purchasers hereinafter contained for payment of the annuity of Ex hereinafter mentioned and for payment of and indemnifying the said A. B. against all the debts and liabilities of the said business or any branch thereof as the same appear by the said balance-sheet (except as mentioned in the recital hereinafter contained).

AND WHEREAS the said A. B. has also agreed with the purchasers for the sale to them of the said loose chattels for the sum of £y.

AND WHEREAS upon the treaty for the sale of the said business it was agreed that the purchasers should not take over the said debts of £a £b and £c due and owing to the said C. B. or any liability in respect thereof but that she should hand over all securities which she held in respect of those sums to the purchasers and should release the purchasers from all liability in respect of the same and she has accordingly indorsed over the promissory notes held by her in respect of the same to the purchasers.

AND WHEREAS the purchase money for the said loose chattels has been paid to the said A. B. and the said loose chattels have been actually delivered to the purchasers.

AND WHEREAS the said A. B. has indorsed over all the said bills of exchange to the purchasers.

AND WHEREAS it has also been agreed that the assurance to be executed for the purpose of carrying out the said sale of the said business shall contain the covenants and provisions hereinafter expressed.

NOW THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH as follows:

:

1. In pursuance of the said agreement in this behalf and in consideration of the covenants by the purchasers hereinafter contained the said A. B. AS BENEFICIAL OWNER hereby assigns to the purchasers ALI. and singular the messuages wharves offices buildings sidings and hereditaments comprised in the leases and agreements of tenancy respectively mentioned in the first column of the first part of the first schedule hereto together with all fixtures belonging to the said A. B. in or about the said hereditaments and the goodwill of the said business and of all the branches thereof and all the said book and other debts owing to the said A. B. in relation to the said business or any branch thereof and the full benefit of the said agreement with the said G. H. and the said purchase money of £f and all other moneys and interest payable or to become payable under the same agreement and the benefit of all contracts and orders in connection with the said business and all ledgers and other books used in the said business and all other assets and property (except the said loose chattels and the tenancy agreements mentioned in the second part of the said first schedule hereto and the hiring agreements specified in the second schedule hereto) belonging to the said A. B. in connection with the said business or any branch thereof TO HOLD the said several premises as to the said leasehold hereditaments and tenancies unto the purchasers their executors administrators and assigns for all the unexpired residue of the several terms of years or other terms or tenancies created by the several leases and agreements of tenancy specified in the first column of the first part of the said first schedule hereto subject to the payment of the rents and the performance and observance of the covenants and agreements on the part of the lessee or tenant and conditions by and in the same indentures or agreements reserved and contained and subject as to the hereditaments first mentioned in the said first part of the said first schedule to and with the benefit of the indenture of underlease mentioned in the fifth column of the same part of the same schedule and as to all the other premises hereby assigned unto the purchasers absolutely and as to all the said premises as joint tenants but in trust for the purchasers their executors administrators and assigns as part of their co-partnership estate.

2. For the considerations aforesaid the said A. B. hereby covenants with the purchasers that he the said A. B. will use his best endeavours to obtain the requisite consents for the assignment to the purchasers of the various agreements specified in the second part of the said first schedule hereto and of the hereditaments therein comprised for all the estate term and interest of the said A. B. therein and also for the assignment of the said hiring agreements specified in the said second schedule hereto and the waggons therein comprised subject nevertheless to the rent or instalments remaining to be paid in respect of the same. AND the said A. B. doth hereby declare that in the meantime and until the said several premises shall have been assigned pursuant to the covenant herein before contained he the said A. B. will stand possessed thereof in trust for the purchasers their executors administrators and assigns as joint tenants in trust for them the purchasers their executors administrators and assigns as part of their co-partnership estate.

3. The said A. B. hereby empowers the purchasers and the survivors and survivor of them and their his or her executors administrators or assigns at their his or her own costs in the name

or names and as the attorney or attorneys of the said A. B. his executors or administrators or otherwise to demand sue for recover and receive and to give effectual receipts and discharges for the said book and other debts purchase and other moneys and premises hereby assigned or any part or parts thereof and to enforce and carry into effect the said agreements or any of them and in particular the said agreement with the said G. H. and to derive the full benefit thereof respectively and for the purposes aforesaid or any of them to execute and do all deeds instruments and things and to commence and take all such actions or other proceedings as shall be deemed necessary or expedient.

