Report of the Committee on Secondary Punishments.-Changes in the Law, No. XII.: 171 The employment of convicts by the Govern- by any thing which might, even by implication, ment, except for offences committed in the appear to bear on him with undue severity. It colony, appears to be of very doubtful policy. cannot, then, be deemed surprising, that in an It necessarily congregates them in large num-over-peopled country, where a great portion bers, the evil consequences of which have of the community must necessarily be exposed already been adverted to, and is inconsistent to considerable privation; and where, consewith economy, as the public works on which quently, the inducement to the commission of they have usually been employed, can be exe- crime, under any circumstances, must be cuted at a cheaper rate by contract. But the great, those who have been brought up with practice of allowing any portion of the Go-little attention to their moral improvement, vernment convicts to sleep out of barracks, should, when urged by the pressure of want, and to provide themselves with lodgings in the yield to the temptation. On the one hand they town, with leave to work on their own ac- trust to the uncertainty of the law and the count, appears so incompatible with any well- chances of impunity; while they know that regulated system of restraint, as to require the the worst that can befal them will be a change immediate attention of the colonial depart-to a condition often scarcely inferior to that in ment. which they were before. The Committee therefore recommend, that The Committee therefore recommend the all convicts in the service of the Government, adoption of a system which to many may ap be strictly confined in their barracks at night pear, at first sight, characterized by unnecesin separate cells; and that the barracks besary severity; but they feel persuaded that a for that purpose altered. That all male convicts, on their arrival from the mother country, be assigned to settlers in the rural districts, and that none be allowed to enter the service of those living in the large towns, until after several years residence in the colony. That none but persons of respectability be allowed to have convicts in their service; the consequences of allowing settlers of profligate and abandoned characters to have convict servants being highly objectionable. That no convict be assigned to a settler until he shall have paid or given security for the expence incurred in the conveyance of such convict from the mother country. That the service in the country necessary to the obtaining tickets of leave, be not shortened in consequence of any punishment inflicted previously to transportation. The few years' experience will shew that it is attended, not only with increased security to the public, but with advantage to the criminals themselves. For the present, the Committee recommend that an immediate survey be made of the Prison at Dartmoor, with a view to its being adapted to the reception of convicts. They also suggest the propriety of a return of all the prisons through the kingdom, stating the alterations and additions necessary to provide for the complete separation of the prisoners. CHANGES IN THE LAW DURING No. XII. REMEDIES AGAINST THE HUNDRED. 2 & 3 W. 4. c. 72. It was with a knowledge of the difficulty of providing adequate punishment in the colony, that the Committee recommend an improved system of convict labor at the Hulks. increased severity of punishment previous to transportation, they are of opinion, will render it unnecessary, on their arrival in the colonies, to resort to any measures of coercion beyond THE Laws relating to remedies against the what may be required to insure a wholesome Hundred, were consolidated and amended restraint, and a denial of indulgences inconsis-by 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 31, and provision was tent with a state of punishment. made, as to machinery employed in manuTransportation will thus be clothed, the Com.mittee trust, with sufficient terrors to deter factures; but no compensation was profrom the commission of crime, many whom no vided for pulling down or destroying thresh - virtuous motives will influence; who will learning machines. The Committee, in concluding, observe, that The 2 & 3 W. 4, c. 72, which received the royal assent on the 12th August last, extends the remedy to threshing machines, whether fixed or moveable; and also for any damage done to any erection or fixture be if it is a principle of our criminal jurispru- first committal of a criminal to gaol, to the BILLS ON EXCHANGE. 2 & 3 W. 4. c. 98. Bills payable at places, not the residence health and convenience of the criminal, than of the drawees, need not be presented at N 4 172 Changes in the Law, No. XII.-Parliamentary Returns. their residence; and if not accepted on pre-meeting. The licence must be renewed sentment, may be protested for non-pay-annually. If the commissioners refuse a ment, without further presentment, unless the amount be paid to the holder. LUNATICS. 2 & 3 W. 4. c. 107. This Act, which was passed on the 11th October, consolidates the previous statutes. The Lord Chancellor is authorised to appoint from fifteen to twenty commissioners for London, Middlesex, and Southwark. Four or five are to be physicians, and two are to be barristers. The commissioners are to grant licences of houses for insane persons. They are to meet four times in every year; and five commissioners may assemble at any time, licence, notice may be given to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. No person is to be received, without an order and medical certificate. If there are 100 patients, there must be a resident medical man; and if less, they are to be visited by medical men. The houses are to be inspected by the commissioners four times a year, and by visitors three times a year. Concealing The persons is deemed a misdemeanor. commissioners may set at liberty persons improperly