was

to

LAW LIBRARY.

NEW EDITIONS. Mr. Thos. W. Haycraft has brought out a second edition of his Handy Book on the Bills of Sale Acts 1878 to 1891 (Effingham Wilson). It is twenty-one years since the book first appeared, and Mr. Haycraft has thought it best to keep to the original size. But it is an improvement to find the cases referred to placed in footnotes instead of in the text as formerly. Such new matter as has accrued to the subject since 1890 has been assimilated, and only by so much is the book increased.

A sixteenth edition of Mr. Charles H. Picken's Handbook to Stamp Duties has been brought out by Waterlow and Sons Limited. The book contains the text of the Stamp Act 1891 and of the subsequent Revenue Acts so far as they relate to stamp duties, and has a complete alphabetical table of all documents liable to stamp duty.

1 be done by the notioes in March and April 1910 at a cost of

£53 83. On the 6th June 1910 payment of that sum was demanded from the appellant by notice in writing sent by post by rog stored lotter, and this notico was signed. “Edward Cooper, Rating Surveyor for the County Borough of Rotherham.” It was deposed on oath beforo the justioes by the said Edward Cooper and was found by the justices as a fact that Edward Cooper, wboso sigoature was attached to the notice of demand, was then and bad for two years past been rating surveyor and rate colleotor for the respondents, and that prior to that period he had for many years' been the borough acoountant and rate colleotor for the respondents; and it his daty (inter alia) prepare, siga, and serve all potices demanding payment of any moneys due to the respondents for expenses incurred by the respondents in carrying out works under sect. 36 of the Act, and to collect and receive payment of all such moneys on their behalf. On the part of the appellant it was admitted that the notice of demand was duly served and signed by Edward Cooper, and that the sum demanded was correot and was properly due to the respondents if the notice of demand was in fact a good notice of demand ; but objection was taken to the notice, and it was contended that any such notice of demand under seot. 36 a 08t not only be in writing or print, but must also be authenticated as required by sect. 266 of the Act, and must therefore be signed by the clerk, surveyor, or inspector of nuisances to the local authority, and that tko i notice was not so authenticated or signed, and that

therefore the respondents could not recover. Sect. 266 of the -Ast provides that if notices, orders, and documents under the Act require authentication by the looal authority, the sigoature thereof by the clerk or the surrogor or inspector if quia noes shall be sufficient authentisation. Held, ibat the notice was not a notice which required authentication within sect. 266, and that therefore the signature referred to in that section was not necessary.

[Willis v. Rotherham Corporation. K. B. Div.: Lord Alverstone, C.J., Pickford and Lush, JJ. May 10.-Counsel : H. R. Bramley ; G. F. Mortimer. Solicitors: Ridsdale and Son, for Willis and Willis, Rotherbam; Smith, Rundell, and Dods, for W. J. Board, Rotber.

ham.) l'ublic Health-Plans-Approval --Land subject to restrictiv. Covenants

- Plan showing proposed Street on Land-Practicability of PlanJurisdiction to disapprove. -Rule calling on the corporation of Tynemouth, acting as the urban sanitary authority for the borough, to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not issue to them commanding them to consider and determine according to law an application by one C. that the authority should approve certain plans submitted by C. for the laying out of a certaio estate known as the R. Estate, situate within the borough. The rule was obtained at the instance of C., on the ground that the plans were in accord. ance with the by-laws, and that there was no valid ground for their disa pproval. The R. Estate, which was owned by the appli. oant C. and one H. D., was situate within the district of the corporation, which was the authority in whom under the Public Health Aot 1875 was vested the power of approving or disapprov. ing plans for new buildings. The area comprised in the estate wae in two parts, the eastern part being a meadow field. A plan for laying out the estate as a building estate and for the erection of buildings and the laying out of streets thereon was submitted by the applicant to the corporation for approval. Upon the plan as finally deposited there was sbowo upin the western bouodary of the meadow field A street, called N.-street, which was 40ft. in width, the greater part of which was to be upon the meadow field, As appeared upon the plan. The town improvement committee were advised that 80 much of the estate ag consisted of the meadow field mast under oertain covenants be kept for ever as arable or pasture land, or as lawns, sbrubberies, or gardeng, and for no other purpose whatover. The committee of the corporation disapproved of the plan for the following reasons : (1) It was not shown that it was practioable to lay out the street described as N.-street on the plan to the width of 40ft. ; (2) the buildings proposed to be erected on the street described as N.-street would infringo the provisions of the Public Health (Buildings in Streets) Act 1888; and (3) that the plan did not, as required by a by-law of the corporation, show the mode of construction of the proposed new streets. The affidavit in support of the rule stated that a question might arise as to whether certain covenants affected the land and were enforceable by certain owners of adjoin. ing land so as to prevent the laying out of streets as shown on the plan, but it was submitted that as this was a question involving the private rights of individuals it was not a matter for the consideration of the corporation in determining whether to approve or disapprove the plan. It was stated in an affidavit in opposition to the rule that an action was pending in which an injunction was claimed against the applicant T. and another, to restrain them from using the field in question otherwise than as pasture land or as lawns, shrubberies, or gardens, and it was said that there were covenants of title by which the owners of the field were bound to keep the same opon and use it as arable or pasture land or as lawns, shrubberies, or gardens, and for no other purpose whatever. The meadow on which the proposed new street was to be laid out was therefore subjeot to restrictive covenants, and it was contended in opposition to the rule that the corporation had jurisdiction to refuse to approve the plans on the ground that by reason of the restrictive covenants it was not practicable to lay out N.. street as stown on the plan. Held, that the local authority had

BOOKS RECEIVED. Cole on Seamen and Compensation. James Brown and Son, “Nautical Press," Glasgow. Price 6d. Kime's International Law Directory 1911.