4. In pursuance of the said agreement in this behalf and in consideration of the premises the said C. B. hereby releases the purchasers and the said business from the said debts or sums of £a £b and £c and all interest thereon and from all claims and demands on account or in respect of the same respectively.

191

5. It is hereby agreed that when and as soon as the securities now held by the said banking company for the said overdraft shall have been given up to the purchasers they will forthwith hand the same over to the said A. B. and C. B. or the survivor of them but this stipulation shall not render it obligatory upon the purchasers to pay off the said overdraft except in due course. 6. It is hereby agreed that if at any time hereafter during the period of years from the day of the purchasers shall be desirous of selling or disposing of or of ceasing to carry on the said business or any branch thereof they shall give notice in writing of such desire to the said E. F. and he shall have the option (to be exercised within three calendar months of such notice) of purchasing the said business or branch thereof as the case may be and all the tenancies book and other debts and assets thereof respectively but subject to the debts and liabilities thereof respectively for the time being at a valuation to be made by two valuers one to be appointed by each party or in the event of their disagreement by an umpire to be nominated by such valuers before proceeding upon the valuation but in making such valuation nothing shall be allowed or charged for goodwill. But if the said G. H. shall not exercise the said option within the period aforesaid the purchasers their executors administrators and assigns shall be at liberty at any time after the expiration of the said three months to sell or otherwise dispose of or deal with the said business or branch thereof as the case may be and all or any of the property and assets thereof respectively in such manner as they shall think fit.

7. The said A. B. E. F. and G. H. hereby jointly and severally covenant with the purchasers that if at any time hereafter it shall be discovered that the said A. B. owes or is under any further debts or liabilities in respect of the said business over and above those disclosed by the said balance-sheet the A. B. E. F. and G. H. or some or one of them will pay and discharge all such further debts and liabilities and will at all times effectually indemnify the purchasers and each of them and their respective heirs executors and administrators against all such further debts and liabilities and all actions proceedings costs damages and expenses in respect thereof.

8. PROVIDED ALSO and it is hereby agreed that if the purchasers or any of them or their respective executors or administrators shall at any time hereafter be called upon to pay any such further debts or liabilities as last aforesaid they he or she shall be at liberty to stop and retain any sums or sum which they may be so called upon to pay out of the annuity of £ hereinafter mentioned whether during the life of the said A. B. or of the said C. B. or of the survivor of them.

9. The said A. B. hereby covenants with the purchasers that all the book and other debts mentioned or referred to in the said balance-sheet as being due to the said A. B. and Co. are justly owing to the said A. B. and that the said A. B. will do all things necessary or convenient for putting the purchasers into posses sion of the full benefit of the business herein before assigned and for that purpose will (if and whenever requested by the pur chasers) introduce and recommend them to the customers and connections in business of the said A. B.

10. And the said A. B. C. B. E. F. and G. H. do hereby jointly and severally covenant with the purchasers that they the said covenanting parties or any of them will not at any time here after during a term of years from the date hereof either solely or jointly with or as agent or servant of or traveller for any other person or persons directly or indirectly carry on or be engaged or concerned or interested in the trade or business of a miles of the Town Hall of

within

afore

of

said except only so far as the said covenanting parties or any them with the consent of the purchasers shall give them the assistance and countenance of the said covenanting parties in carrying on the said business.

11. The purchasers hereby covenant with the said A. B. and C. B. to pay during the period of years as from the 19 to the said A. B. and C. B. or the

day of

deeds

chain

pedient

this be

aid del

rom al ai

AND further that the purchasers will henceforth during the continuance of the said respective terms of the said leases and tenancies pay the said respective rents reserved by and perform and observe the covenants and agreements on the part of the lessee or tenant and the conditions contained in the said respective leases or agreements of tenancy and also that the purchasers will in due course pay and discharge all the debts and liabilities of the said business which were subsisting on the day of 191 as shown by the said balance-sheet pet and which now remain outstanding or undischarged and will at all times hereafter effectually keep indemnified the said A. B. his heirs executors and administrators against all such debts and liabilities aforesaid and all actions proceedings costs damages claims and demands in respect thereof or on account of the nonpayment of the said rents or any part thereof or the breach non-performance or non-observance of the said covenants and conditions or any of them. IN WITNESS &c.

as th

the said

hey

B. or t

tolli

heret

the Bridgend, Thursday and Friday

Brigg, Monday, at 16

Bury, Monday, at 9

Bury St. Edmunds. Tuesday

Cardigan, Friday

Chelmsford, Monday, at 10

Cheltenham, Thursday and Friday

Chester, Thursday and Friday

Congleton, Tuesday, at 10

Cranbrook, Monday, at 10.45
Dunmow, Saturday. at 10.30
Edmonton, Thursday and Friday,
at 10

