The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-10-23 00:00:00

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LONDON LAW REPORT.

CONSTRUCTION or THE POOR LAW ACT.

THE PARISH OF TOTTENHAM, APPHI.T.ANTS; THAT OF ST.GILEe

CRIPPLEGATE, RESPONDENTS

On Tuesday, at the London Quarter Sessions, a case came
on in the shape of an appeal which excited great interest, as by
it was exhibited in a striking manner the injustice and impolicy
of some of the clauses of the poor law act. One of the changes
effected by the 56th section of that statute is, ("That chilaren
under sixteen years of age shall be considered part of the family
of the father and mother. If, therefore, a child falls into dis-
tress and requires relief, it shall be considered as relief to the
patent, and by consequence, as it is improper to afford relief to
able-bodied paupers, except in the workhouse; if the child needs
assistance, and the parent' does not require it, they must both
go to the poor-house together." In the month of August last a
child natued Nicholls, whose parents had acquired a settlement
in the parish of Tottenham, became chargeable to the parish of
St. Giles, Cripplegate, in consequence of the death of its father,
which happened on the 29th of July. More than twelve months
before this melancholy event the mother of the child hired her-
self as a domestic servant in a respectable family; hence Mr.
Blake, tile assistant overseer of Cripplegate, believing that the
legislature never contemplated the intUction of such an injury
as the removal of a parent from a good service, in order to re-
move her with her child, ventured to• remove the child alone
without its mother. The officers of Tottenham were determined
to have the strict letter of the law complied with, and refused to
take the child without the parent, thus doggedly insisting on
having two burdens instead of one. Mr. Blake had no alterna-
tive but to remove the mother from her place of service and
convey her to the poor-house. The Tottenham parochial of-
ficers now shifted-their ground, and insisted that they had no
right to either parent or child, although the order of settlement
had been regularly made out. They eventually gave notice of
appeal, and it was for the court now to decide by evidence
whether the order was valid or not.
Mr. Phillips appeared as counsel for the appellants, and Mr.
Payne for the respondents.
Margaret Nicholls, a fine young woman, stated that she is the
widow of William Nicholls, who died on the 29th of July last.
They were married in the year 1827, and the child in question
was theirs. With the approbation of her husband she went to
service more than a year before he died. She had heard him
say he gained a settlement at Tottenham by living in a family
of the name of Pratt. He left that service before they married.
Not being able entirely to maintain her child, she applied for
relief as so ,n as her husband died.
Ann Waller, the mother of the deceased parent, stated that
many year ago her son William lived for more than eighteen
months with Mr. Pratt. She did not know whether he wat
hired by the year or not. He married the last witness, and
they lived happily as man and wife down to the time of his
death.
The sister of the deceased gave similar testimony; but nei-
ther of the witnesses had seen William Nicholls on the premises
of Mr. Pratt.
J. Sparks, Esq., deposed that he had been in the habit of
visiting the Pratt family twice a week or mote for years back.
Remembers William Nicholls living there as groom two or
three years, and believes he left in 18'2,1 or 1825. Does not
know the terms upon which he was hired.
By Mr. Phillips.—On one occasion he omitted visiting for a
month, when on an excursion; but he found Nicholls there
when he came back.
Mr. Phillips submitted to the court that there had not been a
sufficient identity proved, and it was strange that no one of the
Pratt family was produced to prove the fact.
Mr. Sparks said that the last member left of it was Mrs.
Pratt, and she died about a month ago.
Mr. Phillips said it seemed as though the other party had
waited till all the parties who could give evidence had passed
into eternity before they stirred in the business.
To this it was retorted that the delay was occasioned by the
litigation of his clients, as the matter had been one of constant
negotiation.
The Recorder said that the court, without hearing further
evidence, were unanimous in opinion that a clear case of settle-
meet had been proved both as to servitude and identity. The
order of settlement, therefore, must be confirmed.
A hope was expressed that the young widow would be rein-
stated in her situation, from which she had been removed by
such caprice.

HUNTINGDON, OCT. 17.

THE HARTFORD VOTES.

