ZbE inetropolis.
A Court of Common Council was held on Saturday, for the purpose of taking into consideration the appointment of a successor to Mr. Henry Woodthorpe, the late Town-Clerk. The chair was taken by the Lord Mayor. It was arranged that Mr. Tyrrell, the City Remem- brance; should conduct the duties of the office until a new Town- Clerk should be appointed. Mr. Norris moved that a Committee be appointed on the subject, and be instructed to inquire into the fees and emoluments. To this an amendment was moved by Mr. Anderton, seconded by Mr. Wire, to the effect "that the Committee be also in- structed to inquire as to the practicability of again uniting the office of City Solicitor and Town-Clerk." A long conversation ensued; some contending that the duties of Town-Clerk were heavy, and others that there was little or nothing to do ; while several thought that both the office of Town-Clerk and City Solicitor might easily be performed by one person. Ultimately both the resolution and amendment were united, by consent of the mover, and carried by a large majority. A recommendation to the committee was added, to consider the propriety of having the Town-Clerk elected annually.
A Court of Aldermen, held for the same purpose, adopted a similar course.
Mr. Hughes Hughes is a candidate for the office of Town-Clerk. His offer is unusually liberal-
" Unceasing employment, in connexion with your corporation, being my main object, I shall cheerfully subscribe to any modifications you may think right of the emoluments of the office ; to which, if made entirely honorary, or subject to annual election, I shall equally aspire."
A public meeting of the rate-payers of St. Marylebone was !sad in the Workhouse-yard, on Monday, for the purpose of opposing a bill now before Parliament to alter the local acts of that parish and to repeal some of the clauses contained in Sir J. Hobhonse's Vestry Act. Lord Nugent was in the chair; and on the hustings were Sir B. Hall, M.P., Sir C. Napier, M.P., Mr. Hume, and a large number of Vestrymen and directors of the poor. The chairman said, the bill would destroy vote by ballot in parochial elections, disfranchise a great number of rate- payers, by compelling them to pay rates in advance, divide the parish into wards, and thus give facilities for bribery and intimidation. Mr. Hume, Sir Benjamin Hall, Mr. Savage, Mr. Potter, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Langbam, Mr. Carden, and others, at great length addressed the meeting. It was asserted, that if the bill passed, it would disfranchise 9,000 out of 13,000 rate-payers, by raising the qualification from 40/. to to 601.; and other objections were taken to the measure. Resolutions strongly condemnatory of the bill were adopted, as also a petition founded on them against it. A Committee was then appointed to carry out the object of the meeting; thanks were voted to the chairman, and the assemblage broke up.
The Marylebone Vestry assembled in the Court-house on Saturday, to consider a motion declaring the Vestry now ready to receive tenders for paving Oxford Street with wood from Wells Street to Vere Street. Among the Vestrymen present were Lord Kenyon, Earl Strafford, Lord Barrington, Earl Man'. era, Lord Nugent, Sir Benjamin Hall, M.P., Mr. Tufnell, M.P., Mr. Hume, the Dean of Chichester, the Reverend Ro- bert Walpole, and the Reverend Dr. Dibdin. After a warm discussion, the motion was carried, by 41 to 24 ; and the long, disputed question of the wood-paving is thus finally settled.
The Russian Company gave their annual dinner to Ministers, the Russian Embassy, and the principal merchants in the City, at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street, on Saturday. The sideboards and tables were decorated with golden salvers and a profusion of plate silver-gilt. Covers were laid for a hundred and twenty. Mr. Astell, the Governor, who presided, was supported on the right by Baron de Brunow, and on the left by the Duke of Wellington. There were also present the Marquis of Clanricarde, the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl of Ripon, Lord Fitzgerald and Vesey, the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, Viscount Canning, Lord Londonderry, Lord Strangford, Count Alexis Strogonoff, Sir Henry Hardinge, M. de Kondriaffsky, M. de Gessler, M. de Eustaphievc, Sir Robert Wilson, Sir Edward Knatch- bull, Sir Alexander Crighton, Sir James Leighton, Sir John Pelly, Major-General Sir S. Lushington, Lieutenant-Colonel Thornton, Mr. Sidney Herbert, Mr. Masterman, M.P., Mr. Alderman Thompson, M.P., Mr. Hawes, M.P., and Mr. Murchison the traveller. The speeches were merely complimentary.
The arguments in the case of Bolted versus Lord Abinger and others were closed in Vice-Chancellor Wigram's Court on Saturday. Sir James reserved hisjudgment.
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