Fakenham, Friday, at 11

Farnham, Wednesday (Reg.), at 9.30

Faversham, Friday, at 10.30 Gloucester, Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday

Grays Thurrock, Wednesday, at 11 Great Grimsby, Tuesday and

Wednesday, at 10; Thursday, at 10.30

Hadleigh. Saturday

Hanley, Wednesday and Thursday, at 9.30

High Wycombe, Thursday, at 10
Hitchin, Monday, at 10

Holbeach, Monday, at 11
Holt, Tuesday, at 10
Holywell, Tuesday
Huntingdon, Wednesday, at 10
Hyde, Wednesday, at 10
Ipswich, Wednesday,

Thursday (By at 10.30), and Friday (J.S.), at 10

Lampeter, Wednesday

Leicester, Wednesday, at 10 Liverpool, Monday (By at 11), Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (B., A., & W.C.), at

10

Llandilo, Tuesday

Llandovery, Saturday

Llanfyllin, Tuesday, at 10 Llangollen, Monday

*

Loughborough, Tuesday, at 9.30
Macclesfield, Thursday. at 10
Maldon, Thursday. at 11

Market Drayton, Friday, at 10
Newcastle-in-Emlyn, Monday
Newcastle-under-Lyme, Tuesday, at

9.30

Newtown, Monday, at 10
Nuneaton, Friday, at 9

Oldham, Thursday, at 9.30

Oswestry, Thursday, at 10

Peterborough, Tuesday, at 9.30
Rochdale, Friday, at 9.30

Rochester, Tuesday, Wednesday.
and Thursday, at 9.30

Ruthin. Wednesday

St. Albans, Monday, at 10
Stone, Monday, at 12.30

Swansea, Monday, Tuesday, and
Wednesday

Thetford, Thursday, at 11
Uppingham. Monday, at 2
Uxbridge. Wednesday, at 10
Wigan, Tuesday (J.S.), at 9
Winchcomb, Wednesday.

Other sittings are specially fixed if necessary.

SANITARY ASSURANCE.-Before renting or purchasing a house it is advisable to obtain an independent report on the condition of the Drains, Sanitary Fittings, and Water Supply. Moderate fees for Sanitary Inspections on application to the Sanitary Engineering Company, 115, Victoria-street, Westminster. 'Phone, 4316 Victoria Telegrams: "Sanitation," London.—[ADVT.]

RECENT DECISION.

SHIPLEY V. COLE.

Workmen's Compensation Act 1906-Application to diminish or redeem-National Insurance Act 1911.

In the King's Lynn County Court, on the 7th Sept., His Honour Judge Mulligan delivered the following judgment.

W. D. Ward for the applicant.

Gibbons, instructed by D. S. Page, for Cole.

His HONOUR.-On the 26th July 1911 Cole was driving a reaping machine on Mr. Shipley's farm. One of the horses shied at a passing train and threw Cole off the seat into the revolving knives, and two of the rakes struck him in the back and injured him. He received 9s. compensation per week until last April, when it was reduced to 7s. 6d. per week. The present application was by Mr. Shipley for a further reduction, and also for redemption. Before the accident Cole was worth 18s. per week. What is he worth now as the result of the accident? He is worth 10s. per week, the master paying in addition 5d. per week contribution under the National Insurance Act. But he may get worse and become weaker. Should the 5d. per week be included in estimating the "amount" which Cole was now able to earn, and so reduce the weekly sum payable to him? That 5d. per week is part of the price the master has to pay for Cole's services. Why does he pay it? A farmer pays the insurance contributions for men to plant wheat, to milk cows, to feed cattle, and to tend sheep simply because the men are worth it. The contributions by the farmer are parts of the amounts the men are able to earn, parts of the outcome of their work. The fact that these parts are intercepted and applied by the National Insurance Act for the assumed benefit of workmen, whether they like it or not, cannot alter their real original character. The Act may indirectly make a man less eligible for employment, but it does not lessen his physical powers to work or the outcome of those powers when he can get work. What it does is to divert a portion of that outcome from its natural course. At present the burden of the contributions paid by the master who employs a partially incapacitated workman is, in truth, borne by that workman. If he was not worth the contributions plus the wages paid him he would not get employment. Such contributions must, no doubt, having regard to the restricted field of agriculture where "Nature labours along with man," aye, and sometimes brings disaster to her partner, such contributions must, no doubt, in the long run be part of the cost of production and added on to the price of wheat, milk, cattle, and sheep. The burden will then be shifted to the consumers; it will then be shared by a wider class, by all who use bread and milk and wear boots and flannels. If this result does not follow, then the teaching of Adam Smith, the greatest political economist, is vanity. The 5d. is part of the amount which Cole is able to earn, and must be taken into account by way of reduction of the weekly sum payable to him. I award him 5s. 7d. per week instead of 6s., which I would have given him but for the Act. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, the applicant will be at liberty to redeem on payment of £200.