Butterworth and Co., 11 and 12, Bell-yard, Temple Bar.

Cassels on Hire and Hire Purchase. Butterworth and Co., 11 and 12, Bell.gard, Temple Bar. Price 53.

Encyclopedia of the Laws of England. Second Annual Supplement. Sweot and Maxwell Limited, 3, Chancery-lane, W.C.; William Green and Sons, Edioburgh.

Mortimer on Probate Law ana Practice. Sweet and Maxwell Limited, 3, Chancery-lane, W.C. Price £2 2:.

Notable English Trials ; Trial of Franz Muller. William Hodge and Co., Edinburgh, and 3, Bols.court, E.C. Prize 53, nes.

LEGISLATION AND JURISPRUDENCE.

Not once por twice have we directed our readers' attention to the scandals of local government, and it is satisfactory to note that once again Mr. BURNS bas shown his courage by putting an obstacle in the way of appointing to paid offices persons who have been ordinary members of some local body. A circular issued by the Local Goveroment Board intimates in laoguage of sufficient plainness that, unless very special grounds are shown, the board will not countenance such appointments to any office in respect of which the board has any locus standi to object. The disapproval extends not only to persons who actually are mom bers of borough and urban and rural district councils, but also to those who have been within twelve months a member of the council making the appointment. In so doing, the board are acting on the spirit of a recommendation in the report of the Poor Law Commission to the effect that "a local authority should not be allowed to appoint an ex-member as a paid officer unless he or she has ceased to be a member for a period of, say, twelve months before appointment.” It is to be hoped that the boards of guardians will take note of this action, for it is within their premises that so many of these scandals are hatohed, and persons of the most humble position, having been elected as guardians in an a pathetic area, pall the strings necessary to get themselves appointed to posts affording to them a higher scale of pay than they would be likely to earn by the exercise of their own proper callings. The action taken by Mr. BURNS should go a long way towards efficienoy, and therefore towards economy, in a direction where reform is highly desirable.

At a time when so much thought is being expended on the constitutional struggle between the two branches of Parliament, it is always interesting to know, what other nations have provided by way of safeguard in the event of a deadlock of this nature. The Constitutions provided for South Africa and Australia have been frequently discussed, and we have had quite recently some example of the working of where he was entitled to vote. He claimed to be represented in Parliament by sixty-four members. The objection was overruled as Mr. West stated that he owned the house and had used it during the year. It is one of the curiosities of our constitutional practice that plural voting, against which no exception can now be taken, was absolutely prohibited by statute. Thus a law of Heory V., which provided that all members of counties and boroughs must be residents in the constituencies they represented and that do 200resident could be a voter, was suffered to be absolutely obsolete for centuries and was at last removed from the statute-book ia 1772 (12 Geo. 3, c. 20). In Ireland, where by the provisions of Poyoing's law all laws enacted in England before the date of that enactment (1495) were made law in Ireland, the judges so early as 1569, on a reference to their opinion, utterly disregarded the provisions of the statute of Henry V. in reference to members of Parliament and electors : (see Hellan's Constitutional History, ii., pp. 494 495).

the referendum in tholatter colony. The Argentine Republic is supposed to have a well.considered system, and under it Bills originate in either House, are passed by both Houses, and sent to the executive power (i.e., the President of the Argentine pation) and by him approved.

If not returned in ten days, Bills are, however, to be considered approved. No Bill rejected in one House can be introduced again during the same gear. If amended, the Bill returns to its original House. If the amendments are disapproved, the Bill returns to the amending House, and, if by it con irmed by a two-tbirds majority, the Bill is again referred. The amendments cannot then be rejected unless by a twothirde majority. A Bill rejected in whole or part by the President returns to its original House for reconsideration, and, if pagged by a two-thirds majority, is passed on to the other House for examination and, if passed by it with this game majority, it becomes law. In Brazil much the same system prevails. In Chile, a Bill amended by a revising House returns to the original House, and, if such amendments are rejected, the Bill returns to the revising House. On the latter again passing the amendments by a two thirds majority, they cannot be rejected by the other House unless by a majority of the same weight. The executive power, however, is in a oummittee, who watch over the observance of the Constitution and address representations to the President, and repeat the same if the first do not appear sufficiently cood uoive, and certain acts of the President require the committee's concurrence. In Norway, every Bill is first presented in the Odels. thing, and proceeds thence to the Lagthing. Objections of the latter are considered by the former, who may send it up again, altered or unaltered. On the second rejection, the matter is oonsidered by the Storthing, of which is composed the two bodies of the Odelsthing and Lagthing. l'pon the meeting of the Storthing, the Bill's fate is dotormined by a two-thirds vote. The Bill is then sent to the King, who may dissent from it. If the Storthing has by three regular meetings convened after three separate elections, divided from each other by at least two intervening regular sessions, presented the Bill to the King, the latter cannot disapprove it. The practice in Portugal under the Royalty was on a deadlook between the two Houses to appoint a committee equally representative, and to give them a power to decide by a majority vote whether the project should be imme. diately reduced into a decree of the General Cortez or be rejected. A Royal disapproval was final. It is not insignificant that every country calls for some sort of Second Chamber possessing authority, and that the nation which gave its King so wide a power should have 30 euocessfully risen against him

