21 JANUARY 1854, Page 2

31Ittrupnlio.

Mr. Merewether, Mr. E. Tyrell, Mr. Stuart Wortley, Mr. Charles Paarson, Sir John Key, and a number of other officers of the Corpora- tion, have given evidence this week before the City Commission. Mr. Merewether handed in an accurate list of the City charters, and of the sums paid for them from time to time ; beginning with King Stephen in 1139, when 100 silver marks were paid for the privilege of choosing Sheriffs, down to Charles the First, when 42001. was paid for the charter respecting porterage. Mr. Merewether avers that the Cor- poration are anxious to have but one franchise for all purposes within the City. With regard to the suit pending between the City and the Crown, as to the soil and bed of the Thames, Mr. Merewether explained, that the Corporation think the Crown should establish its right by writ of in- trusion, instead of assuming its right and calling on the Corporation to show their right. There is no trace whatever in any records of any right of the Crown to all the soil of all the rivers in the kingdom between high and low water mark. The Corporation are anxious to afford every facility for trying the question ; but they object to the mode of proceeding adopted by the Crown. Mr. Merewether admitted, however, that there is "no charter conveying the right to the soil and bed of the river to the Corporation." Mr. E. Tyrrell, City Remembrancer, stated that he holds that office at a salary of 10001., and about 2501. for office charges and expenses. His main duties are to act as Parliamentary solicitor to the Corporation, and

to examine every bill brought into either House and watch those affecting the City. Besides this, he attends to all matters of form, ceremony, and

custom. He does not see the slightest objection to publishing the items of the Corporation bills for Parliamentary expenses, •which are now lumped together as money paid to the Remembraneer for so and so. As a general principle, the Corporation insists on the exemption of the City from any measure which was thought to affect injuriously the rights and privileges of the citizens. The Corporation did not oppose the Charitable Trusts Act. The Lord Chancellor, from some view of his own, and without the slightest communication with the Corporation, did not apply the same process to the charities the income of which is under 304, within the City, as to other charities of that amount elsewhere. Outside the City, small charities go to the Judge of the County Court; while in the City they go, not to the Judge of the County Court, but to the Court of Chancery in the ordinary way. That distinction was not introduced at the instance of the City, nor was it desired by them. Within ten years the Corporation has introduced clauses saving the rights and privileges of the City into five acts of Parliament,—the Small Debts Act, the Health of Towns Act, the Metropolitan Sewers Act, the Common Lodginghouse Act, and the Smoke Prevention Act. The two last were opposed because the powers they conferred were not so stringent as those already possessed by the Corporation under the local Sewers Act. " There is no desire on the part of the City for separate or exceptional legislation. I assert that positively from my knowledge of the Corporation."

Mr. Stuart Wortley, the City Recorder, stated that his salary is 30001. a year. Besides this he receives fees for meeting counsel not connected with the Corporation : in 1852 his fees were 150 guineas, but in 1851

and 1853 only 16 and 15 guineas respectively. He is the chief legal ad- viser of the Corporation, an attendant of the Lord Mayor on all state oc- casions, and reader of addresses to the Crown. In the Courts of Alder- men and Common Council he sits at the right of the Lord Mayor, and"puts the question in form. He is the Chief Judge in the Central Criminal Court, excepting her Majesty's Judges. But he has no control over the management of the legal business of the City. One of his duties is to certify the customs of the City, by word of mouth. That is done by as- certaining the custom, certifying it by word of mouth, and then handing in a parchment record for convenience. In reference to the suit regard- ing the right to the soil and bed of the Thames, Mr. Wortley also objected to the course pursued by the Crown. "If it was not an evasion of the proper and legal course, it was a choice of the most harsh, by far the most expensive, and the most cumbrous mode of proceeding. The Corporation have been most anxious to bring this suit to an amicable settlement ; and I regret that Mr. Pemberton, in his evidence, did not allude to this, in- stead of representing the Corporation to be actuated by a contentious and litigious spirit." Mr. Wortley subsequently added an opinion on the merits of the Aldermen as Magistrates. "So far as I have an oppor- tunity of forming an opinion, as the judge of a criminal court, from the depositions placed before me, the committals of the City Magistrates bear a most advantageous comparison with those of any other Magistrates who commit."