THE legislation of the last few years has dealt at considerable length with many subjects under the generic title of Public Health, and it has, in addition, by enactments affecting shops and the employment of children, touched upon other matters closely allied to the problems underlying public health. The policy pervading much of this legislation has been to throw a great deal of the practical administration of these various Acts upon local bodies, and this, in effect, means that the responsibility is to a large extent imposed upon the medical officers of health. There have been of late certain meetings of members of the Sanitary Inspectors' Association, and it would appear from the general tone of their debates that these experts, upon whom, as already stated, so much depends, are not prepared to hold that the last

word of legislation has been passed. More especially is this the case in regard to street trading. There was a general consensus of opinion that further restrictions are desirable in regard to such trading when carried on by girls. The evils attending street trading by girls require no explanation here either on grounds of national health or morality.

"Blind Alley" Employment.

THIS, however, does not constitute the sole ground for complaint as to the present state of the law, for there are strong grounds for condemning the present facilities open to boys in the sale of newspapers. These questions, in fact, form part and parcel of the problems of education, and more especially are involved in the proposals which have been made for making further claims on the attendance of children at elementary or continuation schools after the ages mentioned in existing legislation. It is satisfactory to note that some regard is to be had for the convenience of the public in regard to the sale of newspapers, and that the experts do not forget that blocking up "blind alley" employments must further congest the main roads of livelihood and lead to further emigration of the more active and enterprising members of the working classes. The more direct influence of street trading on public health legislation is to be found in regard to the vending of articles intended for human consumption, and here again there are grave complications. Justice to traders who occupy taxed and rated premises demands that local bodies should have considerable powers conferred upon them so that the competitors of these traders should by means of licences or otherwise be identifiable and called upon to bear some reasonable share of the expenses of citizenship enjoyed by them.

Licences for Street Trading.

ON the 1st Jan. 1913 there will come into operation the Act passed quite recently, and by virtue of it the local authorities will be clothed with powers to grant some such licences as those already mentioned. The Street Traders Act 1912 invests them with authority to license the carrying on of the business, trade, or calling of a street trader within their districts, and to charge therefor an annual sum of £1. By such licence the authority will be able to specify and limit the goods, wares, and merchandise which may be sold or offered or exposed for sale. It is, however, necessary to remember that allowance has to be made for those whose trading will be justified by the possession of pedlars' or hawkers' licences under the Pedlars Act 1871 or the Hawkers Act 1888. Such persons, however, will require registration in the books of the local authority within whose area they are trading. Again these local bodies will have by registration to take cognisance of street trading licences issued under the Employment of Children Act 1903, and to allow for trading in public markets. They can decline to register pedlars' and hawkers' licences in order to possess powers of control over these persons, subject to a right of appeal to quarter sessions for persons aggrieved. The subject of street trading, as is evidently the view of certain local bodies, may not yet be sufficiently safeguarded, but at least Parliament has made an attempt to meet the evils. It is, on the other hand, quite open to the argument that there are too many piecemeal enactments, and that it would be to the advantage of all if some more uniform code could be devised to deal with the matter.

Local By-laws.

THE framing of by-laws is another subject upon which there is likely to be some considerable discussion. The local bodies are to exercise their powers to prohibit or limit street trading in certain streets or to subject it to certain conditions. If these be carefully drafted something should be possible in the direction of clearing roadways and footpaths from some of their obstructions, and to prevent the annoyance in busy commercial centres. Looking to the nuisance caused by street trading and to the dangers to public health latent in the manner in which these traders keep goods intended for human consumption, and bearing in mind also that youthful criminality is so frequently fostered and encouraged amid the excitement of these occupations,

it will be interesting to note how far the new Act will conduce towards general reform. The result will largely depend in this, as in many other such enactments, upon the by-laws and the spirit in which they are administered.