The financial statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the year, familiarly known as the Budget, which was made on the 16th inst., was addressed, not to the committee of the whole House of Commons, but to the Committee of Ways and Means, as tho con. sideration of the taxes for the service of the year is the province of the Committee of Ways and Means. In the procedure adopted by the Commons for the imposition of taxation, the following dis. tinction is generally, if not uniformly, drawn. Taxes applicable to the immediate exigencies of the public income which are renewed from year to year and temporary and other taxes imposed to obtain an immediate source of revenue are considered by the Committee of Ways and Meung. Fiscal regulations and alterations of permanent duties not having directly for their object the increase of revenue are dealt with by committees of the whole House. An illustration of this procedure can be drawn from past legislation on the sugar duties. . Being an annual duty, the duty on sugar was until 1816 voted in the Com. mittee of Ways and Means. During that year the duties on sugar, after revision in that committee, were made permanent, and accord. ingly when in 1848 a further revision was proposed of the sugar duties, that revision was proposed in a separate committee of the whole House, and not in the Committee of Ways and Means: (see May's Parliamentary Practice, pp. 589-590).

PARLIAMENTARY SUMMARY.

MR. Asquith in his speech at Manchester on the 6th inst. uncon. sciously echoed the matured judgment of Mr. Bagebot, writing forty grars ago as a student of constitutional; development, in bis statement that the supremacy of the House of Commone, until of late years it had been challenged, had actually become the unwritten Constitution of our country. A Second Chamber, the Prime Minister proceeded to predicate, must not in any sense bo a co-ordinate institution ; it must not claim anything in the nature of co-ordinate or competing authority. Mr. Bagebot, writing in 1965, enunciated these principles as part of the unwritten British Constitution : “ The literary theory of the English Constitution says that the House of Lords is a co-ordinate estate of the realm of equal rank with the House of Commons; that it is the aristocratic branch just as the Commons is the popular branch. So utterly false is this doctrine that it is a remarkable peculiarity, a capital excellence of the British Constitution, that it contains a sort of Upper House which is not of equal authority to the Lower House, yet still has some authority. . . Since the Reform Act the House of Lords has become a revisiog and suspending House. It can alter Bills ; it can reject Bills on which the House of Commons is not yet thoroughly in earnest—upon which the nation is not thoroughly determined. Their veto is a sort of hypothetical veto. They say: We reject your Bill for this once, or these twice, or even these thrice ; but, if you keep on sending it up, at last we won't reject it”': (Bagebot's English Constitution, pp. 97-100).

The petition presented on the 12th inst., at the Bar of the House of Commons, by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, from the corporation of that city, in favour of legislation for the extension of the Parlia. mentary franchise to women, will direct attention to the fact that, whereas petitions in general are presented by a member of the House to which they are addressed, the Corpora tions of London and of Dublin have the privilege of presenting petitions to the House of Commons at the Bar of the House.

Petitions from the Corpo. cation of London are presented to the House of Commons by the sheriffs at the Bar (being introduced by the Sergeant with che mace), or by one sheriff only if the other be a member of the House or unavoidably absent. Under a privilege conceded in 1813, petitions from the Corporation of Dublin may be presented in the same manner by their Lord Mayor. lf, however, the Lord Mayor of Dablin should be a member of the House of Commons, he must present the petition in his place as a member and not at the Bar. Lord Coobrane proposed to extend this privilege to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, but his amendment was lost, Mr. Tierney remarking " that the Scotch were generally thought a prudent people, and the Corporation of Edinburgh would know better than to send their Provost 400 miles to present a petition": (see May's Parliamentary Practice, pp. 525 530.) TAE expression by Mr. Asquith of an aspiration for a troly representative First Chamber in which plural voting will be in the past tense may recall an extraordinary instance of plural voting. At the Revision Court at Oxford in Sept. 1883 an objection was lodged against the Rev. Washbourne West, a Senior Fellow of Lincoln Colege, on the ground that he did not occupy the house for which he claimed. It was stated that he was ono of the largest plural voters in England, and be admitted that at the last election bo vcted seventeen times and then was obliged to migg seven places

The House of Lords, on the 11th inst., went into committee on the Lunacy Bill.

Lord Courtney of Pepwith moved an amendment to the 1st schedule with the object of giving a discretion to the Lord Chancellor to appoint a woman as a paid as well as an unpaid commissioner. The Lord Chancellor agreed that it would not be easy to overstate the importance of having women associated with the care of the insane, and be unreservedly assented to the principle of the amendment. But he could not accept the amendment at the present time, this being a Bill of a temporary character.—The amendment was, by leare, withdrawn.-Tho Bill then passed through committee.

