Vtlintrn guir rrirrrhings in Varlinnititt.

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS OF TILE WEER.

Hoe= or Loans. Monday, March 25. Royal Assents—Master's Jurisdiction in ,Chancery Bill, brought in by Lord Brougham, and read a second time—Adjourned till Thursday the 11th April.

Horse or Cosrmoss. Monday, March 25. Brick-duty—Encroachment on the Green Park—Public Sabuies: Committee to be moved by Lord John Russell—Na- tional Gallery; Vernon Collection—Dutehies of Cornwall and Lancaster ; Mr. Tre- lawney's Motion for a Committee, debated and negatived—Ordnance Estimates; Votes on account—Chief Justices Salaries Bill; Motion to consider in Committee debated and carried ; Amendment debated and negatived; Bill reported—Brick- duties Bill in Committee, amended and reported—Lneumbered Estates in Ireland; House counted out after the Solicitor-General's speech on asking leave for a Bill.

Tuesday, March 26. Order of Business after Easter—Encroachment on the Green Park—The Royal Academy—Adjourned till Monday the 8th April.

TIME-TABLE.

The Lords.

Hour of Hour of

Meeting. Adjournment. Saturday (March 23)- O. • • • • fS 20.4. Monday Sh . . s5 35m Sittings 1; Time, lb Ism this Session, 31; — 696 Em

The Colonist:a.

Hour of Hour of

Meeting. Adjournment.

Monday th . (r) lh

Tuesdav Noon .... 3h in Sittings this eek, 2; Time, 121 m this Sessiou,39; —25th

REFORM LN CHANCERY.

Presenting a petition from the Metropolitan Law Association, which complained of the little progress made in reforming the Court of Chan- cery, Lord BROUORAM proceeded to move the second reading of the Mas- ters Jurisdiction in Equity Bill ; which may be shortly described as a hill to extend the operation of the Companies Winding-up Aet to all eases of administration suits in the Court of Chancery. He laid a case for his bill by contrasting the delay and cost of administration in Chancery suits under the present system with the expedition and cheapness under his

bill Returns from the Stamp-office show that you might expect there would be from 5,000 to 8,000 suits of this sort a year : there are but 600. " In the simplest administration suit there are two or three sets of parties, and there- fore as many office copies of bill, with no real litigation. Then there are dose °copies ; then the answers in draught; then the engrossment ; then a ffx-cial commission to swear; then a special messenger to take the answer to Loudon, as it is not allowed to send it by post; then office copies then close copies ; then counsel's opinion on evidence ; then interrogatories to prove will (if any land), although not disputed ; then a special commission to ex- amine witnesses ; then evidence taken in secret, no one questioning the will; then special messenger to London,- and then office copies. Sometimes there is an original will brought from the Probate Court at York to London, at an expense of 201., no one disputing it or even looking at it ; and then the cause is heard ; and so entirely is the decision of course that the Vice- Chancellor of England has disposed of sixty within the hour." In a case before the Vice-Chaireellor, a learned counsel moved for " the formal decree with the usual directions" ' - and what did their Lordships think was the reply of that learned and excellent judge ?—Nothing less than this ; "Yes, Mr. Bethell, let the usual decree go forth for the destruction of this estate in due course of law !" When vou have got to this point, you have spent from 2001. to 3001., rarely. less than 1001.; as yet no part of Me real work is begun. The suitor is only yet in the net vestibule, and not in the jaws of Pandemonium- " Vestibutum ante ipsum primisque in faucibus Orci,

Luctus et ultrices posutre cubilia Curie : Pallentesgue habitant Morbi, tristisgue Senectus, Et Metus, et malesnada Fames, et turpis Egestas. Terribiles visu formie: Lettlnique, Labdsgde : Tuns consanguincus Leti Sopor, et male mentis Gaudio, — Fernergue Eurnenidum thalami, et Discordia dcmens Vipereum erinem vittis innexa cruentis."