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

The judicial business of the House of Lords will be resumed on Monday, the 14th prox., at 10.45, when the following appeal will be in the list for hearing-viz., Howley Park Coal and Cannel Company v. London and North-Western Railway Com pany. The present list contains sixteen cases, only fifteen of which are English, the remaining one being an Irish appeal. There are seven appeals awaiting judgment, and one appeal waiting for delivery of opinion. The list contains eight claims of peerage depending.

The following judges of the King's Bench Division will be in town during the whole of the Michaelmas Sittings-viz.: The Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Phillimore, Mr. Justice Bray, Mr. Justice Avory, and Mr. Justice Horridge.

An intermediate session for cases arising in the county of Middlesex will commence on Wednesday next, the 18th inst., at the Caxton Hall, Caxton-street, Westminster, at 10.30.

The September sitting at the Mayor's Court will commence on Monday, the 30th inst., at 10.30.

Mr. George Maughan Footner, of Romsey, Hants, solicitor who died on the 28th Jan., aged seventy-nine, left estate valued at £62,576 gross, with net personalty £60,588.

The body of Mr. J. B. Edmunds, a Nottingham solicitor, and son of Councillor Edmunds, of Liverpool, has been recovered from the River Trent at Beeston, near Nottingham. He was last seen when rowing to a houseboat in the river.

The Hon. Moir Tod Stormonth Darling (Lord StormonthDarling), of Great Stuart-street, Edinburgh, and of Balvarran, Perthshire, one of the Senators of the College of Justice in Scotland, who died on the 2nd June, aged sixty-seven, left personal estate in the United Kingdom valued at £27,513.

Mr. William George Cane, of Earlham-grove, Forest Gate, clerk to the Clerk of the Justices of the Tower Division of London, who died on the 29th July, aged sixty-one, left estate of the gross value of £22,944, of which the net personalty has been sworn at £12,591.

Mr. John Wessley Martin, Mayor of Reading, and senior partner of the firm of Messrs. Martin and Martin, solicitors, Reading, has, on the nomination of the grouped Law Societies in the Midland District, been elected an extraordinary member of the council of the Law Society. Mr. Martin was admitted in 1874.

purpose

of

A meeting of the International Prison Commission will be held in Paris on Thursday and following days under the presidency of Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise, for the making the preliminary arrangements for the congress to be held in London in 1915, in accordance with the invitation of the British Government. The commissioners will be formally received and entertained by the French Government.

According to the Berlin correspondent of the Temps, the German military authorities have under consideration a project to make the law of espionage more stringent. It is not proposed to make the duration of the punishment longer, but it will extend the scope under which suspects will be dealt. If the proposals become law, the least suspicion, or almost suspicion itself, will be sufficient to obtain a conviction. The chief proposal is that any person found upon land near fortifications provided such land is interdicted to the public, with photographe apparatus in his possession, shall be considered a spy convicted as such, even if he have not used his apparatus, nor given any indication that such was his intention.

At Bow-street on Wednesday before Mr. Marsham, Isaac Watts, a solicitor's managing clerk, appeared to an adjourned summons charging him with aiding and abetting, counselling and procuring Reginald William Robinson to act as a solicitor without a certificate. Mr. Robert H. Humphreys supported the summons on behalf of the Law Society. The evidence was com pleted at the previous hearing, when Robinson, who was summoned for practising as a solicitor without having renewed case against Watts had been adjourned to enable him to call a witness, but he now said that the person he wished to call was The magistrate imposed the

unable to attend the court.
maximum penalty in Watts' case of £10 and 2s. costs.

The

E

Park

and

the

ft es

ham

During the Kaiser's recent visit to Zurich, the guard of honour, composed of officers of the Sixth Regiment, was under the command of M. Enderli, one of the leading avocats. The Kaiser presented M. Enderli with a gold scarf pin bearing His Majesty's monogram set in precious stones. The Berliner Tageblatt notes that M. Enderli, who accepted the Imperial favour, is a strong Socialist.

We have grounds for stating that proposals were made to the representatives of the Canadian Government whilst in London with a view to the protection of trust and other funds by the appointment of a fiduciary authority or Public Trustee for the Dominion with whom private trustees resident here or abroad could co-operate, and that the Prime Minister of Canada has signified his intention of taking the subject into consideration with the Minister of Finance.

