MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS Аст ACT (ENGLAND.)] The Marquess of Camden presented a Petition from 300 members of the University of Cambridge, praying that the Vice-Chancellor of the University for the time being may be a magistrate for the town of Cambridge. He would give notice that when the Bill for amending the English Municipal Corporations Act went into Committee he should move to insert a clause with a view to carry into effect the prayer of the petitioners. The Lord Chancellor said, that a question had arisen between the inhabitants of the town of Cambridge and the University of Cambridge as to who should be put into the commission of the peace for that town. It appeared that hitherto the Vice-Chancellor had held a commission of the peace for the borough, and was also a magistrate for the county; and it further appeared, from the representations on the part of the town that the Vice-Chancellor, from some authority which was not very easily traced, but supposed to be by virtue of the authority vested in him by charter with his power of magistrate, was enabled to grant licences to all the public-houses in the town of Cambridge, a power not very agreeable to the inhabitants, and which the town therefore very strenuously resisted. When he came to consider who ought to be put into the commission, the nicety of deciding that question, as between the ViceChancellor and the town of Cambridge, was entirely removed by what passed last year on the Municipal Corporations Act, and by the language of that Act itself, which made it the duty of the Government to provide the magistracy. Now if the insertion of the Vice Chancellor into the Commission was to be made on the ground of his being an elective officer, that would in effect be to take away from the Crown the power of nominating the magistrates. He thought that the proper construction of the Act would preclude any individual from being a magistrate by virtue merely of his being elected to office. The present petition assumed that construction of the Act to be correct, and proposed to make an alteration in it as far as respected the Vice Chancellor of the University. If that should be the pleasure of their Lordships it would then become their duty to inquire what arrangement could be made between the University and the town for the purpose of coming to some understanding upon the subject. He begged to state to their Lordships the course he had taken with regard to the University. Believing that it was right and proper, with a view to the protection of the young men at the University, that some persons connected with it should be in the commision of the peace, he had introduced into the Commission six heads of houses, four professors, and four other persons residing in the town, who were members of the University; therefore a majority of the magistrates were members of the University. He had hoped that the University would have considered that he had given its members as much magisterial power as it was desirable they should possess. By not opposing the introduction of the clause which the noble Marquess had stated it to be his intention to bring forward, he begged to be considered as not pledging himself to any particular course which he might hereafter feel it his duty to follow. Petition laid on the Table. RAILWAYS.] The Duke of Wellington begged to ask the noble Marquis (Lansdowne) opposite whether his Majesty's Ministers were prepared to bring forward any general measure upon the subject of railways? The Marquess of Lansdowne replied that the Government were not at that moment prepared with any plan upon the subject; but, at the same time, be begged In the mean time to assure the noble Duke that Ministers were exceedingly alive to the great importance of the subject, and that, in the course of a very short time, they should be prepared to come forward with a plan which he hoped and believed would be generally approved of. he thought it would be highly desirable to introduce into all the Railway Bills that should come under the consideration of the House, a clause by which they should hereafter become subject to any general plan which the House might deem fit to adopt. He might as well state that a Bill would be brought into the other Honse of Parliament to carry the proposed object into effect. Their Lordships should recollect, however, that this was a delicate subject to the companies concerned, but he hoped that equal protection might be afforded to them and to the public. The Duke of Wellington thought it highly expedient that the Bills now before the House should be rendered subject to any general regulation which the House might afterwards adopt. Therefore, with was general state and management, and they had made a Report, in which they recommended various extensive and important improvements. The present Bill recited the facts which he had stated respecting the Commission, and founded upon the particular recommendation contained in the 13th page of that Report. The noble Lord then read the passage of the Report which recommended the appointment of Commissioners, in order to discover the best mode of carrying their specific recommendation into effect. Now, this Bill after reciting those facts, provided that it be lawful for his Majesty with the advice of his Privy Council to the permission of the House, he would read a clause which he had prepared upon the subject, and which he thought should be introduced into every Railway Bill that came under their consideration prior to the adoption of a general plan. He would read the clause now, and then lay it on the table of the House in order that it might be printed and considered by their Lordships previous to Thursday next, when he should move its insertion in the first Railway Bill that came before them. The noble Duke then read the clause, to this effect: "Provided always, and be it further enacted, that nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to the exemption of this or any other rail-appoint a Board