read a Letter which be had received from the rev. Mr. Waddy, of Kilrea, who stated, that having seen in the newspapers a report, setting forth the presentation, by sir George Hill, of a Petition from that Parish against the Catholic Claims, to which his name was said to be subscribed, he felt it his duty to notify, that the signature of his name must be a forgery, as he never signed, or authorized the signing of his name to such a petition. It was singular enough, too, that this very petition dwelt with particular force upon the gross artifices which were imputed to the Catholics to create perjury and immorality. He meant not to proceed further than to expose the grossness of this forgery.

—I hope that the House, when circumstances so strongly affecting most valuable right of the subject, and so deeply affecting the dignity and character of this House, are stated to them, will not fail to do their duty. If they do not, I will Venture to say this is the first time when such a proceeding was passed over. If the hon. member should decline to proceed, some other hon. member will, I am sure, take the matter up.

said, that as he had presented the petition in question, the House would naturally expect some explanation from him. All he could say was, that the petition was enclosed to him by Mr. Digby, a magistrate of the neighbourhood, who apprised him that it was most respectably signed. Mr. Digby and Mr. Waddy were both most respectable gentlemen, and it surprised him that the latter did not at once require from the former some explanation of the matter. It puzzled him altogether, and he knew not what to make of the business. He should not, of course, oppose any investigation.

said, he would make a motion upon the subject, if no other member gave notice of one.

said, that having been the person, who brought the matter forward, he should not shrink from prosecuting the inquiry, and would therefore move for a Committee to inquire into the facts of the case.

A committee was accordingly appointed.

said, he wished very shortly to state the grounds on which he asked for I the returns which were the object of his present motion. The County Court of the County of Middlesex was established by Act of Parliament, and had jurisdiction throughout the whole County of Middlesex in causes under 40s. The judge of that court, who was called the county clerk, and must be a barrister of three years' standing, was appointed by the sheriff for the time being, and held his place for life. That officer, or his deputy, for he was allowed to appoint a deputy, sat twice a week in London, for the purpose of hearing causes, and two other Bays in each month in other parts of Middlesex; that was to say, the first Tuesday in every month in one of the hundreds of Isleworth and Elthorne, and the last Tuesday in Edmonton. His salary arose from fees which he was entitled to under the act he had just named. Those fees, he believed, were fixed on the calculation of the number of causes heard at the time of passing the act, and were intended to afford a reasonable recompense to the presiding officer; the causes had very greatly increased since that time, and consequently the recompense of the judge had increased in the same proportion. It was notorious that the place was one of great value. By returns which were laid before the House some years ago, it appeared that the amount of fees received in London only, was above 2,000l. a-year, but it was said that the payments which the judge had to make reduced his income to 1,500l. He was anxious to obtain an accurate statement of the particulars, and the whole amount of those payments, and this was one of the objects he sought in the returns he should move for. He had no doubt it would be found that the judge had a net income arising from the causes heard in London only, greatly exceeding 1,500l. a-year. The duty by which he earned that salary, was by sitting, as he had said, twice a-week in London to determine causes. By the return which he had just mentioned, it appeared that the number of causes which he had then to hear, amounted to about seventeen thousand a-year, which gave an average of one hundred and sixty causes to be disposed of every Court day. Admitting that many of those causes required little or no time for their decision, he thought it must still be obvious, that one day was too little for the disposal of one hundred and sixty causes. He thought it would be found, when he obtained his returns, that the number of causes had increased since the last returns were made, in which case it would be obvious, that the business of the court and that the profits of the judge had also increased. But supposing they had only remained stationary, he thought the House would feel that there was ground both for reducing the fees, and for calling on the court to appropriate more time to the performance of its duties. It must be recollected that the object of courts of that sort was to render justice cheap and accessible to the poorer orders: and it must be recollected, that it was out of their pockets that the fees were paid, so that any reduction in the fees was a good in itself, and was calculated more completely to carry into effect the objects contemplated, by the legislature when it established; the court. He knew that the court had been praised by Blackstone for the low rate of its fees; but if, from the increase in the number of causes heard, it might be possible still further to reduce the rate of those fees, leaving the judge at the same time an adequate remuneration, he thought that an object which the House would not deem unworthy of its consideration. If it should be thought that the judge had a vested interest in the present rate of fees, at least some prospective measure might be passed, to take effect when the interest of the present county clerk might have terminated; but he should think the best course to be pursued would be, one similar to that recommended by the right hon. gentleman opposite last year, in regard to patent offices. He then said, it would be advantageous to the public to purchase those fees of the officers, to pay the officer who received them fixed salaries, and carry the surplus into the Treasury. So he should think it advantageous to make compensation to the officer of this court, and to give him a fixed salary in future. But, whatever might be the opinion of the House upon that point, he thought one thing at least was certain; namely, that if the amount of causes to be heard annually were as great now as they were when the last returns were made, they would be fully authorized in calling on the county clerk to devote more time to the hearing of them.—Another point upon which he was desirous of obtaining information was, as to the balances of money remaining in court, and as to the security there was for the due application of them. It was the practice of the county court of Middlesex, as of most other courts of Request, to admit payments of debts by installments; and which were made into court, in order to be repaid again to the parties interested. It often happened, that the money so paid continued for a considerable time unclaimed; and, not infrequently, it was never claimed at all. The consequence was, that large balances accumulated in these courts. From returns made in 1819, it appeared that, in the court of Requests for the Tower Hamlets, a balance had accumulated, in the course of nineteen years, to the amount of 2,200l.; in the court of Requests for southward to the amount of 2.300l. In the county court of Middlesex there had been a balance, in the course of seven years amounting to 1,400l. In most of those courts there were some security for the due application of these balances. In the court for the Tower Hamlets, the treasurer gave security. In the court of Southwark, it was the practice that such balances should be vested in the funds in the names of trustees. He believed there was no security of this or any other sort in the court of the county of Middlesex.—It was another object he had in view in moving for these returns, to ascertain what was the real state of the case in these respects. He was aware that the right hon. Secretary was to bring the subject of county courts before the House, but: he believed the court of the county of Middlesex would not be comprised in his bill. When he had got the returns, he should enter more at large into the question, and he thought he should be able to show that some alteration was necessary. It visa possible, however, that the right hon. gentleman might think the point worthy of consideration in the framing of his bill, and he should be most happy if he should succeed in directing his attention to it. If the present court should continue in its actual state, when the bill of the right hon. gentleman came into effect, there would then be two county courts for the county of Middlesex; the one having jurisdiction over causes under 40s., the other over causes under 10l. It was obvious, that that could not be intended, and he trusted that the right hon. gentleman, when this point was brought under his consideration would at the same time consider all the other points connected with that court. He was sure the subject would be far better in the hands of the right hon. gentleman than in his hands, and he should be rejoiced, if the right hon. gentleman should find reason under make inquiry into it.—The hon. member concluded by moving for returns of the number of causes tried in the Middlesex county court since the appointment of the present county clerk; of the gross amount of costs or fees paid by persons suing or sued in the said court up to the 25th March last; of the sums received by the county clerk, his deputy, or other officers of the court; together with an account of the amount of balances of unpaid monies in hand; a statement of the manner in which those balances were applied, and whether any security was given for the payment of them.