The work of the Revision Courts began in London on Monday. The register about to be prepared will come into operation on the 1st Jan. next, and on it the elections of the London County Council will be fought. At the Deptford Court the revising barrister (Mr. W. Pinder Eversley), referring to the Registration Bill, said that he did not know whether the agents expected to see him after that year. He thought that the work of revision was fairly well done in the present circumstances. Mr. Smith (who appeared in the Liberal interests) said that he was of opinion that the Bill would not benefit matters so far as the County Courts were concerned. Mr. A. Luffingham (for the Conserva. tives) said that the County Court judges had quite enough work to do at present. The revising barrister agreed, saying that there was a tendency to thrust additional work on County Court judges.

The Recorder (Sir Forrest Fulton) in his charge to the grand jury at the opening of the September Sessions of the Central Criminal Court, after referring to the various cases to come before them, said the business of the court steadily increased been year by year, not merely in the number of the cases, but in the gravity of the charges, but he was thankful to say that the astonishing proposal that they should at that assize court take over a further 3500 prisoners from the London Sessions had been happily disposed of. It was as much as ever they could do to get through the business which properly belonged to that court as an assize court, and if they had imposed on them those other 3500 cases, the grand jury would have been perpetually there, the judges certainly would have been, and he feared that the Fadministration of the criminal law would have been very seriously embarrassed, while great inconvenience would have been suffered, not only by the jurors, but by the witnesses and others.

of E

The approaching sensational trial in New York of a lawyer for the murder of a woman by drowning will recall one of the most extraordinary episodes in legal annals. In July 1699 Spencer Cowper, the younger brother of William Cowper the Lord Chancellor, and the grandfather of William Cowper the poet, was, when a member of the Bar who had already attained distinction, tried for the murder, by drowning her, of Sarah Stout at Hertford at the spring assizes at Hertford in that year. There was absolutely no direct evidence. Cowper was acquitted, and his innocence was admitted by impartial people at the time. He subsequently became a member of the House of Commons, one of the managers of the Sacheverell impeachment, AttorneyGeneral to the Prince of Wales, Chief Justice of Chester, Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lancaster, and finally, in 1727, nearly a generation after he had stood in the dock on trial for his life, a puisne judge of the Court of Common Pleas.

On the 16th of next month the new cour des comptes in the Rue Cambon, Paris, will be opened, the President of the Republic taking part in the proceedings. Two interesting tablets in stone have been brought from the old chambre des comptes and set up in the staircase des magistrats of the new building. The court is one of the most ancient in France, and owes its existence to an ordinance of Philippe V. (Le Long) dated the 18th July 1318. The court is a corps of public auditors, whose duty is to supervise the public funds. According to Dalloz, "the cour des comptes is placed at the head of the financial system of France." One of the tablets bears the text of the ordinance of the "tall King." The second relates the construction of the hôtel of Messieurs du Grand Bureau, which Maître Pierre Jouvelin and Maître Nicole Viole supervised. It also bears this quatrain:

"Et firent un si bon contrôle

Et garde sur les ouvriers

Que tout fut fait, bien m'en recole, En moins d'an et demi entiers."

POOLING INSURANCE.-The Licenses Insurance Corporation and Guarantee Fund Limited has established an entirely new scheme of Insurance for Fire, Burglary, Workmen's Compensation, &c., by which the profits accrue to the insured. (See p. 450).-[ADVT.]

66

PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.

Decentralisation of the Executive.

MR. HERBERT SAMUEL, the Postmaster-General, in his address to the British Association on the subject of Federalism, which he treated in the capacity of a jurist rather than that of a party politician, pointed to the decentralisation of the executive. Scotland and Ireland have," he said, “their own Ministers, and of the fifteen Cabinet Ministers who deal with domestic affairs only four exercise functions over the whole of the United Kingdom." The four Cabinet Ministers placed in this category are probably the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the President of the Board of Trade, and the PostmasterGeneral. Two other Ministers of the Crown may perhaps, with some reservations, be included, theoretically at least, amongst those who exercise functions over the whole of the United Kingdom. On the Union with Scotland, the Lord Chancellor was designated Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, and now h's proper title is Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Ireland, the Great Seal which he holds testifying the will of the Sovereign as to acts which concern the whole Empire, although there are certain patents confined in their operation to Scotland and Ireland respectively which still pass under the separate seals appropriated to those divisions of the United Kingdom. Mr. Herbert Samuel's statement that Scotland and Ireland have their own Ministers is but actually and theoretically accurate in reference to Scotland since the establishment of the office of Secretary for Scotland in 1885. Before the establishment of this position Scottish business fell naturally to the Home Department, which was responsible for it, although the Home Secretary was to a great extent guided by the advice of a Scotch official, the Lord Advocate, who might be regarded as an Under-Secretary, though with considerably more than an Under-Secretary's influence, for that part of the United Kingdom. The Cabinet Minister ordinarily responsible for advising and directing the conduct of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland was at one time the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and it is presumed that theoretically the responsibility still attaches to him. But in practice it has now devolved wholly and, considering his subordinate title, somewhat anomalously, on a functionary whose strict official style is that of Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. In the House of Commons at a comparatively recent time the Home Secretary was, in the absence of the Irish Secretary, appealed to for information on the state of Ireland on the ground of his general responsibility for peace and order throughout the United Kingdom. Sir William Harcourt, as Home Secretary, admitted the constitutional warrant for the appeal, but pleaded that "the details of Irish affairs did not pass through the Home Office."