In the House of Commons, Mr. Watt arked the Lord Advocate in what counties in Scotland committees had been set up to assist the Lord Chancellor in the appointment of justices of the peace ; by Mr. Houston asked the Home Secretary whether he would take ste pe to keep one main artery free from slow-moving traffic during certain hours so as to facilitate the passage of vebicles conveying persons to railway stations and business premises in the City; and whether, with a view to mitigating tbe danger to pedestrians and others by reason of reckless driving and exceeding the speed limit by drivers of vebicles, he would give special iostruotions to the police to endeavour to mitigate this evil. -Mr. Churchill : As regards the first part of this question, I can add nothing to the answer I gave to the similar inquiry by the bon. member on the 8th inst. As regards the latter part, I am sure that the police are fully alive to the need of using every endeavour to stop reckless driving. They are already instructed to that effect, i and nothing would be gained by issuing any special instructions

whom these committees were chosen, and how many members they consisted of; and whether it was the intention of the Government that local members of Parliament should make representations to these committees, who would put the representations before the Lord Chancellor.—The Lord Advocate : The counties in which committees have been set op are Clackmappan, Fife, Kirkoudbright, Nairo, Stirling, County of City of Edinburgh, County of City of Glasgow, and Inverness, which is, however, under reconsideration. Tbe pumbors vary from four to seven. The members of committees have been chosen by the Lord Chancellor, in a very few cases upon porsonal knowledge, in general upon communication both with the Lord-Lieutenant and othere. Anyone can make representations to the committees, and the committees can make any representations to the Lord Chancellor.—Replying to supplementary questions, the Lord Advocate said he would consider the advisa bility of authorising the publication of the names of the advisory committee when they had beon finally settled by the Lord Chancellor.

Mr. Fell asked the Home Secretary whether there was any agreement or arrangement with the shipowners who brought alien immigrants into this country that they would take them back again at their own expense if the immigrants were for any reason rejected on arrival, even if such aliens had been allowed to land pendiog the decision as to their being undesirable or not.—Mr. Masterman, who replied, said : Under the Aliens Act 1905 in all cases in wbich an alien immigrant is refused leave to land it rests with the master of the ship which brougbt him to this country to dispose of him after such retusal.—Mr. Feil further asked whether any bearob was now made in the baggage of aliens arriving in this country at scheduled ports for Mauser rifles, pistols, daggers, stilettos, and other weapons; whether they were contiecated if discovered; and wbether the aliens trying to introduce them were pronounced to be undeeirable aod were refused permission to land.-Mr. Masterman: There is no power in the Aliens Act 1905 for immigration officers to search the baggage of alien immi. grants ; and the possession of arms by any such aliens is not among the considerations wbich, under sect. 1 (3) of the Act, may subject him to refusal of leave to land as an undesirable immigrant. I hope tbis matter may be dealt with when the law is amended.

lo the House of Lords, on Monday, on the motion of Lord Eversley the resolution of the House referring the Rigbts of Way Bill to a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament rescioded and the Bill was referred to a Select Committee.

In the House of Commons, Mr. Morrell asked the Parliamentary. Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he could give the names of those who are to be appointed as additional commissioners under the Small Holdings Act and the areas to be allotted to them. -Sir E. Strachey : The names and areas are as follows :-Mr. A. Allsebrook-area, counties, Northumberland, Cumberland, Durbam, Westmorland, Lanoasbire, and Yorkshire; Mr. J. H. Diggle—area, counties, Lincolosbire and Isle of Ely; Mr. E. 0. Fordham-area, counties, Chester, Derbye, Noite. Leicester, Rutland, Northampton. Warwick, Stafford, Soke of Peterborough, Salop, Worcester, and Hereford; Mr. Sydney Mager-area, counties, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall ; Mr. John Owen--area, Wales and Monmouth, Mr. F. E. N. Rogers-area, countiee, Wilts, Gloucester, Oxford, Berks, Hants, Isle of Wight; Mr. M. T. Baines—area, Bucks, Bedford, Herts, Essex, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex, Kent; Mr. E. J. Cheneyarea, Norfolk, Hunte, Cambs, Suffolk.

Mr. Martin asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in connection with the Coronation extra work, the Commissioner of Police would endeavour to give a preterence to retired policemen who are out of employment --Mr. Churchill : Pensioners were in vited to volunteer for service during the pressure of work at the time of the Coronation, and arrangements have now been made with all those whose assistance will be required. The men engaged must, of couree, be suited for the particular work to wbich they are to be assigned, and have been chosen on this principle. It is understood that most of the men are not engaged in cther employments.

Mr. King asked the Prime Minister whether he had taken into consideration the practico of many Lords-Lieutenant who refused to nominate as magistrates any names which had not been approved by the petty cessional benches on which the gentlemen whose names tbus submitted would serve; whether be was aware that many suitable persons had thus been refused the opportunity of serving as magistrates ; and whether he would approach the Lord Cbancellor with a view to this practice being discontinued.-Mr. Asquith: I am ioformed ibat no such practice bas ever been approved by the Lord Chancellor, and he is not aware that appoiotments bave been thereby prevented. It is impossible under a system of advieory committees. -Mr. King: Will the Prime Minister approach the authorities with a view to expressing disapproval of this practice ?-Mr. Asquith : It does not rest with me at all. The question is one which concerns the Lord Chancellor.

lo reply to Mr. Norman Craig, Mr. Lloyd George said : It is the fact that a formal assegement of esta to duty in respect of land formiog part of the estate of a deceased person is not, and indeed cannot be, made until the valuation has been received from the Government valuer. A certain ümount of delay bas upavoidably occurred in the valuing of land for death duty purposes. Steps are being taken to expeditu tho valuations now that the valuing staff is getting into fuller working order.

Mr. Lloyd George, replying to Mr. Bridge man, stated that the number of copies of Form 4 circulated in Great Britain was 10,721,887. The number ciroulated in Ireland was 13,000.