" The Forty" have fallen likeleaves in in autumn—and not
only have they failed to prove their qualifications, but they have
shown to the world that the title-deeds, by which they held
them, are not worth the price of the parchment they are
written on.
On coming into court this morning, Mr, Perty said, address-
ing Mr. G. Day,—" Before I enter further upon these cases, I
think it right to state that I shall inform his Majesty's Attorney-
General of the frauds which have been practised by the parties
concerned in them upon the revenue, in order that he may pro-
secute for the penalties. 1 find that those penalties amount to
a very large sum, no less tha❑ £lOOO. upon the seller of the pro-
perty (Mr. Wing) and fifty; pounds upon each of the twenty
purchasers whose conveyances are admitted to be on wrong
stamps, making £lOOO more, besides five times the amount of the
duty wanting upon them. There are other penalties to which I
need not allude." _ _ .

The court was then occupied for some time in discussing the
admissibility of the agreement under which Watford holds the
laud, and ultimately rejected it, on the ground that it was not a
valid instrument, as there being 38 parties who claimed as
owners, there should have been a separate stamped agreement
between each patty and the tenant. As this was necessary to
prove the case, the absence of it was fatal, and the name of
Thomas Brown was, therefore, struck off the list. William
Brimley and Charles Higgins, of Bedford, were called, and no
one appearing for them, they were also struck off. The next
case was that of Edward Hall, who claimed for a cottage and
garden which he bought of. Mr. Wing, in 1827, and let it to
John Watford, for £3lBs. per annum. Mr. Wing stated in his
cross-examination, that be was employed by several parties in
1827 to purchase freehold -40; them :-and when this land had
,been fixed on as the spot to he bought, the opinion of counsel was
taken as to the best means of carrying the 'proceeding into ef-
fect ; and the advice given was that it should be first aouvoyad.
from Mr. Butt, the then possessor, to Mr. Wing, and from him
to the respective parties. Butt's conveyance to himself was ex-
ecuted in July, at the same time that he executed the convey-
ances to all the -other parties. except two. Twenty of them
were made by the late Mr. Budd of Bedford, and the remaining
twenty-three by Mr. Fisher of St. Ives.
The conveyance of Thomas Brown, which had been shown
on Friday, Loire date in April, three months before it was sworn
to be executed, and all the rest were supposed to have the same
date. The court, therefore, raised the question on Monday
morning, bow far an instrument. one'of the objects of which was
to confer a note executed in July, and bearing date the April
previous, was an instrument to be supported, and called for the
production of the deed. Mr. Wing and Mr. G. Day retired for
a short time, and on their return refused to produce the con-
veyance. Hall's name was, therefore, struck off.
Mr. Wing and his party now retired to consult what they
should do, and after an absence of two hours and a half return-
ed, when Mr. G. Day announced that Mr. Wing declined giving
further evidence, and that he himself felt it his duiy in conse-
quence to refuse to go further into the cases, but there were
some parties in attendance on their own behalf whom he ad-
vised how to proceed.
Mr. Perry.—" I think, sir, you have exercised a very sound
discretion. I cannot lose sight, that in deciding the right of
voting, I must have decided the right of property, and I think
it better for the parties that this course has been adopted ; I
may state, however, that though Mr. Wing withdraws himself,
he cannot withdraw the evidence he has given, and there is the
testimony that all the conveyances were executed at the same
time as his own. The parties who are here may use their own
discretion : but if they proceed, I shall certainly require the
production of the conveyances."
The names were then called over seriatim. Mr. Joseph
Tween answered for several pro forma, but refused in every
case to procure the conveyances. The names of the following
were accordingly struck off—Philip Hunt, D.D., John Ileigh-
lington, Robert Hulett, Samuel Lovell, John Lovell, William
Lovell, J. M. T. Molecev, T. W. Averinan, John Purser, John
Palfrevman, Thomas Parnell, Charles Short, James Small,
John Twigg, Edmund Waller, John Robert Walker, and
Charles Wing. Two or three are dead, and two or three stand
over till to-morrow.
Though these legal flaws have settled the affair, the first case
was decided on the point of value, and the same test would have
• upset at least 36 of them.
Thus have the merits of this far-famed fagotting been
thoroughly laid open, and the result has been such as to render
i it improbable that the claimants will again seek to encumber
the register ofthis county, until they have enlarged their free-
holds, and made their title deeds of a character more secure
L for themselves, more free from the suspicion of fraud, and more
capable of bearing the scrutiny of truth and justice.

