly increased. He attributed that ire-
crease in a great measure to the defective state of the
Police in populous districts, and he coold n t ccnsent to
do away with an old protection, and moreover one which
had, as far as he knew, caused no injury before some
substitute was in readiness—(hear, hear). He firmly
believed that if the market gardeners were deprived of
the right of setting spring guns in their walled gardens,
their property would suffer greatly.—Most undoubtedly
he should prefer an efficient Police to allowing the use
of such instruments, but until that Police was rendered
efficient, he thought it was but just that the market
gardeners should retain the protection they at present
enjoyed. For those reasons he could not hut approve of
the amendment suggested by his Hon. Friend (Mr. Cal-
vert), and should give it his seppoit.
Mr. It. PA LMEIt said, that he has offered no oppo-
sition to the Bill when it was before the House in its
original shape ; but he must confess that the amend-
ments made by the Lords had gteatly changed its value
in his opinion. The Bill as it stood api,eared to him to
grant permission to set sdring guns only in the very
place where they never would or ought to be set,namely,
a dwelling-house—•-(Hear, and laughter). Ile certainly
thought that such property as that possessed by market
gardeners ought to be protected, and he should there-
fore support the Amendment.
On the Amendment being put from the Chair,
Lord ALTHORP supported the Lords Amendment.
Colonel ROSS supported the amendment proposed
by the Hon.Meniber for Southwark; and Mr.TaNNISON
supported the Bill as returned from t .e Lords.
Mr. F. LEWIS concurred entirely with what had
fal:en from his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Peel), and
would go further than the amendment proposed by the
Hon. Member for Southwark, for he was of opinion
that spring guns should be allowed in every garden
;properly fenced.
Dr. LUSHINGTON was for adopting the amend-
Seats of the Lords, and was of opinion that too severe
wieasures and enactments had been passed for the pro-
tection of property. It had been said that no mischief
bad occurred from placing these instruments in gardens.
He knew, however, an instance of an Hon. Member of
that House who had the misfortune to have spring guns
set in his garden, in consequence of which a man was
shot. He had been a witness to the misery which had
been produced by this occurrence, and he was quite
sure that the Gentleman to whom he alluded would
rather have lost the whole produce of his garden, and
even the garden itself, than such an event should have
taken place. He had ordered his gardener to load the
guns only with powder, and he had taken upon himself
to load them with shot. He thought the advantage of
this practice to market gardeners was greatly overrated.
He knew from personal observation, that the market
gardeners in the neighbourhood of Highgate constantly
employed watchmen. Spring Guns were in fact a pro-
tection only ag iinst depredators in the immediate neigh-
bourhood against those from a distance, and who could
not possibly know whether Spring Guns were set or not,
it would be no protection whatever. The market gar-
deners sold th. it produce at a price a thousand fold
greater than the cost of production; and if they were
reduced to the necessity of adopting more extensive
protections to their property than
these machines
they would have no reason to complain. Every