In the House of Lorde, on Tuesday, the debate on the second reading of Lord Lansdowne's Bill for the reform of the Second Chamber was continued. One of the principal speakers was the Lord Cbancellor, who declared that the Bill invited the Government to surrender at discretion after they had obtained victory in the constituencies. They would be traitors and poltroons if they abandoned the Parliament Bill, which must be insoribed on the statute-book before any compromise on constitutional_questions could be considered. The debate was adjourned, and the Parliament, Bill was afterwards introduced by Viscount Morley, and read a first time.

Io the House of Commons Mr. Astor asked the Postmaster-General whether the National Telephone Company were refusing to supply applicants with telephones on the Gerrard Exchange, and whether the Post Office was refusing to supply applicants with telephones on the Mayfair Exchange ; and, if so, whether he would take immediate steps to enable in babitants in the neighbourhoods of tbose exchanges to install instruments.-Mr. Herbert Samuel: I understand that the existing equipment of the National Telephone Company's Gerrard Exchange is workiog to its full capacity; and the game is practically true of the Post Office Mayfair Exchange. New apparatus is, however, now beiog added at Mayfair to provide accommodation for additional subscribers, and is expected to be ready next month. As soon as the Gerrard Exchange comes into my hands, steps will be taken to provide additional accommodation there also. The company state that they are unable to undertake any extension at present.

The House went into Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Emmott (Oldbam) in the obair.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer in making bis Budget statement said : The figures which have already been printed and circulated io reference to last year will have revealed the fact that there was a realieed surplus of £5,607,000. I would point out that that is practioally the surplus of two years. Last year was abnormal in respect to the fact tbat there were very serious arrears from the previous year which had not been collected, and that there. fore a good deal of taxation belonging to last year was thrown into tbe present year. We are still suffering from the delay and consequent confusion which resulted from the exceptional financial experience that we passed through. We shall not be able this year to collect the whole of our supert.d, and the same thing will apply, of course, to ibe land taxes, the estate duties, and the licensing duties. Had the arrears of income tax-I mean the normal arrears—been collected the surplus would have been £8,500,000 for the two years. The surplus is due to two things. First of all you had a saving in expenditure in spite of the very heavy supplementary estimates of £1,238,000, and you bad besides an improvement in revenue over the estimate, which came to £4,060,000. Death duty was the only disappointment in the matter of revenue, but the cause of it is full of cheer. It was entirely due to the abnormally low death.rate last year. It was lower by 6 4 per gent. than the average for the previous three years, and it is very remarkable that the receipts were lower by 6 per cent. then my Budget estimate. It shows the extraordinary accuraoy with which the estimates are prepared. We have a realised surplus of £5,607,000. There are two new items of expenditure. One is insurance, where the expenditure for this year will be about £50,000. The next item of exceptional new expenditure has reference to the payment of members. The Prime Minister gave a definite promise from this box immediately before the election, and just as we were going to the country, co as to make it perfectly clear what the effect of a favourable answer would be. He gave a similar pledge immediately after the election, and he proposed deal. ing with tbe problem this year. I am not going to argue the question, because it is out of place in a financial statement.

I will only Bay this. This is the only Parliament, I think, in the world, excepting Italy, where the members are not paid. I believe in Italy they bave free travelling. But so absorbing have duties become and to difficult is it for men to attend to their ordinary vocations that those wbo have been able to attend to these duties before find it increas. iogly difficult to go on attending to their duties. I have examined tbe scales of payment of members abroad and in the colories. I will give a few of them. The United States of America heads the list with £1500 per annum and limited travelling expenses. The limited travelling expenses mean that those who live in California une paid mileage for going round Cape Horn. France pays £600 per annum, with free travelling on the State railways, but as the majority of the railways in France belong to private companies this is not very valuable. But I believe that there is also a pension at fifty-five after a member has served four years. Austria is a little more niggardly; it pays about 163. 8d. a day during the session, attendance is insisted opon, and travelling expenses are given except for Viennese members. Belgium pays £160 per annum. Germany Pays

to.