Mr. Charles Pearson, the Solicitor to the City, has a salary of 20004 a year ; but in consequence of deductions his net income is about 17001. a year. His duties are—" to advise the Corporation and all the Com- mittees and Commissions upon any question of law ; to conduct all their

suits and prosecutions, and generally to advise upon general matters when specially called upon to do so ; to attend all committees whenever I am called upon, and to give my best advice upon all matters on which my opinion may be asked." The greater part of Mr. Pearson's evidence related to the past history of the suit against Combe, Delafield, and Com- pany, for corn-metage, now hung up on appeal in the House of Lords. He thinks the spirit of the Corporation would be opposed to enforcing the right against Combe and Company. [The right claimed by the Cor- poration is the metage of Combe and Company's own corn.] The Cor- poration care very little about the case, as it would only be a barren triumph for them. Sir John Key, the City Chamberlain, has a salary of 25001. -a year. He says his office is no sinecure. He is responsible for the whole man- agement of the City funds, and is occupied daily from ten till five o'clock. During the last year the receipts for which ho was answerable amounted to 1,219,5111., and the payments to 1,229,2421. He adjudi- cates differences between masters and apprentices, and has the power of sending the latter to Bridewell. His election cost him 50004, not 70004, as had been stated. He scarcely knew how it went ; but the sum ex-

-pended for refreshments to voters did not exceed 1001. He denied that any sum had been subscribed by any Aldermen towards paying the ex- penses of his election.

At a Court of Common Council, on Thursday, a report was presented by the Committee appointed to ascertain the state and durability of South- wark Bridge. The Committee informed the Court, that the proprietors of the bridge adhere to the price already asked-300,0001. • and that, as the bridge must be purchased for the public, they might probably demand a higher sum. On the motion of Mr. Alderman Salomon, the report was referred back to the Committee by a majority of 33 to 26, renewing the order to ascertain the strength and durability of the bridge by professional inquiry, and to report the upshot to the Court.

At a meeting of the Court of Aldermen, on Tuesday, the Sheriffs pre- sented the report for 1853 from the Governor of the Debtors' Gaol in Wbitecross Street. There had been an increase of ten prisoners above the year 1852. They were in a good state of health. By the operation of the charities belonging to the prison, 250 had been discharged during the year. The Governor regrets the abolition of the receiving letter-box, which had existed for twenty years at an annual cost of 101. He bad been in communication with the Government, and the question is still under consideration. Pending the inquiry, letters left at the entrance are delivered to the prisoners ; and at five o'clock a collection of letters is made, and they are posted by an officer of the prison.

A deputation from the Stock Exchange waited on Colonel Maberly, on Thursday, to point out that great inconvenience is caused by the delay of the French mails, which are frequently not delivered till three o'clock. Colonel Maberly admitted at once the grievance of which they complained ; explained to them that this detention at the Post-office had arisen from the non-arrival of the mid-day country letters ; but informed them, that as the Treasury had lately added an increase to their numerical force, he fully expected the delay to be remedied.

The City Police have resolved to present a piece of plate to their Com- missioner, Mr. Daniel Whittle Harvey, as a token of their appreciation of his efforts to increase their pay, and his care of their interests generally.

A deputation from the Incorporated Law Society had an interview with Lord Aberdeen on Monday, respecting the removal of the Law Courts from Westminster. The deputation consisted of Mr. Kinderley, President of the Society, Mr. Sudlow, Mr. Coverdale, Mr. Keith Barnes, and Mr Mangham. The proposal is, that the Courts should be removed from Westminster, where the accommodation is so insufficient and the distance from the " law district " productive of so much expense ; and that new Courts should be erected in the law district, affording full accommodation, in one building, for all.

" The proposed site for the new courts is between the Temple and Lincoln's Inn, in the centre of the Metropolis and of the law district. It would con- sist of a quadrangle, about 700 feet by 480, in the centre of which the new courts and offices would be erected. The effect of clearing away the lanes and allies within that area would be to widen the Strand and Fleet Street by 100 feet, Carey Street by 60 feet, and to unite them with the new street into the City of London from the Record Office, now in course of erection on the Rolls' estate in Chancery Lane. The estimated cost of the building and site is 1,197,074/.—viz., cost of the site (about eight acres), 675,0741. ; building for Common Law and Equity Courts, 300,0001. ; approaches, foundations, sewerage, warming, ventilating, gas, furniture, fittings, decorations, &c., 180,0001. ; contingent and incidental charges, 42,0001. From this there is to be deducted 523,5001. for the value of ground-rent for chambers on the pro- posed site, for the sale of the various offices of the Masters, Record, and Writ Clerks, Registrars, Accountant-General, value of the present site at West- minster, and of the Roll-offices, &c. ; leaving the ultimate cost of the site and building, 673,5741."

