move even the source of unfounded impu- | arose from the present mode of remunertations, when the person against whom ation. To give their Lordships an instance, they were made were in the discharge of he would mention that the Court of Chanjudicial functions. He admitted, too, cery made, among other orders, one rethat the Masters ought to be paid in specting the mode of taking accounts, a different manner. This was a subject of directing that accounts should be taken in considerable difficulty, but he had devised a particular manner. This order was pubanother mode of payment, which he be- lished, but the Masters refused to act upon lieved their Lordships would approve, it. And why? Because, they said, it and which, he trusted also would not be would diminish the fees of certain persons objected to by the Masters. The mode in the Report-office. The Court again was which he should propose,- -a mode, be it unable for the same reason to diminish the observed, which imposed no additional ex- length of reports. The Court could indeed pense upon the public,-was, that the fees make an order which, if carried into effect, of the Masters should be received as they would attain that object, but if the consehad been hitherto; that they should be quence of that order was also the diminucarried to a fund, to be called the "Masters' tion of the fees of any particular person, Fund;" and that out of this fund the the order would not be acted upon, and Masters should for the future be paid. In would therefore be nugatory. This mode his opinion a proper remuneration for a of remuneration once got rid of, they might Master would be 3,000l. a year. Under do a great deal. When he stated to their the present system many of the Masters Lordships that he proposed to add a new made considerably more than 3,000l. a Judge to the Court of Chancery,―that apyear; but he should propose that no pointment being qualified and restrained Master appointed hereafter should receive in the manner he had mentioned, he had more than 3,000l. a year, or any other sum not, he believed, told their Lordships that at which the Parliament might think pro- by this addition no new expense would be per to fix a Master's salary. He should imposed upon the public. It had given not, however, propose that the Masters great gratification to him, and it would should be remunerated wholly by means doubtless be a source of gratification to of a salary; but that their remuneration their Lordships also, to find that this apshould arise, partly from a salary, and pointment might be made without adding partly from a fee on each report. He had to the public expense. There was a fund adopted this mixed mode of remuneration, in the Court of Chancery, the nature of in order that the Masters might not be de- which he could not explain to their Lordprived of that stimulus which, though it ships in any better way than by likening it was perhaps a matter of small consider- to the unclaimed dividends remaining in ation with respect to a Judge who acted in the Bank of England. This fund had its public, was certainly a matter that should origin 100 years ago; and had produced an not be lost sight of with regard to Judges income of between 50,000l. and 60,0007. who discharged their functions, not in pub- a year. It had been applied by the legislic but in private. He proposed, therefore, lature, at various times, to various purpothat the salary of a Master in Chancery ses connected with the Court,-such as should be 3,000l. a year, and that the the building of offices, and in part payemoluments of every new Master should ment of the salaries of the Vice-Chancelbe limited to that sum. He believed that lor, the Masters, and the Registrars. most of the present Masters would agree There was now remaining of it a clear surto the plan he proposed of carrying all the plus which produced an income of 30,0002. fees into one fund, to be called the "Mas- a year; and it was his intention to propose ters' Fund," out of which they should be that the salary of the new Judge should be paid; but some of the present Masters, paid out of this fund. What he had said probably, would not consent to this ar- with respect to the Masters would apply rangement. By this mode, however, they almost in the same degree to the Registrars. would effect all that was at present prac- It was the business of the Registrars to ticable, and they would be able ultimately draw up the decrees of the Court, and it to accomplish the object which the Com- was of the utmost importance to the suitors missioners had in view. Their Lordships that the functions of the Registrars should could not conceive the barrier to improve- be performed without delay. In this view ments in the Court of Chancery which the Chancery Commission had recommend