£150 per annun, su hject to a do luction of £1 10. for each cay's absence; free travelling passes are given during the session. Italy gives po salary, but free passes are given on the re i ways and on certain steamers. Io Canada the amount is £500 per annum and travelling expenses; New Zealand £300 per annum and travelling expenses ; the Commonwealth of Australia £600 per anoum, and I think free passes, but I am not sure; the Union of South Africa £400 per annum, but I do not know whether there are free pages. We do not propose to be as generous as the Uạited States or to give as liti le as Germany. We propose to take a course somewhere between the two an' to follow the precedent of some of the colonies. Wo have fixed the salary at £400, but with no travelling expenses and no pension. There are 670 members of the House. There are thirty. eight in receipt of salary either as Ministers or as officers of the House and of His Majesty's Household. They will be excluded. This will come to something like £250,000 per annum. That is the remaining exceptional item of expenditure ; and I will now give the expo. diture by reading out the figures. The Development and Road To provement Funds are £1,280,000; otber, Consolidated Fund services, £1,707,000. The total consolidated Food service is £37,036,000 ; the Army, £27,690,000; the Navy, £41,393.000; old age pensions, £12,415,000 ; otber Civil Services, £34,373,000 ; Customs and Ioland Revenue, £3 995,000; Post Office services, £21,082,000; total Supply Services, £143,948,000; payment of member B, £250,000 ; insurance, £50,000. The total with the provision for the National Debt will be £181,284,000. I estimate tbat the death duties, the old and new duties together, will produce £25,150,000. That is an increase on the true revenue of last year after deducting arrears of £1,078,000. Stamps are much more difficult to estimate. Last year there was very great activity no the Stock Exchange. At the beginning of the year we had an oil boom and a rubber boom, but there was a much more interesting boom at the end of the year, and that the boom in British railway stares. You cannot depend on these booms in the coming year, and therefore it is very difficult to estimate. I cannot prophesy the next boom, and no one can. The mao wbo could would be a multi-millionaire. Therefore the salest course is to anticipate a falling off from Stock Exchange stamps. The estimate for 1911.12 will therefore be £9,600,000 for stamps. That represents a decrease of £184,000 on the Exchequer receipts for 1910.11. May I point out that decrease would be still greater but for the improvement in the real estate market. I now come to the inhabited bouse duty. There will be a slight increase of about £10,000, making £2,700,000. The ordinary income tax will be £41 300.000, including the arrears of last year, and the super tax will be £3,000,000. That will make the income tax for this year £44,300,000. With regard to the Bu pertax, I ought to say there has been no time yet thoroughly to investigate the returns. It is proposed this should be done this year, but it will involve some delay in collection, and as there has been so much said about delay I tbiok it better to warn the committee of this in advance, 80 that it will not be thought at the end of the year that the delay was due to some nelarious purpose on my part. Í now come to the land value duties. The really productive duty, as we anticipated, will be the increment value duty, but that cannot fructify until the valuation is completed. The valuation has been held back by a variety of circumstances, and it will take some time, as we anticipated, to complete it. Even then, it must take a few years for the increased value to grow and to ripen, but it is welling up. It has not yet reached beyond the high rim of deductions to be provided, but this year we hope to get about £30,000 from the incre. ment value duty. The same observation applies to the undeveloped land duty. This year we hope to be able to complete the valuation of most of the undeveloped urban sites and to collect part of the updeveloped land duty in respect of them. That will produce £200,000 this year. Wo expect the reversion durg will yiell £50,000 and the mineral rights duty £400,000, of which £80,000 will be arrears. We expect the total land value duties will amount to £700,000. The estimated total of the don.tax revenue is £29,666,000; tbe estimated total of the tax revenue is £152,050,000, msking a total of £181 716.000 revenue. The expenditure has already been stated at £181,281,000. That leaves surplus of £432,000, and therefore it will pot be necessary to impose any fresh taxation. But I bave got one or two alterations which I propose to bi made in one or two taxes. The first is in relation tle cocoa duty. What we propose is to put cocoa on exactly the same footing as apy other business or industry in this country, That involves subjecting chocolate to duty accordiog to its ingredients and giving the osual drawback in export. The long to revenue involve 1 wul be-loss of duty, £20 000, and loss io drawback, £25,000. That means loss in all to the revenue of £45,000. The other alteration I propose to make is in the liquor licence duties. There is a charge dow made in respect of liquor licences on account of areas which are in no sense of the term part of the premises in which intoxicatiog liquors are sold. We propose to modify these conditions. It wid involve a long to the revenue of at least £50,000. Then there is ancther alteration-in stamps-which has been pressed upon me by very important ioterests in tbe City. At the present moment all markiia ble securities passing on delivery pay the same duty of 1 per cent, 10 matter wbat the terms of the obligation. There has grown up a tendency of late, especially in the United States, to borrow on short-dated obligations, and the 1 per cent. duty practically kills our businees in those short.dated securities. The revenue gets nothing out of it, and the City gets nothing out of it. The contention of the City is that it has driven the business out, and that it does not pay. I propose. therefore, that there should be the foliowing rates per £100 secured-Damely, balf-a-crown if repayable in one year, and 53. if

repayable in two or three years. There must be some provisions, of course, to safeguard the revenue. I cannot tell what the effect will be in the matter of duty, and I am not going to estimate either for loss or increase. In any event it must be trivial and cannot dislocate or disarrange the sevenue for the year. Those are all the alteratione I propose. The revenug therefore will be £181,621,000, and the expenditure £181,284,000. That leaves a surplus of £337,000 to meet contingencies. Next year we shall bave to find £2.500.000; the following year £4,126,000, and the next year, 1914.15, £4,781,000, and I believe we shall find all that money witbout increasing taxa. tion, provided the conditions I have laid down are strictly adbered

In Germany the State contribution to the whole sobeme je 12,500,000, ours is nearly £19,000,000.

Io the House of Commons, on Wednesday, Lord Alexander Thypne, in asking leave, under the ten minutes rule, to introduce a Bill to provide for the amendment and better administration of the law relating to the poor of London, said that in no part of the country was the problem 80 unique in extent, intensity, aod, therefore, difficulty. "The Bill proposed to substitute for the thirty-one boards of guardians in the metropolitan area one central authority into whose bands it would concentrate all the varying functions at present distributed among five or six different types of authority. For this process of unification London would derive three great benefits-(1) Economy and efficiency io administration ; (2) improved status and character of the officials; and (3) it made it possible to create one central rate for all Poor Law purposes. The reasure proposed that the duties should be laid upon the London County Council, acting through the agency of a statutory committee, of which the majority should be composed of members of the council, a proportion of the remainder being co-opted by the council from outside its own ranks and a further proportion being nominoted by the Local Government Board. Under the central committee would be a number of local committees administeriog areas more or le 88 coterminous with the present areas of the boards of guardians. They would be appointed to a large extent by the central authority, but more than a third of the members would be appointed by the metropolitan borough councils. It was considered desirablo to enact in legislative form the general principles on wbich the new body sbould act. The broad principle running through the Bill was the rehabilitation of the iodividual. They asked something more from this reformed system than that it should prove a deterrent and puntive agent except in regard to specified classes.