These horrors are thickly strewed on the threshold. By the machinery which he proposed to adopt, he would get all that is wanted, and which causes this outlay of 2001. to waste, clone for five shillings. The cost of getting into the Master's Office averagea about 1,5001. By the machinery of the Winding-up Act, he would, notwithstanding deaths, finish the suit for one-third of the cost of getting into the Master's °like. It is impossible to object that the change would be trusting too much to the primary juris- diction of the Master, for he already adjudicates on larger sums and more at' Iteult questions than generally go before the Court, and in ono-tenth of the time. And it cannot be said, You may de all that is required by orders under the 3d and 4th Victoria chapter 94 i for nothing but an act of Parlia- ment can give the complete powers required : moreover, the cost would be nearly as great if by orders you substituted petitions for thepresent bills ; and then, above all, such a grave and important elange—by far the hugest practical reform ever attempted in Chancery—ought to have the importance, publicity, and indisputable authority of an act of Parliament. The main object of the bill is to commence consent-administrations in the Master's Office ; to secure an immediate notice to all parties a judicial advertisement is to be made by the Master that he has commenced the administration ; and an immediate and cheap appeal is to be given to the Court, in case any party is dissatisfied. To induce solicitors to get through their work rapidly and without the expense of copies, they are to be paid, as fur as possible, one fee for the job. lie also proposed to give the Master a power to mulct a solici- tor guilty of malversation ; the sentence being subject to appeal.

On the understanding that the bill should stand over for a consideration and full discussion, Lord LANGDALE consented, for the Lord Chaueellor, who was absent from indisposition, that the bill should be read a second time now. It was so read.

CHIEF JUSTICES" SALARM BILL.

On the proposal to go into Committee u the Chief Justices' Salary

Bill, some opposition was manifested by r. CHRISTOPHER, Mr. Mtn, mina, Mr. HENLEY, Mr. Hems, and others, on the ground that it would not be advisable to restrict the Committee who are about to inquire into Public Salaries. Yielding to some pressure applied on the particular point, Lord Joust Rrssxax intimated, that he was prepared- to abandon that part of the bill referring to the salary of the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and retain only the portion referring to that of the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench : and he grounded his desire to push this part forward on the necessity for ratifying the merely provisional ar- rangement under which Lord Denman for nearly twenty years received 8,000/. a year instead of the 10,000/. a year to which he was entitled by the act of 1832,—an arrangement still merely provisionaL His executors would have the right to claim the difference as arrears. The Economical party in the House—Mr. ItmcLEY, Mr. lir3IE, and others—treated this motive as a figment, and ascribed to Ministers the real object of securing to Lord Campbell a sure salary of 8,0001.—not liable to further reduction on the possible recommendation of the Public Salaries Committee. Lord Jonst Reser:Li then stated expressly, that the salaries of the present in- cumbents will be reserved from the consideration of the Committee, and prospective salaries only placed under their inquest. The Economists persisted in their opposition ; and Mr. SPOON ER moved that the House go into Committee on the bill on Friday the 12th of April. This was nega- tived, by 100 to 51. The bill was then fought in detail After a pm- longed colloquial debate, during which several sorts of amendment were suggested by different Members, Mr. H'LEY moved the omission of words from the first clause, which would leave the salary of the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench amenable to any recommendation of reduction made by the Salaries Committee. Colonel Timm:now opposed this amend- ment. The retrenchment arguments founded on the fall of provisions are of little force, inasmuch as the other side may answer that prices once rose. This was deemed by Mr. Hume a dereliction calling for spe- cial remonstrance, and justifying the general remark that professors of economy are often thus seen shrinking from putting their professions into practice. The amendment was negatived, by 86 to 38 ; and the bill then passed through Committee.

Puma: attunes.