HALLEY'S COMET.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STAND4RD.

Sin,—l have traced the comet of Dr. Halley, and seen it
through the telescope, from the time it formed a triangle with
the Bull's Horns; but on Saturday, the 10th instant, I saw the
tail for the first time with the naked eye; the comet then was
near a degree above Alpha, the upper pointer, and in aline with
Beta, the lower pointer of the Great Bear, and had then the
greatest north declination, shish was 63d. and 40 min., and its
right ascension was 10 hours 54 min., at eight o'clock in the
evening.
On Sunday night, the 11th, the comet had moved from Alpha
to a triangle with Delta and Epsilon of Ursa Major, and in a
line with Gamma atitlDelta, and likewise wish :lota and Eta, of
That constellation; its right ascension was 12 b. 38 min., and
its declination 62 deg. N. The tail apt:team/ about 4or 5 deg.
long.
On Monday, the 120, the comet ems at its nearest distance
to the earth, and was *ply tighteoq millions of miles from us.
It has come nearer to the earth by being delayed about eight
days; the earth at the same time was approaching the comet,
and by these two motions it is nearer to us by nearly four mil-
lions of miles.

From Sunday. the 11th, to Sunday, the 18th, clouds obscured
the sky, but it cleared on Monday, and in the evening I saw the
comet again, and found it had entered Serpentarius, having in
the cloudy w..ek passed over Bootes, Corona Borealis, and
Hercules. and at half-past five o'clock it was in the south-west,
with an altitude of 37 deg. 30 min.
I saw it at six o'clock on Monday evening, the 19th instant,
amt found its right ascension was 16 hours 48 min., and its de-
clination north was 9 deg. 40 min. Kappa, of Serpentarius,
was little more than a degree to the south of it, and nearly
parallel to the horizon ; and lota, of the same constellation,
was in the centre of the tail, about half a degree above the
nucleus, and the tail extended upwards more than 8 degrees,
reaching above the head of Hercules, and nearly to the head of
Serpentarius. A little after seven o'clock the comet had left
the star lota, and it was clear of the tail.
The comet's distance from the earth is rapidly increasing, for
the earth is going one way and the comet another, and we shall
soon lose it in the south-west, iu the evenings, setting with the
sun.
On Monday, the 19th, the comet's distance was 31,366.000
miles from the earth, and it set at Liverpool at ten o'clock that
night.
On Tuesday, the 20th, the comet hail left the star Kappa► to
the right, and had descended below to the left of it, and had
some small telescopic stars near it : they were not in Flam-
stead' s British catalogue, nor in Wollaston's, nor even in Bode's.
Its right ascension was 16 h. 52 min., and north declination was
7 deg. 30 rnio. And the altitude at 6h. 30 min. was 29 deg. 30
min. The comet set at 9h. 50 min. in the evening.
M. HOLDEN, Astronomer.
42, Russell-atreet, October 21st, 1835.

DELICATE INVESTIGATION.—AIphonso, King of Arragon,
was one day admiring the different articles in a jeweliei's shop,
with several female companions. He had scarcely left the house
when the jeweller missed a diamond of great value, and ran af-
ter him complaining of the theft. The king, not wishing pub-
licly to disgrace ally of his attendance, commanded a large ha-
son Cul of sand to be brought him, into which he made each of
the women put her hand clinched, cud draw it out flat. By
this means the diamond was left in the sand, unknown by whom.

TUE LINTEtwooL TRADESMEN'S CO,;
SOCIETY.
Bot
i?era(to,vceo-tot ac
entiyn gl
et the
for Is)
iFg, CLAt
uR
rAeTal
at
Mr. Hardisty's, Great Cro:shall-strf.
Mr. Holden's, Richmond-row.
Mr. Lloyd's. Newsroom, Scoti
Mr. Leetherbarrow's, l t, Soutt
Mr. Copple's, Ranelagh-street..
Mr. John Payne's, Park-lane.
Mr. James Owens', Druggist, London-roau
Mr. 13riseoe's, Oldhall-street.
Miss Maxwell's, Stanhope-street.
Also at the Standard and Courier-offices.
E. BYFORD, Secretary.

iii/
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i - OF PRINCIPLES of
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c n road.
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