ed that two new Registrars should be ap- | presence of a Judge, and ought not to be pointed. One of the objects of his bill conducted in the ordinary mode,—namely, was, to carry this recommendation of the by commissioners. He had had a comCommissioners into effect: but no addi- munication with his hon. and learned tional expense would be thereby incurred; friend who introduced the bill, and he for the fees which were now received by believed he had satisfied that gentleman four Registrars would then be divided that a legislative enactment on the subject among the six. He would not then enter was unnecessary, inasmuch as the Chaninto any details respecting the duties of the cellor already possessed this power. There Registrars and the arrangements contemp- were instances of such inquests having been lated, but content himself with observing, directed to the Lord Chief Baron and to that what he had said with respect to the the Attorney-General, so far back as the Masters would apply also to the Registrars. time of Henry 8th. He would not trouble Thus, then, he had given their Lordships their Lordships with particular instances, a general outline of the steps which had but content himself with observing that been taken to facilitate the progress of a the Lord Chancellor had such a power. cause in the Chancery Court; and he had He would add, too, that he thought it called the attention of their Lordships to the would be wise and prudent in the Chanmeasures in contemplation for the further- cellor to exercise that power in cases which ance of the same object by the appoint- rendered it necessary. The excessive exment of an additional Judge, and by ar- pense of lunacy inquests did not arise from rangements with respect to the Masters the state of the law, or from technical and the Registrars. But there was another difficulties; for nothing could be more point connected with this part of the sub- simple than the law on this subject; it was ject on which he had yet to touch. The caused altogether by the protracted attenMasters had told him that the book which dance of witnesses. The expense then had been kept in the Masters' Office, rela- would be diminished by shortening the tive to the progress of causes, had been inquest; and it was clear that the exproductive of the most salutary effects. amination of witnesses would be conHe proposed, therefore, that at stated ducted with more celerity, and with periods a return should be made to the more satisfaction, under the superintendLord Chancellor of all the cases in which ence of a Judge in the habit of presiding no decree had been made, in order that in- at nisi prius, than under the direction of formation might be given to the parties the gentlemen to whom commissions of concerned, and an inquiry made into the lunacy were in ordinary cases directed. causes of the delay. Upon another sub- This had occurred to him long before hi ject, connected with the jurisdiction of the hon. and learned friend introduced the Court of Chancery, it was necessary that bill to which he had alluded, and he had he should trouble their Lordships with a intended, and still did intend, to exercise few words: he alluded to Commissions of this power in cases which should appear Lunacy. A commission of Lunacy, in or- to him to call for the presence of a Judge. dinary cases was attended with very little There was another subject connected with expense; but in some cases the expense the Court of Chancery which he must not of such commissions had been enormous. pass over; and this was the jurisdiction It had been so in the case of Lord Ports- and the practice of the Court in cases of mouth, in the late case of Mr. Davies, and Bankruptcy. He could assure their Lordin the case of a gentleman residing in Lei-ships that he had carefully and deliberately cestershire, whose name he believed was Holmes. A bill had, during the present Session of Parliament, been introduced into the other House by an hon. and learned friend of his (Mr. M. A. Taylor) to lessen these expenses; and the mode in which it was proposed to accomplish this was, by giving authority to the Lord Chancellor to direct a Judge of one of the superior Courts to preside at such inquiries, in cases where the Lord Chancellor should think the inquest required the

directed his attention to this subject, over and over again; and he was more than ever convinced that the administration of the law in bankruptcy, so far as it related to the metropolis, could not be confided to a better description of persons than those in whose hands it was now placed; namely, Commissioners. Much of their duty was ministerial: some of it was judicial; and the business that came before them was of the most fluctuating nature; but these tribunals were so constituted, that

they adapted themselves with facility to the great mercantile towns. He had the all. As to the manner in which the Com-power of doing this without the intervenmissioners performed their duties, he had tion of the legislature; and he should no hesitation in saying that they performed them well. The tests of this were, in the first place, the number of appeals from their decisions in the next place, the number of the reversals of those decisions. Now, considering the immense quantity of business disposed of by the Commissioners, it was wonderful how small the number of appeals were; and still more wonderful how few decisions of the Commissioners had been reversed. He thought, therefore, that the constitution of these tribunals was good, and he had no intention of proposing any alteration in them. Some propositions, however, he had to make, which would diminish the expenses of proceedings in bankruptcy, but he could not enter into the details of these on the present occasion. He should propose, too, that the jurisdiction of the London Commissioners should be enlarged. Their jurisdiction was at present limited to the distance of forty miles from London. The facilities of communication had of late years so rapidly increased, that he thought their jurisdiction might, without inconvenience, be extended to the distance of eighty miles; for he thought that with the increased facilities of communication, eighty miles now could scarcely be considered more than forty miles were at the time when the extent of the jurisdiction of the London Commissioners was fixed. This arrangement would bring more business to the Commissioners, and give to the inhabitants of places within eighty miles of the metropolis the advantage of better tribunals than they had at present. In Lord Rosslyn's time commissions were established in all the great mercantile towns. Why this wholesome system was abandoned, not many years ago, he did not know, but he thought it was because the increase of patronage was alleged to have been the only object in view in establishing such commissions. He was one of those who thought that no man ought to be diverted from the upright and correct discharge of his duty by imputations of this nature, and that a man, unjustly loaded with obloquy, should rather endeavour to show that he did not deserve censure than abandon a course which he knew to be good, merely because it subjected him to unfounded aspersions. He should propose that such commissions should be re-established in