In answer to Colonel Summer, Lord Joint RUSSELL stated that Lord Seymour has taken the office of Chief Commissioner of Woods and Fo- rests on the salary hitherto received of 2,0004 a year. Lord John added, that, shortly after Easter, he should move for a Select Committee to con- sider the salaries and emoluments of public officers, Members of that House, and the salaries and emoluments of the Judges of the united Kingdom, and also the salaries of officers on the diplomatic establishment. And subsequently, in reply to Mr. Cneiwromea's inquiries respecting the judicial salaries, Lord Joule Ressios was understood to explain, that the Committee might recommend a prospective reduction.

ADMMSTRATION OF THE ROYAL DIITCHIES.

In making his motion for a Committee to inquire what extent of in- terest the public has in the Dutehies of Cornwall and Lancaeter, and into the management of the possessions of those Dutchies, Mr. TRELAWNY urged the some class of arguments and facts which he has formerly ad- vaneed—the actual usage of former dealings with the property, and the expensive and inefficient management of the same, with their result of in- commensurate revenues. And the motion was opposed with the swine le- gal and prerogative reasons against the public right, and the same dice- tions of modern improvement in management, which have formerly in- duced Parliament to abstain from taking the proposed step. The debate was distinguished by the weighty testimony of Sir ROBERT PEEL, from personal dealings and official experience that no property, public or pi- vate, has of late years been better administered than that of the Dutehy of Cornwall ; and also by the ineidental announcement from Mr. PAGE Woon, as 'Vice-Chancellor of the Dutehy of Lancaster, that he hopes to outstrip in his own court those reforms which it is proposed to apply to the Irish Court of Chancery.

The motion was negatived without division, NATIONAL GALLERY : ROYAl. ACADEMY : 'VERNON COLLECT/ON.

In reply to Mr. EIVART, Lord JOHN RUSSELL explained what Ministers proposed to do with the Vernon collection of pictures.

It is their wish that the National Gallery should be devoted to the re- eeption of works of art belonging to the nation, including the pictures of the late Mr. Vernon, and any others that may be given. But George the Third

having given the Royal any rooms in Somerset House, and various pri- vileges, with a view to the founding of a national school of art in this king- dom, by means of which the Academy has been enabled to maintain schools of painting and sculpture, it is due both to the Royal Academy and also to the promotion of national objects, that the Academy should have it in their power to carry on their schools. The Government do not think it right to ask the Royal Academy to give up those rooms without proposing that the House of Commons should grant that body a sum of money to enable them to obtain a site for a building which they may devote to the purposes to which the rooms they now occupy in the National Gallery were applied. In the course of the present session, the Government will introduce a bill into the House to accomplish the object at the earliest possible moment. In the mean time, Marlborough House, recently possession of the Queen Dowager, has been given up to the Crown, and is destined to be the residence of the Prince of Wales ; but her Majesty has been srasiously pleased to declare that for the present, and for two years to come, till pictures of the late Mr. Vernon, and any others that may within that period be added to the national collection, should be placed in Marlborough House for the purpose of being ex- hibited to the public.

On the day after this announcement, Mr. Rune moved for an account of the receipts and expenditure of the Royal Academy since 1836—when there was 47,0001. funds in hand ; and fora detailed statement of the funds appropriated in salaries and pensions, and the amount now in hand— which must be near 100,0001. If the House is to be asked for a vote from the public purse, it should know what has become of the fends raised by their exhibitions. The Academy has had from the public the use of part of the National Gallery free of ex, pease, but has refused to concede to the public any gratis admission. He doubted whether the system pursued by the Academy was not more injurious to art than °therein.

Lord Joan( Russeii observed, that be bad frequently been obliged to

oppose motions of this kind ; and Sir Robert Peel once induced the House to rescind a resolution moved by Mr. Hume.