Lord Aberdeen said, he thought the proposal entitled to favourable con- sideration ; and it had met with the Lord Chancellor's sanction. The undertaking, however, is one of such magnitude and public importance that it would require much consideration, more particularly with respect to the means of defraying the necessary expenditure.

The deputation explained to Lord Aberdeen, that it is proposed to raise the requisite funds by the accumulation of surplus interest arising from stock purchased with the suitors' money, not directed to be invested, (and to which interest they have no legal claim,) amounting to 1,241,1881. stock ; the sum of 201,0281. stock • the accumulated surplus of the suitors' fee-fund since 1833, after paying all the charges thereon ; the surplus fees paid into the Treasury to the Consolidated Fund since the 1st January 1838. They submitted, that although out of these receipts the pensions and compensations allowed to the holders' of abolished offices have been paid, the pensions or compensations granted on effecting alterations in the law for the benefit of the community at large should be paid out of the Consolidated Fund, and not by the suitors of the Court.

Lord Aberdeen observed, that the appropriation of the " suitors' sur- plus fund " would require mature consideration ; but he would have an early interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject.

The same deputation subsequently waited on Sir William Molesworth. Sir William said, it had long been his opinion that the Law Courts should be removed to the place proposed ; and he would give the proposal his favourable attention.

At a meeting of the Maryleboue Vestry, Mr. Grote took occasion to state the gratifying results already attendant on the opening of the Free Library. During the first five days, there had been 663 male and 14 fe- male readers ; a daily average of 135. They were real working people— 1 men in paper caps and flannel jackets ; and were quiet and orderly. The books issued amounted to 689: general literature, poetry, drama, &c., 289 ; science and arts, 40 ; theology, 17 ; philosophy, 19 ; history, 312; laws, politics, and commerce, 12.

The parochial authorities of St. Giles-in-the-Fields have defied Lord Palmeraton's order for the closing of the churchyard. *Since the 15th August, when the order came into operation, above a hundred interments have taken place. At the annual meeting of the Vestry, on Tuesday, the Churchwarden defended the continuance of the burials, on the ground that the order did not apply to a joint parish like that. A Vestryman said, the inhabitants were resolved to use all legitimate means to enforce obedience to the order.

Dr. Bowring delivered a lecture, on Wednesday, at the London Me- chanics' Institute, on "national, social, and domestic happiness, as in- fluenced by the progress of knowledge." A new road has been projected between Brompton and Kensington. A bill has been prepared to obtain powers from Parliament ; and the pro- position is under the consideration of the Kensington Improvement Commissioners.

At a meeting of the Middlesex Magistrates, on Thursday, Mr. E. An.. trobus moved a set of resolutions, based upon the report of. a Committee, declaring that an industrial school for the reception of juvenile offenders should be built and maintained at the expense of the county-rate ; that Judges and Magistrates should be empowered to send children under fourteen years of age to the county industrial school, instead of to prison ; and that to effect these objects a bill should be introduced into Parlia- ment next session. The only opposition to the resolutions came from Mr. Witham ; who said these institutions should be parochial, not na- tional. If an institution of this kind were established in Middlesex, an inducement would be given to every vagabond who wished to abandon his children to pour them into Middlesex, to get them into this proposed industrial school. Lord Robert Grosvenor tendered his services in Par- liament, and agreed to take charge of the proposed bill. The resolutions were passed by acclamation, amid cheering and clapping of hands. At the same meeting, a statement of the annual county expenditure was put in : it showed a total of 105,5571. 3s. 2d.

Another commission has been issued from the Court of Queen's Bench to take the evidence of M. Wagner and his daughter, in the case of Lumley versus Gye. It is issued, not to the Royal Court of Berlin, but to the Judges of the Court. This will allow the evidence to be taken in the Prussian manner.

