The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-16 00:00:00

THURSDAY.

The court resumed at nine o'clock this morning, and pro-
ceeded with the remaining claims, which were disposed of by
half-past eleven o'clock. The investigation of these claims
occasioned sometimes a little sparring between the counsel.
but nothing occurred upon them worth public notice. The
court, shortly after twelve o'clock, recommended hearing the
objections in Everton Ward, which were concluded by half-
past three. The objections in Scotland Ward were next un-
dertaken. The last ease which was beard led to some sharp
discussion between Mr. Wright, Mr. Wilkins, Mr. James,
and Mr. Pennington, but on the interference of the mayor,
mutual explanations were made. At half-past four the
mayor retired to his room, for the purpose of preparing his
decision, and shortly before five he returned, accompanied
by the town-clerk. Silence having been called,
Mr. Wilkins rose and said, that presuming the mayor was
about to close the court—
The Mayor.—l have something to say first.

Mr. Wilkins said it was in anticipation of that that he
claimed the privilege of saying a few words before the court
should he closed. The task he had to perform was one, to
him, of an exceedingly pleasing nature. First of all, he must
be allowed to say that he had been deputed, by those whom
he had the honour to represent, to thank the mayor person-
ally for a display of justice, of gentlemanly bearing, and of
good sense, that reflected high honour upon the town of
which he was the chief magistrate. And it afforded him real
satisfaction to know that throughout this long investigation
and inquiry—one of necessity producing occasionally hot
blood, and such a want of judgment and self-controul as was
unavoidably attendant upon such exhibitions—he (Mr. Wil-
kins) bad never received one uncourteous word from the
mayor; and he hoped he might be allowed to add, that he
(Mr. Wilkins) had never been betrayed into the slightest
exhibition of want of respect towards the mayor. (Hear,
bear.) Perhaps he might be allowed to say further, at the
risk of being considered fulsome, that to a gentleman who
held such strong political feelings as the mayor, it was ex-
tremely creditable to have so laid aside those feelings, and
that, from the bottom of his heart, he believed that in every
decision the Mayor had been actuated by a sense of right,
and by a desire to do justice. (Applause.) Before, however,
he concluded, he must again enter his protest against a de-
cision of this court. The court would understand that he
had, throughout this enquiry, from beginning to end, pro-
tested against that decision which allowed of such a payment
of rates as that which had been proved, namely, by societies
established for the purpose, instead of by the individual him-
self. He protested against thatdecision, because he thought
the powers given to the court by the act of parliament were
large enough to have prevented any such evasion of the spirit
of that act, and because by allowing such evasion, the court
had placed providence and improvidence, industry and idle-
ness, upon the same footing. By that decision they had
given to each the same privileges. He thought the court
had evaded the intention of the legislature by giving to im-
providence, idleness, and poverty, those privileges which
were intended only for carefulness, industry, and diligence,
and as the general result of them, property, and a sufficient
competency to ensure a respectable class of voters. Let it,
however, be understood, that he did not for one moment
mean to impugn the intentions of the court; on the contrary,
he felt certain that all its decisions had been bisysi upon the
very best intentions. He had now discharged :.is duty—to
him a pleasing one—in having acknowledged that the chief
magistrate had done well ; and he hoped he should not be
considered as saying too much if he said, that in his judicial
capacity the Mayor might indeed be an example to others.
(Great applause.)
Mr. James then rose and said. that as his learned friend
had returned thanks to the court for himself and for those
for whom he appeared, he (Mr. James) might be also allowed
to return thanks on the part of those who instructed him,
and who were the representatives of a very large body in this
town. Throughout the whole of this protracted inquiry they
had received the utmost courtesy not from one member of
the bench alone but from all. There had certainly been
some occasions which had given rise to considerable
warmth and to some unpleasant feeling between himself
and Mr. Wright. He was exceedingly sorry for it. He
had hitherto had the pleasure of calling Mr. Wright his
friend ; they were nearly connected together, and he should
be very sorryif anything which had occurred in court should
tend to interrupt the harmony which had subsisted between
them. [Mr. Wright.—l am satisfied.] His learned friend had
alluded to a decision to which the court had arrived. He
took an opposite view to that of his learned friend. He
thought the court were justified in law, in natural jus-
tice,thin an k
that it was placing the provident and the improvi-
dent upon the same ground. If there were a society
which wouldleinnd equity
yy
into that decision. He did not
poor parties for the purpose
of enabling them to exercise the franchise, if it was
a mere loan to be repaid at a subsequent period, he could
not see how that could be said to be placing the improvident
upon the same ground with the provident. A party might,
through sickness, death, or other unforeseen circumstances,
be unable to pay that which if paid would enable him to exer-
cise the franchise. A society to enable parties in such cir-
cumstances to enjoy the franchise, if properly instituted and
managed, was, therefore, a very excellent institution. In
conclusion, he begged leave, on behalf of himself and of those
for whom he appeared, to thank the court for their courtesy
during this enquiry.
The Mayor then said,—" It is now five o'clock, and this
is the 15th day of October, the last day appointed by the Act