Mr. Hume might maintain all the opinions he had expressed—that the Royal Academy did not promote art, that it ought not to be allowed accom- modation in a public building erected at the expense of the public, and that Reynolds and all the great artists connected with it were mere daubers ; but how the honourable gentleman could maintain that the House was entitled to investigate the amount and application of the money received for the ex- hibition of their pictures, he did not understand. if the House had that power, he did not see why they should not inquire into the proceeds of every exhibition in London, and ask Madame Tussaud how much she made by her wax figures—

Mr. Howe— If you gave her a house to show them in, I would." (Laughter.)

Lord JOHN RUSSELL. went on. If George the Third and his Ministers had said to the Royal Academy, "We will allow you to exhibit your pictures in rooms belonging to the public, and in return we will require you to give us an account of all the money you receive," that would have been an engage- ment: but there was notbinc of the kind. It was evident, then, though the House had a perfect right to turn the Academy out, and say, "You shall no longer have rooms in Somerset House or the National Geller, ,v " that right, without such a stipulation, did not give the power to ask what sums they received. He certainly regretted the decision of the Royal Aca- demy not to admit the public, after a certain time, without any payment whatever ; but Sir Martin Shee, to whom he had spoken upon the subject, said the Academy, upon consideration, were of opinion that many valuable works would be injured, and that miniatures would be stolen. Lord John thought the pictures would be as safe with the admission free as with the admission for a shilling. However, the House had no oontrol there, as it is an entirely private property. If the House is of Mr. Hume's opinion, and refuse a grant, the Maidenly mast continue to exhibit in the present place until the Crown or Parliament takes it away.

Mr. EwART observed, that when the Academy are asked for an account, they say they are a private body ; but when they want accommodation, they say they are a public body. So that one of the legs of this huge co- lossus stands upon public benefit, and the other upon private monopoly; whilst the House can get no amounts in either one capacity or the other. He reminded Lord John Russell, that it was not the Academy that made Reynolds, but Reynolds made the Academy. Mr. Berates treated the objections to a free admission as absurd : the miniatures might be with- drawn, or enclosed. If the Academy be, as they now say, a private in- stitution, let them build their own chambers.

Mr. HAwse maintained that the gift of chambers by the public has not brought the Academy under the jurisdiction of Parliament. He eulogized the Academy for its services to the public in forming a school of art which is an honour to this country, and expressed his faith that their private funds have been economically and honourably expended. Sir BEN.Locur HALL and Mr. HENLEY contended that the free use of a public building which enables the accumulation of revenuers, and the pub- lic announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his financial statement, that he intended to ask for a grant of public money, show the right of the public to know whether the society is not rich enough to build for itself, and whether it comes on fair grounds to ask for public assistance.

Mr. NEWDECATE held the Academy to he a private body, and would equally oppose this motion and any grant of money. Mr. Pamir IfowAitu opposed the motion upon sentiment. He might quote the words of Prior, which were as philosophical as true- " To John I owed great obligation ;

But John unhappily thought St To publish it to all the nation :

Sure John and I are more than met."

He certainly should not be able to congratulate the House even if they ob- tained a triumph over the artists in such a matter.

The motion was negatived, by 47 to 19.

ENCROACHMENT ON THE GREEN PARK.

Lord DUNCAN stated to the Secretary for the Treasury, in reference to a question put by him on the 1st of this month respecting the encroach- ment of Bridgewater House on the Green Park, that the erection of the wall in question is still going on. Mr. Lesumayrox complained, for his constituents of Westminster, that the structure is a great hardship and grievance.

Mr. HATTER stated, that not only has the wall not been proceeded with, but the greater part has been taken down. It would undoubtedly be a detriment to the public, and an injury to the beauty of the Park. If a modification is not procured, it will be the duty of the Woods and Forests, wader the stringent terms of the lease, to order the wall to be entirely levelled. There is, however, nothing to restrain the embank- ment from being made.