The motion was agreed to.

in moving for leave to bring in a bill to alter and amend the Metropolis Turnpike Act, north of the river Thames, observed, that three years ago a bill was brought in, to consolidate all the road trusts in the neighbourhood of London. That bill had merely put all the roads into one act, without making any material alteration in the customary regulations under which the trusts had been managed. If it had gone further, and relieved some of the outskirts of the town from the payment of tolls, perhaps it might have been better. At the time, however, there were eleven miles of streets upheld by turnpike trusts, which were now reduced to three miles. A considerable portion of debt, previously incurred, had also been reduced. He now came to the House with a proposition to alter and amend the act, under which the roads north of the metropolis were conducted. The bill would throw the new road in Gray's-inn-lane upon the parishes to keep it up. The same thing would be done in other cases of a similar nature. Objections might, perhaps, be taken to this, as imposing an unnecessary burthen. He did not think the burthen would be much. Originally it was thought that no turnpike rate ought to be considered high, unless it exceeded 6d. in the pound; now, the average of this rate would not exceed 1d., or at the utmost 2d. Many of the outlets in the north of the metropolis had become actual towns, and were lighted and provided with all appurtenances as such. It was desirable that their streets should not be intersected as they were at present with turnpike bars. From the communications he had had with the parishes, he understood that no objection was likely to be raised to the proposition. They found that they could employ their paupers advantageously, in breaking stones &c., under the new arrangement, and thus diminish the parish rates. The noble lord concluded by moving for leave to bring in a bill to the effect stated.

seconded the motion, and expressed his conviction that the measure, though apparently one of a local advantage, was calculated to benefit the whole of the metropolis. In the immediate neighbourhood of London, crowded as it was, we could hardly proceed a hun- dred yards without being obstructed by turnpikes. Great advantage, it must be admitted, had arisen out of the measure for the consolidation of the metropolitan turnpike trusts; the results had been improved roads and diminished tolls. It was extremely desirable that the communication between the west end of the town and the city should be rendered as free from obstruction as possible. One of the objects of the bill was to remove all the gates from the Edgware-road to the city, so as to open a free communication between the east and west of the metropolis. It was fair that parishes should maintain their own roads; and in this case the rate would not exceed a penny in the pound, on the average. He was sure that the measure would prove a great convenience to the public at larger who ought gratefully to acknowledge the benefit. Indeed, the public was already under great obligations to the noble lord. No commission could be better managed than that over which the noble lord presided; and when the present measure was accomplished, he was sure the public could not fail to see and acknowledge its practical effect.

Leave was given to bring in the bill.

said, that in the present instance he had to propose a string of resolutions which were the result of the investigation which had been undertaken by himself and others into the mode of improving and regulating the collection of the Excise. He had resolved to commence with this branch of it, because, as the duties stood at present, their payment was frequently evaded, and considerable suspicion might arise that it was not unfrequently accompanied by fraud. The first step to effect the improvement was the alteration of the duty from 5l. per cent. on goods, chattels, interest, and estates sold as the law now stood, with exceptions in cases of property bought in, to an invariable duty of 1l. per cent. on all property put up to sale and sold, though bought in by the owner. This would render the law intelligible to all, exempt sellers of property from all unnecessary oaths, and remove the temptation to, as well as the suspicion of, fraud in the collection and in the payment of these duties. The right hon. gentleman concluded by moving, that it was the opinion of the committee that the present duties of Excise, of five per cent on goods disposed of by auction, should hereafter cease and determine, and that in lieu thereof the following duties be imposed: namely, on every 100l., where the sale did Hot exceed 10,000l., 1l. sterling; on every 100l. where it did exceed 10,000l., but not 20,000l., 1l. on the first 10,000l., and 10s. for every additional 100l.; on every 100l where the sale did exceed 20,000l., but did not exceed 40,000l, 15s. for the first 20,000l., and 5s. on each additional 100l. on every 100l. where the sale amounted to 40,000l., and upwards, 10s. to the extent of 40,000l., and for every 100l. above that amount of sale, 1s,; and whenever a fractional part of 100l. should constitute part of the proceeds of the sale by auction, there should be taken a duty of 2½d. in the 1l sterling.

The resolutions were agreed to.