Each CBBC would be deale with on its sympioms very much on the same plan as the medical practitioner deals with his piivate patients. There would be a precise classification of every case and an exact differentiation between different classes of institutions. Provision was made for the recovery of expenses in certain cases in which it was clear that the recipient could afford to pay, and also for the jastitution of case pa per a and the treatment of the family in the union. The measure had received very careful consideration from some of the leading authorities in the country. The principle on which it was based enjoyed the wanation of fourteen out of the eighteen members of the Poor Law Commission. It followed in many respects on the lines of the scheme which the London County Council placed before the commission, and

also endeavoured to meet many of tbe criticisms which had heen advanced by the Association of County Councils. Leave to introduce the Bill was given, and the measure was read & first time.

Mr. Peto, in asking for leave to introduce the Merchandise Marks (No. 2) Bill, explained tbat its object was to amend the Mercbandise Marks Act of 1887 by giving some de fioite indication of the place where the goods were made or produced and how they should be marked in certain cases. The Bill followed the direction of reform indicated by the experience of manufacturers and traders proving the earlier Act to be defective and also ineffective in the security of the goods of manufacturers in this country. It was accordingly provided that goods made in the British Empire should be marked

Empire made" and goods made outside the Empire should be marked “foreign made.'' He acknowledged that the words “Made in Germany" had acted rather detrimentally than otherwise to British interests. Sucb a mark also might be looked upon as beiog invidious from the fact that one country only had been selected to show whence the goods oame.

The second clause of his Bill, therefore, stopped a gap in the Act of 1887. The third clause imposed the penalty of the probibition of importation of goods that infringed the provisions of ibe Bill, while the fourth clause dealt with the imitation of trade marks and the use of the name of a B: itish inventor on articles manufactured. The penalty also imposed here was prohibition of the fraudulently marked goods. The eightb clause provided the machinery for seeing that the goods bore the words “ Empire made," thereby acting as a passport for such goods to the favour of the consumer in this couotry. Those who desired to mark their goods in the way iodicated were asked to bring a consular certifioate as to the place where the goeds were made.-The Bill was brought up and read a firet time.

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The Standing Committee of the House of Commons presided over by Mr. Griffith.Boscawen continued the consideration of the clauses of the Copyright Bil on the 1lth inst. The whole sitting was occa pied with further amendments to clause 2, which relates to infringements, and goes on to enact that “copyright in a work shall also be deemed to be infringed by any person who sells, or lets for hire, or exposes, offers, or has in his possession for sale or bire, or distributes or exhibits in public, or imports for sale or bire into any part of His Majesty's dominions to which this Act extends, any work which to bis koowledge infringes copyright or would infringe copy

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right if it had been made within the part of His Maj sty's dominions in or into which the sale or hiring, exposure, offering, or having in possession for sale or bire, or importation, took place.” The com. mittee adjourned till the 18th inst.

The terms of reference to the committee on the relations between Imperial and local taxation are as follows: "To inquire into the changes which have taken place in the relations between Imperial and local taxation since the report of the Royal Commission on local taxation in 1901, to examine the several proposals made in the reports of that commission, and to make recommendations on the subject for the consideration of His Majesty's Government with a view to the introduction of legislation at an early date.”

The Prime Minister, in response to requests which have been made to bim by many of his supporters, has decided to give a day after the Whitsugtido recess for the discussion of the findings of the Royal Commission on the appointment of magistrates. This promise was conveyed to a deputation consisting of Sir C. S. Henry. Mr. Neil Primrose, Mr. Silvester Horne, Mr. Logan, and Sir G. White, who waited upon the Chief Government Whip.

Sir William Bull asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that a notice, No. 8/2, and headed List to be delivered by Trusteee, Agents, &o., of persons chargeable under sched. D, has recently been served by the income tax authorities upon solicitors and others, requiring them to make a return in writing within twenty one days of all money, value, profits, or gains of or belonging to any other person obargeable under sched. D of the Income Tax Acts received by him, and the name and place of abode or residence of every person to whom the same shall belong, under the penalties contained in the said Aots for neglect so to do; and that one of the lists scheduled to the said notioe is headed Description of every Person for whom I act as Trustee, Agent, Receiver, Guardian, Tutor, Curator, or Committee, in relation to profits arising from trade, profession, untaxed interest, foreigo possessions and seourities, or other profits chargeable under sched. D; whether, in pursuance of this notice, solicitors are expected to make a complete return of all moneys they receive and discloso information they obtain in & confidential and fiduciary capacity, either as solicitors or trustees, on behalf of their clients ; by whose authority was this potice issued; how many have been issued; which are the clauses in the Finance Act in pursuance of which the notice is stated to be given ; and what are the penalties referred to in the notice.—Mr. Lloyd George's reply was that the form referred to, with the requirements of which solicitors, so far as it applies to them, are required to comply, is issued by assessors of taxes. The pumber issued is not known. It is issued under the provisions of secte. 41, 42, 51, and 190 (Eched. G XVI.) of the Income Tax Act 1842, and the penalties are contained in sect. 55 of that Act.

ture is between 35 and 40 degrees. You can imagine the atmospbere in rooms constructed for fourteen persons into which thirty.geven are packed."