of Visitors to the Colleges road from the provisions of any general Act or general Acts for the regulation of railroads, which may be passed with a view to the advantage, protection, and security of the public, before the expiration of one year from the passing of this Act, if Parliament shall be sitting at the expiration of such period of one year, or if Parliament should not be then sitting, before the end of the then next session." Subject dropped. of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and to the King's College at Aberdeen. In addition to the General Board for the whole it had been deemed convenient to appoint also special boards of visitors for each separate College, because whatever might be the case with the General Board, it might fairly be expected that Gentlemen would be found to give a portion of their time gratuitously towards the management of their own College. The next clause contained various regulations respecting the system of management to be pursued. Clauses 8, 9, and 10 referred to the powers to be given to the visitors. The 8th conferred upon them all the powers at present enjoyed by his Majesty in his visitatorial capacity. The 9th provided that the "Senatus Academicus" of each College should state to the Board of Visitors the regulations which they would propose to be adopted in their own particular case. That provision was inserted THE UNIVERSITIES (SCOTLAND)BILL.] Viscount Melbourne rose to movethe Second Reading of the Universities (Scotland) Bill. He said that, notwithstanding the estimation in which the Universities of Scotland were held in that country, notwithstanding the effect they had upon the country, notwithstanding the means they afforded for cheap education, some vices, some errors, had still crept into those establishments, which it was admitted on all hands required certain amendments. He un-in order that they might have all the doubtedly felt that such extensive powers and influence as belonged to the Scotch Universities required periodical revision, and especially to be considered by fresh eyes-to be considered by those who were not previously accustomed to the general routine of the affairs within those spheres; and such a revision would be required even if the institution were well administered in themselves. Upon that view the Commission of Royal Visitation had been appointed. That Commission had entered into a very accurate and complete inquiry upon the subject. They had examined into the Universities of Scot land, into their mode of instruction, into their property, into the appointment of the professors, and in short, into their benefit of the local knowledge of the Gentlemen intimately connected with each College; but if those Gentlemen neglected to make such recommendation to the Board within six months' then the Commissioners were empowered to make the regulations themselves. The 10th Clause gave the power of abolishing professorships, saving vested interests. It was further enacted that the measure should continue in force only for five years, unless, it should be at an earlier period confirmed by Act of Parliament. Upon the whole then, this Bill being recommended by the Commissioners, and having been delayed somewhat longer than it ought, he trusted there would be no objection to adopt the measure, with such alterations as might The Duke of Wellington expressed a hope that amply sufficient time would be given for the consideration of the measure before it went into Committee. hereafter seem fit to their Lordships. The measure undoubtedly did vest in the hands of his Majesty's Government a considerable power, by conferring upon them the appointment of the Board of Visitors; but it would be superfluous, he sincerely hoped, in him to profess that it was the intention of Government to advise the selection of those only for members of the Board who from their knowledge, from their character, from their respectability, and impartiality, were the most fitted to exercise that trust, and to acquire the esteem of their fellow-collegians. In conclusion, he begged to move the Second Reading of this Bill. The Earl of Aberdeen stated, that it was not his intention to offer any opposition to the Second Reading of the Bill, because he understood from the explanation of the noble Lord, and also from the contents of the Bill itself, that its object was to carry into effect the recommendations contained in the Report of the Commission of Royal visitation which was appointed no less than seven years ago, and which had presented its Report to Parliament more than six years. ["Not quite six years," from Lord Melbourne.] Having had the honour of being a member of that commission, he of course could have no objection to a measure for carrying into effect the recommendations of their Report in which he had mainly coincided. But he certainly felt, that greater discretion must be given to the Commissioners than was given by this Bill. He had been glad to hear the announcement of the noble Lord as to the intention of the Government with regard to the appointment of the Board, and he would only suggest, if they found any difficulty in carrying those intentions into execution, the propriety of following the course which had been pursued by his right hon. Friend (Sir Robert Peel), when he was Secretary of State, by making those appointments entirely independent of any party character so that the Board should be composed of men of all descriptions and opinions, but all equally able to engage in the consideration of the subject in question. He had no doubt that the Commission would give satisfaction, and he should therefore support the second reading of the Bill; but if it should contain any provision subject to objection, which he did not believe to be the case, he should reserve to himself the right of opposing it in Committee. The Earl of Roseberry could not avoid stating shortly his opinion on this subject, and in the first instance, having taken some pains to inquire into this question, he begged leave