20 OCTOBER 1838, Page 3

In a Court of Aldermen, held on Tuesday, Alderman Wilson,

the Lord Mayor elect, brought up the Report of the Committee on the Lord Mayor's feast in the Guildhall. He mentioned inconveniences which had arisen on former occasions from deficiency in their regula- tions— lie would be willing that the Hall should be fitted up without any elevation at the upper part, according to the plan adopted when her Majesty visited the City, if it could be contrived without an encroachment upon the table at which the distinguished guests were to be placed. There was no doubt at all, that upon former occasions, individuals seized upon the seats appointed for high personages, and that three of the Judges were obliged to dine at the Guild. hall Coffeehouse. Inconveniences of the kind arose from the want of the necessary separation between the exalted guests and the ordinary company while at table. He trusted that there would be protection against any such disagreeable occurrence as would render the presence of the police necessary to oust the intruders. Indeed, if adequate protection were not given, he should not send out any invitations, nor give any dinner in the Hall.

Alderman Thomas Wood had heard threats, that if railings were put up they should be knocked down— Of the necessity of securing the guests against the disagreeable incursions of the numbers of the Court of Common Conned, there could not be the least doubt ; and if that object could not be accomplished in the Guildhall, it was practicable elsewhere.

Sir Peter Laurie said, that neither he nor the other Aldermen cared one straw about the dinner— There were 26 members of that Court, and he would say, whatever might be the reports to the contrary, that 25 more abstemious men could not be found. There was not, in fact, one atom of gout in the Court. ( Great laughter.) It was the gratification of the eye, and not of the palate they sought. Those who went to the Guildhall dinner in the expectation of a delicious fitast were mistaken ; they were obliged to put up with cold meat.

Sir William Heygate said— It was quite unnecessary to saw that they did not care a pin about the dinner. ("Hear, hear !") The great object in giving the entertainment at all was to keep up the ancient custom by a festival, which a former President of the Royal Society (Mr. Davies Gilbert) told him was the only memorial of hospitality now in existence, with the exception of the Coronation. He apprehended that encroachments of the kind contemplated would have the effect of niter. feting in the most dangerous manner with the privileges of the Corporation.

The report, the precise nature of which is not stated, was withdrawn.

A new society has been set on foot to promote the reform of the Corporation of London. The enormous expenditure of the civic functionaries, so disproportionate to the duties performed, is of itself a sufficient proof of the need of change.