Ministers in Attendance.

THE presence of Mr. Asquith as Minister in attendance at Balmoral on His Majesty the King, to which some threatened violence on the part of suffragists has directed public attention, affords an illustration of the constitutional doctrine that whenever the Sovereign is temporarily absent from his usual place of residence it is necessary that a Secretary of State or other responsible Minister should be in attendance upon him. The constitutional channel of approach to the person of the Sovereign is by means of a Secretary of State, and it is through such an officer that the Royal pleasure is communicated in regard to acts of government. The duty of constant attendance on the Sovereign used to be taken by the Secretaries of State in turn, but within the last few years this duty has been taken by all the Ministers in turn. In the reign of King Edward VII. there were frequent ruptures of the constitutional usage which prescribes that a Minister of the Crown should be, both at home and abroad, in constant attendance on the Sovereign. King Edward VII. was frequently when in this country without the attendance of a member of the Cabinet; and he went abroad unattended by a Cabinet Minister, although Queen Victoria when abroad was always accompanied by a Minister, and was accordingly in close contact with the Cabinet and kept

fully informed of the course of public affairs. Moreover, although private communications between a King of England and the heads of foreign States and foreign Ministers is contrary to the spirit and practice of the English Constitution, the late King visited the King of Italy, the King of Portugal, the President of the French Republic, the Emperor of Germany, and the Emperor of Russia unattended by a Cabinet Minister. This departure from constitutional practice was matter of comment at the time and of severe strictures on the Ministers, who accepted, of course, full responsibility. The attendance of a Minister on the Sovereign on all occasions is a return to a constitutional usage whose observance is of the utmost service in the maintenance of free institutions and popular government these countries.

Peers and Elections.

99

A WRITER in the lay Press says with reference to the Midlothian election contest that the absence of Lord Murray of Elibank, the former member, seems to have created some surprise, and follows this statement by the remark: "Now that he has been raised to the peerage, however, the ex-Chief Whip has perforce to refrain from taking part in elections.' The writer has evidently been betrayed into the error of believing that a sessional order which has not been passed since 1910 is still in existence. From 1642 till 1909 the following sessional order was passed, with certain modifications rendered necessary by the Scottish and Irish Unions, at the commencement of each session by the House of Commons: "That it is a high infringement of the liberties and privileges of the Commons of the United Kingdom for any Lord of Parliament or other peer or prelate, not being a peer of Ireland at the time elected and not having declined to serve for any county, city, or borough of Great Britain, to concern himself in the election of members to serve for the Commons in Parliament, except only any peer of Ireland at such elections in Great Britain respectively where such peer shall appear as a candidate or by himself or any others be proposed to be elected." This sessional order, which had been frequently opposed in times past, was not renewed, in accordance with the general sense of the House of Commons -no division having been called for-at the opening of the session of 1910.

county of Cork. The usual heckling commenced in Parliament, and the Chief Secretary gave the Lord Chancellor's explanation, to the effect that his Lordship was quite unaware of the fact that the gentleman is question filled the office of clerk of a union, that he was satisfied the information was not withheld from him in order to deceive him, and that under the circumstances he did not propose to interfere with the appointment. This admission that a person was appointed of whose local position the Lord Chancellor was ignorant was extraordinary, and a controveny followed. The union clerks point out that their colleagues i England are frequently appointed to the commission, and it would be a sensible thing if the Lord Chancellor made an end of the difficulty by bestowing the honour on them where otherwise duly qualified, and where the need exists in the locality for additional justices.