In the prison of Alexandrovek, in the Government of Irkoutek, the convicts, in default of beds, sleep upon, and under, the tables. This was in 1910. During 1909 and 1910 there were 600 persons in the prison at Algatcbi, of whom 200 were political offenders. Sixty-five persons occupy a room designed for twenty-five. Not only is the accommodation deficient, but the food is commensurate with tbe accommodation. The prisoners eat seated on the ground. At night they sleep as best they can. Some are under the beds, others in passages, wbile even the troughs are utilised. There is bedding.

They do not posse89 a change of clothing; once a week they wash without soap. Once a month a bath is taken, sixty being crowded into a bath constructed for a dozen. The food for the 600 is prepared in a kitchen equipped to cook for oply ball that number. The diaper on les jours gras consists of a ladle of soup with about 7oz. of meat, iocluding gristle. The meat is often putrid. Two tablespoonfuls of oatmeal are served out every other day together with 21b. (850 grammes) bread. On les jours maigres there is a potato soup without meat, The supper is the same soup with a liberal quantity of added water.

At Riga Mme. Figner declares the women are literally dying of hunger, while the prisoners of Boutirki, at Moscow, are in the greatest mi:ery, both on account of the insufficiency and the quality of the food. Prisoners, it seems, are allowed to receive small remittances from relatione, varying from 53. od. to about 9s. a month, but no convict is allowed to share his remittance with another less fortunate. The health of the prisoners, as was indicated at the beginning of the article, is far from satisfactory. Consumption is a terrible scourge, and to combat it the convicts undergo injections of tuberculine, but, as Mme. Figoer observes, with such a dietary inoculation is uselege. Scurry and other diseases are to be found, while the Boutirki Prison, at Moscow, Mme. Figoer declares, is un centre notoire de syphilis, which is often contracied by the political prisonors from the common selons in coneequence of the linen all Leing washed together and the careless method adopted in distributing the clothing when it comes back from the laundry. At Algatchi the authorities prepare in the autumn about sisty graves, and the winter inevitably fils them. At the central prison of Vladimir from January to August of last year there were forty.three deaths out of a population of 950.

The prison discipline is the complement of the other conditions indicated. At Vladimir offences are punished with from thirty to thirty-five days in the dungeon (cachol). Some prisoners emerge as invalide, others commit suicide, a favourite method being to place the head in the trough filled with water. Dungeon panishment is visited upon the prisoners uot only for the most trivial offences, but in a capricious manner. A button off a garment, a coat with whitewash from the walls, frequently means the dungeon. Here the food consists of bread and water. At Moscow an end of a cigarette fouod on the floor entails dungeon punishment for all the occupants of the apartment. This punishment is not as purposeless as it might seem on the first impression, for Mme. Figoer says that the economy resulting from the bread and water diet finds its way into the pocket of some official. Mme. Figner, who cites cases of cruelty, declares * Les tortures des prisonniers, les violences auxquelles ils sont soum.s sont d'une pature telle qu'on renonce à les retracer par des mots."

CRIMINAL LAW AND THE JURIS

DICTION OF MAGISTRATES.

BOROUGH QUARTER SESSIONS. Bristol, Tuesday. May 23, at 10

West Bromwich, Wednes., May 24, at 10 Deal, Friday, May 26

West Ham, Friday, May 26, at 10.30,

PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS. Information intended for publication under the above heading should reach us

not later than Thursday morning in each week, as pubucation is otherwise dela yed. Mr. STANLEY FISHER, President of the District Court of Kyrenia, has been appointed Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court in Cyprus. Mr. Fisher was called by the loner Temple and Lincolo's.ion in 1890.

Mr. HENRY NELSON TEBBS, solicitor, of the firm Tebbs and Son, Bedford, has been a ppointed joint clerk to the justices for the borough ot Bedford, with Mr. Henry Tebbs, their present clerk. Mr. Tebus was admitted in 1894.

RUSSIAN PRISONS. In our issue of May 6th, p. 7, reference was made to luxuries eaid to be enjoyed in French prisong. La Revue (formerly the kevue des Revues) for May gives a glimpse of Russian prisons, which, to say the least, cannot be described as • blest retreats of ipfamy and ease. The writer of the article in La Revue is Mme. Vera Figner. She studied medicine at Zuricb, the editor explains iu a note, and afterwards practised among her owo people. She belongs to one of the high families of Russia, and was associated with the • Volonté du Peuple " movement in 1884. Mme. Figner was one of a band of forty-eight sentenced in that year. In 1890 only twenty. eight remained, and in 1896 there were only twenty-four. Tue others had succumbed to the terrible hardships which they had undergone. After twenty.one years in prison Mme. Figner was released. since then she has published a volume of poems, another of short stories, and has contributed to the Revue among other publications.

Mme. Figaer says that the Mioister of Justice has admitted in the Duma, that the population pénitentiaire io 1904 was 91,720. In April 1909 the number was 181,241. For 1910 the administration of prigods anticipated 200,000 incarcerated, but this number exceeded at the end of the year; consequently it will be seen that prisons constructed to accommodate 104,000 persons must be, as they are, terribly overcrowded. It is the same with the establishments in which suspects awaiting trial are herded.

At Gorni Zérentouï, in Siberia, there are 300 political prisoners who have to sleep turn about. The first batch sleep from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., the next batoh take their places immediately, the beds still warm, and rest until 8 a.m. Thus the prisoners can never obtain during the time allowed for rest that repose which is necessary for the nervous system.

Mme. Figner next gives an extract from a letter written by a convict who was released last year, in which he writes: " Since the autumn of 1909 they have taken away our great coats--this is also in Siberia. We are not able to take walking exercise for the tempera

can

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