to acquit his Majesty's Government of any neglect or unnecessary delay. He knew that their attention had been continually directed to the subject from the end of the year 1831, when the Commissioners made their Report to his Majesty, down to the time when this measure was digested. They had continually been employed in considering how the recommendation of the Commissioners might be best enforced; but difficulties did present themselves, and questions arose, which prevented the Crown from acting in the matter upon its own responsibility; and the principle of adopting in the Bill the original and fundamental recommendation of the Commissioners was, in his opinion, not only the best method of carrying into effect that primary recommendation, but was the only means of obviating the difficulties that had arisen. Upon that principle he should support the second reading of the Bill. The Archbishop of Canterbury said, that after what had fallen from noble Lords much more capable of judging correctly upon this subject than he was, he of course could not think of offering any objection to the second reading of this Bill; but he confessed he had at first been rather alarmed at the powers which it bestowed upon certain individuals; and also at the extent of the measure which went to alter the whole constitution of the ancient, venerable, and highly-useful Universities of Scotland. He, however, had that evening heard from noble Lords who possessed much better information on the subject than himself, that very great alterations were necessary; notwithstanding which he really was not prepared to give a vote upon a subject so deeply affecting the religious interests and the education of the people of Scotland without further information upon which to proceed. Upon that ground, then, he joined in the request of the noble Duke, that full time should be given for the consideration of the measure previous to its going into Committee, in The Earl of Haddington considered, that time ought to be granted. The greatest interest and a considerable sensation prevailed upon the subject in Scotland. Ample time was necessary, order to have before the House all the suggestions which might be made, and especially from the Universities themselves; because it was admitted that if the Universities were opposed to the measure it would not work well. Bill read a second time; to be committed that day fortnight. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS ACT(ENGLAND).] Upon the Motion of the Lord Chancellor, the House resolved itself into a Committee on the Municipal Corporations' Act (England) Amendment Bill. various Places, for Abolition of Tithes (Ireland).-By Mr. O'CONNELL, from Kettering and Whitburn, for Reform of the House of Lords. By several MEMBERS, from various Places, against Turnpike Trusts' Consolidation Bill. -By Captain WEMYSS, from Falkland, for a Law relating to the Construction of Merchant Ships.-By Colonel CONOLLY, from Clogher, against the Church of Ireland Bill.-By Mr. SCHOLEFIELD and Mr. HUME, from Birmingham and Islington, for Repeal of the Duty on Newspaper Stamps.-By Mr. CHALMERS, from Forfar, for Municipal Corporations' (Scotland) Bill; and from Montrose and Brechin, for Relieving Royal Burghs from Maintaining County Prisoners after Conviction,-By Sir S. WHALLEY, from St. Pancras, for Parish Vestries' Bill; and from Great Coggershall, for Amendment of Poor-Law Act Amendment Bill.-By Mr. CHALMERS, from Forfar, for Irish Church Bill.-By Mr. O'CONNELL, from Kilmalo, for Revaluation of Tithes (Ireland).- By Mr. H. T. HOPE, from Gloucester, for Mitigation of Criminal Law.-By Mr. LAW HODGES, from Chatham, in favour of Triennial Parliaments. CROWN LANDS IN RADNOR.] Mr. Harvey said that, seeing the Attorney-General in his place, he would take that opportunity to present a Petition of which he had given The peti . The several clauses were read and that learned Gentleman notice. agreed to. The Marquess of Camden proposed the insertion of a clause for the purpose, as was understood, of preserving the power of the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in regard to the licensing of houses. The Earl of Radnor objected to the clause, as giving to the Chancellor of Cambridge and exclusive power of granting and withdrawing licences, not possessed by other magistrates. The Duke of Wellington supported the clause upon the ground of the privileges of the University, which were respected in the Bill, for he found in the Act of Parliament of last Session, words to this effect -Provided that nothing herein contained shall affect the rights and privileges of the Chancellor or other officers of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The clause was agreed to. The Bill reported, with amendments. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Read a first time:-Christ's Hospital tion in question was an appeal to that House-it was an appeal from the poor to the rich against a scourge which the rich alone could inflict on them. The petition was signed by seventy persons, all of them, with five exceptions, of the labouring class in the county of Radnor, in South Wales. The county of Radnor, it was well known, was extremely mountainous, and, until lately, a great portion of it had been the property of the Crown. However, in the year 1826, the Commissioners of Woods and Forests sold a great portion of the Crown manors there, and that, too, he regretted to observe, by private contract. In that year one of these manors had been sold by the Commissioners to Mr. Watt, of Birmingham. It had long been the custom for the poor of the district-a custom which had not been interdicted by the Government - to enclose small portions of waste grounds on the slopes of the hills and vallies there, and to build cottages upon them. Some of these cottages had been occupied upwards of thirty years. suited the purposes of the purchaser of the manor, on obtaining possession of it, to institute an action at law to recover one of attached to it, with a view to the assertion these cottages, and a small portion of ground of his dominion over the whole of them. The action was tried, and a verdict returned for the plaintiff, subject to a special case, to be argued and determined in the Court of Common Pleas. It was fully argued there, and the unanimous decision of the court was, that the Crown had not the power to sell the waste; that if it had the It MINUTES.] Bills. Estate. Petitions presented. By Sir W. GEARY, from Staplehurst, against the Abolition of Gavelkind.