effect this object, with a view to make it as little expensive as possible, in such a manner, that with these new commissions, the number of Commissioners of Bankrupts should be the same as at present, including both the London and country commissioners. Thus there would be no increase in the number of persons appointed, and there would, therefore, be no ground for supposing that increase of patronage was any part of his object in proposing this arrangement. The arrangement had been strongly recommended by a gentleman deeply versed in commercial transactions, who had presided over a Committee of the House of Commons in which this subject was carefully considered, and on whose acuteness, and knowledge, and experience he felt that he could safely rely. He had thus rapidly stated to their Lordships the nature of the measures in contemplation for the improvement of the administration of justice. Some of those measures were not yet prepared; some of them were in progress; and of these the progress of some was more advanced than that of others. Their Lordships would see that many of them required time. He had thought it his duty to lay before their Lordships this general statement. He could assure their Lordships that those to whom the task of inquiry into these matters had been confided, had perseveringly directed their talents and their energies to the subject. He believed that the result of their labours would be beneficial to the public; he trusted that their Lordships would think so too, when the measures were brought before them in detail; but he was perfectly sure that the public good, and that alone, had been consulted by the Commissioners in all their investigations. If their Lordships should concur in the observations he had thrown out, and in the measures submitted to them, it would be a source of great gratification to him personally, and to those who had co-operated with him. He had now only, in conclusion, to move that the Bill he presented "to facilitate the Administration of Justice in the Courts of the country," be read a first time.

The Bill accordingly read a first time, and ordered to be printed.

The Lord Chancellor said, it had been intimated to him that he had inadvertently

1815. Ordered.

1,000,000l. sterling. He therefore moved | It had been said, however, that he sacrifor returns of the amount of the quantity ficed the publicans, because he did not at of Wheat, Barley, and Rye, consumed in the same time state their claim to protection. Great Britain during the intervening He had in fact advocated their claims both years, together with accounts of the aver- in the House and in the Committee; he age of Prices and Duties paid on the same, had always supported, and never comproand also returns of the Importation of mised their interest, though he had also a Foreign Corn into Great Britain, since duty to perform to the public, which he the year 1815, stating the aggregate quan- would discharge, undismayed by the tity of all sorts imported, distinguishing threats of either individuals, or bodies. those importations which did not pay duty of men. The publicans, however, being -together with the whole amount of of opinion that they would be inRevenue received on the importation of jured by the Beer trade being thrown foreign corn and meal in each year, since open, he had been attacked in their behalf by a Newspaper, probably unknown, to the Members of that House, but much circulated among publicans, “The Morning Advertiser:" that attack contained a threat that he should be made to feel that it was necessary to support the publicans. He had been connected with that body for thirty years, and he should have thought that they knew him well enough by this time to know that threats could have no weight with him, though he had every inclination to favour their wishes. He was accused too of having combined with his right hon. friend to take off the Beer duties, and regulate the licenses. He believed that it was hardly necessary for him to say that such was not the case, and he had no other wish on the subject than to see the publicans far less aggrieved than they imagine themselves likely to be. He had always expressed his opinion that the measure proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be of great benefit to the public, while it would not injure the licensed victuallers. As he had always used every exertion in his power in their favour, he hoped the House would excuse him for having thus expressed his opinions.

LOTTERY OFFICERS.] Mr. Hume in moving for a copy of the Treasury Minute respecting the retired allowances of the officers engaged in the late lottery establishments, stated, that he understood there were five individuals receiving an income of 1,4731. for life, being 3751. each; and that even the messenger, according to a document already laid before the House, had 281. a year. It was the more to be objected to as those persons each held, at present, offices under the Crown. In the existing state of the Dead Weight, it was important that information should be laid before Parliament of every case similar to that, by which it would be seen whether or not the Government were pursuing its promised system of economy. The return he meant to move for would shew the services of Wm. Duere Adams, and the other persons to whom the Minute of December 8th, 1829, granted retired allowances, and whether the persons who enjoyed those allowances held any situation under the Crown. The Return ordered.

MALT AND BEER DUTIES, AND PUBLICANS.] Sir Thomas Gooch presented a Petition from the occupiers of land in the hundred of Gosford, praying for the Repeal of the Malt and Beer duties.

Mr. Charles Barclay wished to take that opportunity of explaining what he had said a few nights before. He had then stated, that in his opinion the removal of the Beer duties would be a great benefit to the public brewers; but he meant that opinion to apply solely to brewers, and no other class of persons. He knew that a great difference of opinion existed on the subject; but he had been very cautious in delivering his own sentiments.

Mr. Benett wished to know whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer intended to refund the duty on Beer to those who had a stock on hand; otherwise those persons, he conceived, would be placed at a great disadvantage by the intended abolition, of duty, as compared with those who would not purchase stock till after the 10th of October. If the drawback were not allowed, only a very small stock of Beer would be kept up, and none would be brewed but for immediate consumption. The consequences too would be injurious to the agricultural interest, for the sale of old Barley, for the purpose of Malting, would be entirely stopped,