of Parliament for the revision of the list of municipal voters
for the ensuing election. I have now, with the Assessors,
sat for fifteen days, and there yet remain more than 5000
cases of objections to be disposed of ; it is, therefore, per-
fectly impossible for us to complete our labours. I have, for
some time, contemplated the possibility of this result, and I
have desired the Town-clerk, my legal and responsible ad-
viser, to be prepared to advise me on the course which it
would be proper for me to pursue, if the fifteen days should
expire before the revision was completed. Acting for the
public, I desire that they should have the fullest information ;
and I shall, therefore, call upon the Town-clerk to read pub-
licly the advice which he has given to me, and upon which I
shall act, in the fullest reliance not only on the mere law of
the case, but upon its justice and propriety,—the course re-
commended being, in my humble opinion, the best which,
under the circumstances, can now be taken. I cannot re-
frain from expressing a confident hope that some legislative
measure will prevent the recurrence of the difficulty, which
the Assessors and myself have experienced, in the vain at-
tempt to perform within the allotted time the duties assigned
to us. A legislative measure must, in my opinion, be ap-
plied to remedy a grievance so great as that which, for fifteen
days, we have endured. It is not possible to revise a list of
objections so indiscriminately made on this occasion as to
exceed 7000 names; and I do hope and trust that, in future,
either by snaking the objector pay costs where the objection
shall be deemed frivolous and vexatious, or by some other
plan, the evil of which we have all so just cause to Complain
may be removed. In conclusion, I hope that my townsmen
of all parties will believe that, during this arduous and pro-
tracted business, I have had but one motive, and that is—to
do my duty.
The TOWN-CLERK then read the following :—" Being call-
ed upon by the worshipful the mayor, as the town-clerk, to
advise him as to the course which, according to law, he ought
to pursue with regard to the list of burgesses now before him,
I submit my opinion as follows :—The revision has now pro-
ceeded from the Ist of this month to this day, the 15th, in-
elusive. It commenced with a list of 14,417 names—a list
of 607 claimants in addition—and a list of objections to 7303
names of the 14,417; and now, after having proceeded the
full period allowed by law, save only so much of this day as
would be barely sufficient to complete the requisite formali-
ties, there remain of cases of objection unheard 5000, inter-
spersed over the various pages of the list. The whole list is
not revised ;—what is required to be done by the act is not
done; the list is in point of fact imperfect and informal.
The question then is, whether his worship can carry into ef-
fect the following, provision, part of the 18th section of the
municipal corporations' act And the mayor shall, in open
court, write his initials against the names respectively struck
out or inserted, and against any part of the said lists in which
any mistakes shall have been corrected, and shall sign his name
to every page of the several lists so settled. If his worship
should sign every page of this list, he must certify 5000 case's
as revised when not one of them has been before the court.
In order to be prepared to advise his worship on the present
state of things, which for some days past has been expect.
ed, I have availed myself of the opinions of eminent coun-
sel—amongst them Sir Frederick Pollock and Mr. Wig ht-
man—and all whom I have consulted concur in the opinion
that his worship ought not to sign a list under these
circumstances. The consequence will be that, in the opinion
of all the counsel whom I have advised with, no burgess roll
can be founded upon this list, and the provision of the Muni-
cipal Amendment Act, 1 Victoria, c. 7
• 8, s. 6, will attach.
That enactment is as follows And be it enacted, that in
every borough iu which, by reason of any neglect or infor-
mality, a new burgess roll of the said borough shall not have
been duly made in any year within the time directed by the
said act, the burgess roll which was in force before the time
appointed for the revision shall continue in force until such
new burgess roll shall have been duly made.' As to my own
opinion I at first considered this case one of difficulty ; but
after the fullest consideration I now entertain a decided
opinion that the only proper course is for the Mayor not to
sign the list; and that the consequence must be that the
burgess roll of last year will continue in force : which opinion
I give to his Worship under all the responsibility that can
Town-clerk.
Town-hall, to it. R. RADCLIFFE, T .
Town-hall, Oct. 15, 1840.
Since writing the shove I have received the opinion of Mr.
Starkie, fully concurring in the course advised.
The Mayor.—With a deep sense of the responsibility which
attaches to myself, I now declare this court to be dissolved.
The Court broke up exactly at a quarter past five o'clock.
On reaching the street Mr. WrigiSt and Mr. Wilkins were
loudly cheered. So enthusiastic were the populace towards

the conservative advocate, Mr. Wilkins, that they attempted
to take the horses from his car, and drag him themselves to
his hotel; but at the request of the learned gentleman, and
by the interference of the police, they desisted.

The following is a list of the reti-ing members of the Town
Council :
No. CONSERVATIVES. REFORMERS.
I—Everton Ward David Hodgson.
2—Scotland .. Wm. Thornhill.
3—Vauxhall .. Wm. Preston.
4—St. Paul's B. Frankland.
s—Exchange .. Thomas Sands.
6—Castle-street .. Edward Pilcher.
7—St. Peter's .. John Priestley.
B—Pitt-street .. Wm. Rathbone.
9—Great George .. Joseph Cooper.
10—Rodney-street .. Wm. Cassell.
11—Abercromby .. Dr. Carson.
12—Lime-street .. Thos. Blackburn.
13—St. Anne's.. Edward Segar.
14—West Derby .. G. H. Lawrence.
15—South Toxteth .. John Platt.
16—North Toxteth .. W. M. Duncan.