At the Court at Buckingham-Palace, the 11th day of February 1848,

PRESENT,

The QUEEN's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

WHEREAS by an Act, passed in the seventh and eighth years of Her Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act to amend the law respecting "the office of county coroner," it is enacted, that when and so often as it shall seem expedient to the justices of any county that such county should be divided into two or more districts for the purposes of that Act, or that any alteration should be made of any division theretofore made under that Act, it should be lawful for the said justices, in general or quarter sessions assembled, to resolve that a petition should be presented to Her Majesty, praying that such division or alteration be made, and thereupon to adjourn the further consideration of such petition until notice thereof be given to the coroner or coroners of such county as thereinafter provided; and it is thereby further enacted, that the clerk of the peace should give notice of any such resolution to every coroner for such county, and of the time when the petition would be taken by the said justices into consideration, and the justices should confer with every such coroner who should attend the meeting of the justices for that purpose touching such petition, having due regard to the size and nature of each proposed district, the number of the inhabitants, the nature of their employments, and such other circumstances as should appear to the justices fit to be considered in carrying into execution the provisions of that Act, and such

petition, with a description of the several proposed districts, and of the boundaries thereof, with the reasons upon which the petition is founded, should be certified to Her Majesty, under the hands and seals of two or more justices present when such petition should be agreed to, and the clerk of the peace for such county should forthwith give or send a true copy of such petition, certified under his hand, to every coroner for such county; and it is thereby further enacted, that it should be lawful for Her Majesty, if she should think fit, with the advice of Her Privy Council, after taking into consideration any such petition, and also any petition which might be presented to Her by any coroner of the same county concerning such proposed division or alteration, or whenever it should seem fit to Her Majesty to direct the issue of a writ de coronatore eligendo, for the purpose of authorizing the election of an additional coroner above the number of those who had been theretofore customarily elected to such county, to order that such county should be divided into such and so many districts, for the purposes of that Act, as to Her Majesty, with the advice aforesaid, should seem expedient, and to give a name to each of such districts, and to determine at what place within each district the court for the election of coroner for such district should be holden, as thereinafter provided, and every such Order should be published in the London Gazette:

And whereas the justices of the peace of the county of Dorset, assembled in quarter sessions on the twentieth day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, did resolve, that an humble petition should be presented to Her Majesty, praying for such division or alteration as thereinafter mentioned, and did adjourn the further consideration thereof until a general quarter ses

sions, holden on the twenty-ninth day of June one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven; and whereas due notice of such resolution and adjournment, and of the time when such petition would be taken into consideration, having been duly given by the clerk of the peace of the said county to every coroner of the said county; and whereas, on the twenty-ninth day of June one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, pursuant to the said adjournment, the several coroners of the said county did attend and confer with the justices of the said county:

And whereas the said justices did, on the twenty-sixth day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, present to Her Majesty their petition, certified to Her under the hands and seals of two of the justices present when such petition was agreed to, representing that the said county of Dorset (in such parts as are not subject to the jurisdiction of local coroners) hath been customarily, though not legally, divided into three districts, for the purpose of holding inquests, during the space of seven years and upwards, before the passing of the said Act; that the coroner of one of such districts, namely, the Western District, resides at Cerne Abbas, being at the extreme easterly end of his district, and at a distance of nearly thirty miles from the westerly boundary thereof; that in consequence great discontent has been expressed and inconvenience felt by the inhabitants of the more westerly parts of such district, namely, the towns and neighbourhoods of Bridport, Lyme Regis, Thorncombe, and Beaminster, which are at a distance of twenty and thirty miles from the residence of the said coroners; that the said coroner of the western district, knowing the discontent expressed by the said inhabitants, has lately availed himself of the

powers given to him to appoint a deputy, whose residence is at Bridport; but that the appointment of a deputy coroner, on the part of the coroner for the western district, as at present constituted, does not and cannot meet the provisions of the said Act; that there are numerous deaths yearly happening to the quarrymen in the island of Portland, and to the mariners, through shipwreck, off the coast of that island; and that, in the opinion of the petitioners, it is advisable that a separate coroner should be appointed, whose jurisdiction should extend over the said island, and not beyond it; that within certain detached portions of the Cranborne hundred, comprising the parishes of Belchalwell, Okeford Shilling, Turnworth, Tarrant Rushton, Ashmore, Farnham, Tollard Farnham, and Tarrant Gunville, numbered 6 in the map hereinafter mentioned; and also for the parishes within the Pimpern hundred (numbered 8 in the said map), the local coroners for such hundreds have for very many years neglected to hold inquests therein; and that the county coroners having in consequence theretofore held inquests therein, the same are now sought to be assigned to the respective county coroners under the said Act; that the election of coroner will be attended with much less expence to the freeholders, and the inhabitants of the said county, generally, will be less inconvenienced, if the said county were divided into more than three districts in pursuance of the said Act: and the said petitioners, for the reasons aforesaid, prayed that the said county might be divided into six districts, as shewn and delineated in a certain map annexed to the said petition, and which contains a description of such districts, and of the boundaries thereof; and that Her Majesty would be graciously pleased to give to the district, numbered 1 in the said map, 1848.

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the name of the Shaftesbury District; to the district, numbered 2 in the said map, the name of the Blandford and Wimborne District; to the district, numbered 3 in the said map, the name of the Cerne District; to the district, numbered 4 in the said map, the name of the Dorchester District; to the district, numbered 5 in the said map, the name of the Portland District; and to the district, numbered 6 in the said map, the name of the Bridport and Beaminster District: and the said petitioners further prayed, that Her Majesty would determine that the place within each of the said six districts, at which the court for the election of coroner shall be hereafter held, should be as follows, that is to say; at Shaftesbury, for district number 1; at Blandford, for district number 2; at Cerne Abbas, for district number 3; at Dorchester, for district number 4; at Chesilton, within the island of Portland, for district number 5; and at Bridport, for district number 6:

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, having taken the said petition into consideration, doth, pursuant to the said Act, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, declare, order, and direct, that the said county of Dorset shall be divided, for the purposes of the said Act, into six districts, as prayed by the said petition, and described in the map annexed thereto (and which is also hereunto annexed); and that the said district, numbered 1 on the said map, shall be called the Shaftesbury District; and that the district, numbered 2 on the said map, shall be called the Blandford and Wimborne District; and that the district, numbered 3 on the said map, shall be called the Cerne District; and that the district, numbered 4 on the said map, shall be called the Dorchester District; and that the district, numbered 5 on the said map, shall be