-By Captain ALSAGER, from the Retailers of Beer, Salford, for placing all Dealers in Beer on the same Footing.-By several HoN. MEMBERS, from various Places, for Abolition of Churchrates. By several HON. MEMBERS, from various Places, for the House to Adhere to the Provisions of the Municipal Corporations' Act (Ireland) as originally passed by them. By Mr. S. CRAWFORD, from various Places, for Abolition of Tithes (Ireland); and the House to Adhere to the Irish Municipal Reform Bill, as originally passed by them. By Mr. O'CONNELL and Mr. HENRY GBATTAN, from power which it claimed, that power did not pass with the deed to the purchaser, paying him a nominal rent of 2d. or 3d., and the Chief Justice observed, that not and to those who wished to purchase the only the law, but the justice of the case fee simple of their encroachments he sold it was with the defendant. A rule was ac- considerably under its value. All of them cordingly entered for the defendant, and so acknowledged the title of Mr. Watt, except the matter at that time terminated. Since a Mr. Parsons, an attorney at Presteign, then his Majesty's Attorney-General, at who had taken advantage of the matter to the instance of the Commissioners of Woods stir up dissension in the county; an action and Forests; had instituted proceedings for was brought against him, and a verdict the purpose of establishing the right of the was had for the plaintiff, subject to a special Crown, and to do so he had recourse to the case to be argued in the Court of Common ancient prerogative writ of intrusion, a Pleas. The title of the Crown was clearly writ that had been employed in the very proved, and if the action had been brought worst periods of English history. It was in the name of the Crown, no defence could attempted by this most tyrannical proceed- have been set up by the defendant. The ing to deprive those poor people of little Court of Common Pleas, however, ruled properties that they had possessed from a for the defendant upon a technical point of period sufficiently long to consecrate their law--namely, that the Crown being out of right to them. Though such a proceeding possession, it could not transfer the legal might be agreeable to law, it was repugnant estate in those wastes by the deed. Mr. to the principles of justice; and the very Parsons having thus succeeded upon a Act of Parliament, passed only a few years technical point, he not only refused to acsince, empowering the Commissioners to knowledge the title of Mr. Watt, but he sell manors of this description, declared, that stirred up these poor persons, who had encroachments of twenty years' duration already acknowledged it, to resist it. Mr. and upwards, should be excepted; that Watt, under these circumstances, called on where there were such, the Commissioners the Woods and Forests to complete his title. should give the parties leases for thirty- It was for that purpose that the present one years, or come to agreements with proceeding had been instituted against Mr. them upon equitable terms. The petitioners Parsons. The hon. Member would perfelt, that if the Government succeeded in suade the House, that the proceeding in this case, their small holdings would be question was a renewal of those oppressive swept away from them, and they would be measures which had been resorted to by driven to the workhouse. He trusted that Empson and Dudley, and for which those the House would manifest such a feeling as eminent individuals had suffered a penalty would induce the Government to desist that no one regretted. Now, what was from further proceedings in this matter. the course taken against Mr. Parsons, the author of all this mischief? A writ of intrusion had been filed, the only course open to the Government, and he should have neglected his duty if he had not afforded a remedy to enable the Woods and Forests to complete Mr. Watt's title. The action would be tried at the approaching assizes for Herefordshire, when he had no doubt there would be a verdict for the Government, and then he was quite sure that harmony would be restored between Mr. Watt and these poor people, and that having vindicated his title, Mr. Watt would, with his well-known kindness and liberality, allow them to remain in their holdings. The Attorney-General said, that he had attended in consequence of the hon. Gentleman having given him notice of his intention to present the petition. He had made it his duty to inquire into the facts of the case, and having derived his information from a quarter on which he could place implicit confidence, he would lay the real facts before the House. It would then be seen that nothing had been done by the Government which could give just cause for complaint. The Crown possessed extensive manors in the county of Radnor, and large portions of the public property therein had been encroached upon by private individuals. In the year 1826, a number of these manors were sold. Mr. Watt, of Birmingham purchased one of them, and as might be expected from such a man, he had treated the persons who had made encroachments there with the greatest kindness and liberality. He allowed them to remain in possession, on condition of their Mr. O'Connell contended, that there was no liberality in compelling these poor people to acknowledge his title by paying him 2d. or 3d. rent, and thereby giving him the power to turn them out when he pleased. The merits of the case would not be tried by the action that was brought. The overruling prerogative of the Crown would |