THE Conservators of Fisheries in every part of Ireland have been protesting against the remittal and reduction of fines by the LordLieutenant, and also against the acts of clemency exercised by his Excellency, in respect of convictions under the Fishery Code. They also determined to strengthen the law, and a bill is to be introduced into the House of Lords to carry out this purpose. These proceedings have drawn from a Northern solicitor a remarkable protest. He declares that "the Irish Fishery Code is simply ferocious, and, unlike other severely penal statutes, most of the penalties have irreducible minima so high that common sense and humanity are revolted." It is also pointed out that there is generally no appeal from the dismiss of a charge at petty sessions, but the ingenious Fishery Acts provide an appeal to quarter sessions from a dismiss. On the hearing of the appeal; again, the County Court is hidebound, and a "penalty which amounts to confiscation must be imposed.

THE opposition to the Insurance Act appears to be growing not only in volume, but to have become very serious for the operation of the Act in this country. In the north of Ireland a Tax Resisters' Union has been established, and a number of public meetings held at which it was resolved to refuse to purchase stamps or to put the Act into operation. Speeches were made to the effect that the only remedy of the Government was to have the offenders prosecuted at petty sessions, where, on account of the unpopularity of the Act, fines so small would be inflicted that resistance would be really cheaper than obedience. It was noticed that several magistrates attended these meetings, whe will, no doubt, take part later on in the imposition of the fines, and will not be too hard upon resisters, but it does not seem unlikely that the Lord Chancellor will in the meantime be making inquiry into the action of these justices.

IRISH NOTES.

THE statement published last week to the effect that the Recorder of Derry had sent in his resignation, though unofficial, appears to be well founded. Judge Overend has been in very indifferent health for many years past, and at least on seven occasions his place at quarter sessions had to be temporarily provided for. Much regret will be felt at his disappearance from the County Court Bench, to which he was appointed in July 1892, just before the fall of the Conservative Government in that year. He was called to the Irish Bar as far back as 1874, and very soon fell into a certain and lucrative practice.

THE Clerks of Poor Law Guardians in Ireland at their annual meeting the other day dealt with one of their standing grievances -namely, the refusal of the Lord Chancellor to regard them as qualified for the Commission of the Peace. Under the 26th section of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, the chairman of the other body which these officials serve-namely, the rural district council-is made a magistrate ex officio, and the Lord Chancellor does not think it would be convenient that both should be acting upon the Bench together, but this is not allowed to disqualify the dispensary medical officer, who is also a servant of the same local authority. Beyond all doubt the Irish Union Clerks are a very competent, capable, and experienced body of men, and some of them would be an accession to the local Bench in a number of rural districts, but this unwritten rule prevails in the office of the Lord Chancellor and has not been broken-consciously broken-for a quarter of a century.

THE immediate cause of the present controversy on the topic, however, has been a breach of the unwritten rule in the Lord Chancellor's office. Three months ago, to the astonishment of many people, but to the gratification of these local government officials, a union clerk was gazetted a justice of the peace in the

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSING, TOWN PLANNING, &c., ACT 1909. RULES WITH REFERENCE TO COSTS OF ARBITRATIONS. WHEREAS by paragraph (9) of the first schedule to the Housing Town Planning, &c., Act 1909 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") it is provided that we, the Local Government Board, may, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, make rules fixing a scale of costs to be applicable on an arbitration under the said schedule, and an arbitrator under that schedule may, notwithstanding anything in the Lands Clauses Acts, determine the amount of costs, and shall have power to disallow as costs in the arbitration the costs of any witness whom he considers to have been called unnecessarily and any other costs which he considers to have been caused or incurred unnecessarily :

Now therefore, we, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, for the purpose of fixing the scale of costs to be applicable on an arbitration under the first schedule to the Act, do hereby make the following rules, that is to say:

Rule 1.-Where the compensation awarded by the arbitrator to the claimant does not exceed the sum specified in the first column of the scale No. 1 set forth in the schedule hereto, the suin payable to the claimant for his costs of the arbitration shall be the sum specified in the second column of such scale, which sum shall include and cover all disbursements, except for the attendances of witnesses, for which attendances the sums specified in the third column of such scale shall be allowed. No charge for briefs to, or attendance of, counsel shall be allowed.

Rule 2.--Where the compensation awarded by the arbitrator exceeds the sum of three hundred pounds, but does not exceed the sum of five hundred pounds, the costs and charges of the claimant in the arbitration shall be allowed, and (if necessary)