Mr. Crouch, a carrier, brought an action in the Court of Common Pleas against the London and North-Western Railway Company, respecting the conveyance of packed parcels. In 1849, the Railway Company issued an order that packed parcels—that is, parcels containing several others for distribu- tion at a given place—should be invoiced only to the termini of their line, which ends at Rugby. The Midland Company issued a similar order. Mr. Crouch, in October 1850, sent a packed parcel destined for Sheffield. The agents of the Company wished to know its contents, and, not being informed, refused to forward it farther than Rugby ; at this station it was handed to the Midland Company, who conveyed it to Sheffield. Subsequently, the Company acted similarly with regard to a packed parcel addressed to Glas- gow. By these proceedings Crouch suffered injury in his business, and thereupon brought his action. The .plaintiff affirmed, and the defendants denied, that they were common carriers. In deciding for the plaintiff, the Court held that the defendants were placed by act of Parliament on the foot- ing of common carriers, and were bound to carry within reasonable limits all goods tendered to them to be carried, between the places to which they pro- fessed to be carriers ; and that the defendants were not entitled to know the contents of parcels.

Dr. Lushington, presiding over the Consistory Court, delivered an elabo- rate judgment, on Wednesday, in the case of Ciocci versus Ciocci. It will be recollected that Ciocci, an Italian, married a Miss Bacon, of Brighton, a lady possessing a considerable fortune ; and that she separated from him on the ground of cruelty and adultery. Hence this suit. Ciocci's defence was,. that he had been in frequent communication with prostitutes as an agent of the Female Aid Society, desirous of reclaiming them. But the evidence overthrew that assertion. Dr. Lushington pronounced for separation on the ground of adultery, and condemned Ciocci in costs.

At the Middlesex Sessions, on. Monday, Francis Broom, a soldier in the Grenadier Guards, was convicted of stealing. property belonging to his officers ; and Mary Anne Maffey of feloniously receiving it. Broom was em ployed as a carpenter at the barracks at St. John's Wood ; and he took ad- vantage of the opportunities this afforded of stealing many articles from the store-room. He was sentenced to imprisonment for one year; Maffey for three months.

On Tuesday, Simmons, the shopman who robbed Messrs. Lambert and Co. the silversmiths, pleaded "guilty:" ; and Jones, who pawned some of the property, was convicted of feloniously receiving. The 'prosecutors recom- mended Simmons to mercy. A technical point is reserved in Jones's case— the words " the said" had been omitted in part of the indictment.

Ellen Harley was convicted of obtaining money on false pretences: she pledged rings with pawnbrokers which she declared to be gold ; they were of platinum gilt, with a forged hall-mark : she generally raised Ss. on each,. the real value being 3s. Sentence, nine months' imprisonment.

Mr. Wildbore, the innkeeper who was accused of the abduction of the boy Medhurst, whose body was found at East Acton, was reexamined before the Clerkenwell Magistrate on Saturday. The case against him quite broke down. The boy Jackson, it was stated, had actually accused a Policeman, who happened to be in plain clothes, before he said Mr. Wildbore was the

culprit. Another boy, William Patten, came forviard to give evidence about seeing the accused in Old Street at seven o'clock on the evening of the 31st October : the Magistrate entirely disbelieved this boy's . story, which was impugned by his own father, while he repeatedly contradLted himself.

Witnesses were called to prove that Mr. Wildbore was not in London on the evening of the 31st October with a chaise-cart : he came to Landon on that

day by rail, and returned at twenty minutes to six : the alibi was complete. Mr. Corrie said he should have discharged ,Mr. Wildbore even if no excul- patory witnesses had been called, for there was really no evidence against him. When liberated, Mr. Wildbore was loudly cheered by his friends.

Mr. Broughton, the Marylebone Magistrate, has held to bail Thomas Slattery, a master builder, to keep the peace towards Richard May ; Slattery having committed a most ruffianly assault on May. The law would not allow Mr. Broughton to inflict a fit degree of punishment; so he passed no sentence, in order that May might have an opportunity to sue for damages in the County Court.

Policeman Woods has been committed, by the Southwark Magistrate, for breaking into a house and setting fire to it. He seems to have forced open the door of a hairdresser's shop, and set fire to a partition ; another officer found him in the shop ; Woods was on friendly terms with the hairdresser. The motive for the crime is not apparent.