Lord DUNCAN recurred to the subject next day. He repeated his statements of fact; particularly impressing on the House that this was no personal matter, as he believed that the encroachment is made by Lord Ellesmere's architect without his knowledge. He moved for a -copy of documents relating to the garden of Bridgewater House. Mr. BANKER warmly praised Lord Ellesmere for his erection of a palace the most per- fect in point of architecture that could be found in this metropolis ; de- dared his belief that a garden alone was necessary to make it a complete residence ; and expressed his willingness by an suit of Parliament to mo- dify the lease so as to allow the completion of the garden. Sir Du Lacy BYARS and Sir BENJAMIN Ham. exclaimed against setting so bad an ex- ample : every house would soon be wanting " only a garden to make it complete." They complained of an encroachment near the Albert Gate. Lard ionsr RUSSELL approved of the jealousy of encroachment ; adding, that as he walked that way, he had himself been surprised to see the wall in question rising as if it were intended to make the garden private and exclude the circulation of the air.

He believed the lease forbids any wall ; but not so certainly an embank- ment, and that might be worse. The building is, no doubt, au ornament to the Metropolis : it seems to him to be built in very good taste, and he never walked in the Green Park without regarding it with admiration. It had always struck him that when a man bought a fine picture or statue to place in his house, he oould impart gratification to eomparatively few persons, whereas a beautiful piece of architecture in a public place affords enjoyment to every one. Upon the whole, therefore, we are much indebted to Lord Ellesmere for the handsome addition he has made to the ornaments of the Metropolis. As to the plot of ground near Honiton Place [and the Albert Gate] from which the public have been excluded, they would derive much greater enjoyment from looking .at a beautiful shrubbery than at a scrubby liaise of ground.

Mr. HATTER admitted, that if the bond [the covenant in the lease] be enforced, the wall must be removed, to the great Injury of the public : they are, however, entitled to a nuisance if they choose to have it. Mr. WORTLEY observed, that if Lord Ellesmere were animeted by a curmutl- n spirit, he might still erect a wall or a great embankment on his own hold behind the narrow strip of leasehold, and plant the strip in front with thick trees so as to shut out all view : but he has ever shown him- self a patron of art, and in the erection of this same magnificent building has gone to considerable expense in building a separate entrance for the public to his magnificent picture-gallery.

Lord Dt-sreax wound up with strictures on the failure in duty of which the officers of Woods and Forests had been guilty : even where the bound- ary of the Park- runs, is a point on which Mr. Pennithorne confesses his ignorance.

The motion for papers was agreed to.

Bruicx-Deries.

In reply to questions from Lord ROBERT GROSVENOR, as to the in- tentions with regard to the brick-duties on the stooks in hand, Sir CHARLES WOOD stated, that he had made up his mind to allow at once a drawback of 50 per cent : with regard to all bricks henceforward made,. the repeal of duty should be immediate ; the duty on all existing bricks has been paid, and he will take no more. He has been already taking stock in more than half the brick-yards in England, and no delay in assessing the drawback will occur. As to contracts, he proposes that the bill for re- peal shall "include contracts heretofore made for bricks at a duty-paid. price."

Fsen.rress To COMMERCE rie Inter( LAND.

Sir JOHN Rostrmy moved, on Monday, for leave to bring in a bill to enable purchasers under the Irish Encumbered Estates Act to leave un- paid one-half the value of the purchase-money on the security of re- gistered debentures, which should be transferable from one person to another by simple endorsement. The debentures would be no judgment whatever against the owner, but a security of undeniable validity upon the basis of a Parliamentary title to the land alone. The House was counted out, at one o'clock on Tuesday morning, almost immediately after Sir John Romilly's statement.

ORDER 01' BUSINESS AFTER EASTER.

Lord JOHN Russina. stated, that he hopes after Easter to go through the Ordnance and Navy Estimates on Monday the 8th April ; to take the Irish Franchise Bill and the Australian Bill on the succeeding Thursday and Friday—getting through the Committee with one before lemming Committee on the other ; and to bring on the Stamp-duties Bill on Monday the 15th April. He had no objection, however, to take the Stamp-duties Bill on Friday ; but that would be the utmost alteration he could make.