Boyd, Symes, and Floyd, the men charged with the robbery of jewellery, were reexamined by the Bow Street Magistrate on Saturday. Boyd declared that he had not made any admissions to his brother ; but a woman who had been intimate with the prisoners, and who was arrested with Boyd, was called as a witness; and her evidence was strongly corroborative of that given by Boyd's brother. The accused were again remanded. Mr. Waters, a wine and vinegar merchant in White Cross Street, has discovered that he has been robbed of empty bottles to the value of 3001.,

and also of 1570 gallons of wine, during the last year. Richard Biggs and his wife, who were employed in the bottle-warehouse, are in custody ; the woman was seen repeatedly carrying bottles to a marine-stare shop—six times in one day. Further inquiry is needed to explain the large defieieney in the wine.

Daniel Lloyd, a Poet-office letter-carrier at Holloway for nine years, has been committed by the Bow Street Magistrate for stealing letters containing money and other valuables. He bad carried on his robberies by wholesale— no fewer than seventy letters which he had rifled were found in his pos- session.

Dr. Dixon's house, in Green Street, Grosvenor Square, has been robbed of some jewellery by means of this trick. On Sunday afternoon a well- dressed man knocked at the door, and requested the page who answered to get him his spectacle-ease, which had accidentally fallen into the area. While the boy was absent, the man, it is supposed, admitted an accomplice, who carried off some property from an upper room.

Marfy, a German, was charged before the Marlborough Street Magistrate with stealing two loaves. Marfy said, he and others had been shipped from Genoa to the United States by the Sardinian Government, for political rea- sons; stress of weather drove the ship into Plymouth ; the prisoners escaped, and got to London, destitute. Mr. Hardwick seemed to place little credence in this tale ; and he sent Marfy to prison for a month. Two hours after, Luigi Beraski, an Italian, was charged with stealing a gold ring from a jewellers: he asked, by gestures, to look at some wedding-rings ; then inti- mated that "Madame " would come to examine them. He managed to carry one off; but was followed, and detected in an attempt to sell the ring. Beraski told the same story as Marfy. Mr. Hardwick remarked, that if the rest of the political offenders resembled these two specimens, they were not desirable additions to our population : it would be well to ascertain how many are here. He remanded the prisoner.

Mrs. Prinna, a widow, formerly well known as Miss Healey, actress and vocalist, has been sent to prison, by the Lambeth Magistrate, for twenty-one days, at her own request, for being drunk in the streets. The unfortunate woman has long been a prey to a morbid thirst for gin, to which she has sacrificed everything. She is conscious in her sober moments that gin is her direst foe ; she has often promised to forsake it, but as often has again - fallen under its power. Her appearance at the Police Court was pitiable— eyes blackened, cheek swollen, and her scanty and threadbare garments covered with mud.

A few weeks since, while the workmen were engaged in pulling down part of the old Excise-office in Broad street, some of the building fell ; several men were hurt, and one died in the hospital. On Monday afternoon there was a worse disaster : the floors in a part of the structure facing Broad Street suddenly fell in, burying about a dozen men in the ruins. Two were taken out dsft.d, five were conveyed to the hospital in a sad condition ; but the remainder escaped without serious hurts. The report caused by the fall was exceedingly loud, and for a time the atmosphere was completely ob- scured by the huge volumes of dust. At the Coroner's inquest, on Wednesday, it appeared that the disaster oc- curred from the rotten state of a girder supporting the top floor, which was also too short, and split. The people who were superintending the work were not aware that the beam was rotten or split ; its insufficient length was the fault of the builders ninety years ago : the floor was not laden with much rubbish. Verdict, "Accidental death.'

A fire broke out on Tuesday night in a hatter's shop in New Street, Covent Garden. In the upper part of the house were twenty-six people, mostly children ; fortunately all were saved : some escaped by the stairs, some were taken from the roof by means of a fire-escape, and Fireman Cooper rescued three children by running through the smoke to the upper part of the house, and carrying off one on his back and one in each hand. The shop and con- - tents were destroyed.

The Roman Catholic schools at Lower Tottenham were burnt down on Wednesday morning, from the overheating of a stove.

The premises of Messrs. Figgins, the type-founders, in West Street, Smithfield, were partially destroyed by a fire on Thursday, discovered by . one of the workmen on his arrival in the morning.

Mr. Smith, the lessee of Drury Lane Theatre, has purchased the freehold estate on which old Shadwell Workhouse stands, with intent to erect a large theatre for the East-end of London.

On Wednesday, large numbers of coal-ships had left the North-eastern ports for London. It was full time : in Wednesday's market there were three ships for sale, and no house-coals had arrived since the 13th.