confined, unless found insane under a commission, or by order of the Secretary of State. An annual report is to be made to the In the other parts of England, licences Lord Chancellor, who, as well as the Secreare to be granted by the justices at quarter-tary of State, may order visitations by the sessions, and they are to appoint visitors. metropolitan commissioners; and witnesses Notice of the application for a licence may be summoned in any matters relating must be given fourteen days before the to the execution of the Act. PARLIAMENTARY RETURNS. MASTERS IN CHANCERY. (1.) Return of the Names of the Masters in Chancery who have Retired upon Superannuation Allorrance since November 1830 to the present time; their Ages at the period of their Retirement, and the Amount of Superannuation Allowance granted, and the Fund from which grunted. The Names and Ages of Persons appointed to be Masters in Chancery, since November 1830. Return of the Persons appointed Masters in Chancery, from the 1st day of January 1815 to the 1st day of January 1820; their Ages at the time of Appointment. Return of the Persons appointed Masters in Chancery since the 1st day of January 1820, with their Ages at the time of their Appointment. Return of the Number of Reports sent out of the Office of each Master since the 1st of Jannary. 1831, distinguishing the Changes in each Office during the period, and the Date of each Change. Copy of the Minute left in the Public Office in Chancery, respecting the Retiring Salaries of Masters ROUPELL and MARTIN. 10th March 1831. WHEREAS Henry Martin and George Boone Roupell, Esquires, have been appointed Masters in Chancery: And whereas there may arise a necessity for their Retiring before serving the full term of Twenty Years, through some permanent bodily Infirmity; This is to Certify, That they have each accepted their said Offices upon express condition, that if they should Resign before the full term of Twenty Years, they shall make no claim to Retiring. Pension. BROUGHAM, C. BANKRUPTCY COURT AND OFFICERS. THE SECRETARY OF BANKRUPTS' RETURN. In obedience to the order of the House of duty it may have been to be in attendance. I Commons of the 4th day of April last, directing do not find the duties of the secretary di"a return of the duties performed by the pre- minished by the establishment of the new court sent and former secretaries of bankrupts, the business carried to that Court from his of-before the passing of the act constituting a fice being, with the exception of the allowance court of bankruptcy, and of the number of of bankrupt's certificates, that only which rehours in each day in which they were respec- sulted from the attendance on the Vice-Chantively engaged in the public duties of the cellor, and consequent on orders pronounced 'office; and also, a return of the number of by his Honor, and the returns show that those clerks and other officers employed in the secre- duties were performed by the deputy secretary, tary's office before and since the passing of the whose office is abolished by the late act. The act, and of the comparative attendance of the responsibility and the necessity for the per- secretary at his office before and since the sonal attendance of the secretary at his office passing of the act; and of the number and are increased rather than diminished by that names of other offices or appointments held act, inasmuch as he has lost the advantage by the present or former secretaries while which he derived from the general superbeing secretary of bankrupts, or consequently intendence of the business of that office which to their quitting that office, to which any of was exercised by the deputy secretary; and I them may have been appointed by the Lord find the references made to myself at the office Chancellor; and of the hours of attendance of more frequent since the act than before its the late deputy secretary of bankrupts on the passing. I was appointed secretary in the place duties of his office, and a specification of what of Mr. Barlow by the present Lord Chancellor, such duties were, and of the number of bank-on his Lordship taking the Great Seal in Norupt petitions heard in Court by the Lord Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor respectively, during the years 1829, 1830, and 1831 :" I communicated such order to Mr. Pensam and Mr. Barlow, my two immediate predeces.sors in the office of secretary of bankrupts, and to Mr. Barber, who acted as deputy secretary for several years, and to the time the act con-stituting a court in bankruptcy came into operation, and I subjoin their several answers made to such my communications. In answer to a former order, I have specified the duties performed by me as secretary of bankrupts, since the before-mentioned act came into operation, and I cannot better explain what were my duties before the passing of that act, than by referring to the returns of Mr. Pensam and Mr. Barlow. I performed all the duties so specified by them, except that I cannot say, like Mr. Pensam, that I have attended the Lord Chancellor in person daily, or like Mr. Barlow, that I was in Court daily at the sitting and rising of the Court; but I have always been in attendance on his Lordship in person several days in each week, some times twice and thrice a day, frequently at an early hour in the morning, before his Lordship went into Court, and oftentimes from an early hour in the evening till past midnight. I did not attend daily in Court, because I found it had not been the practice of any of my predecessors, except Mr. Barlow, so to attend; and because such attendance did not appear to me to be requisite, many days passing without any business in bankruptcy being transacted in Court, no business, requiring special directions, being brought on without notice, and such directions as were given being taken according to established custom, and in the same manner as is done in all the other departments of the Court by the officer of the day, whose vember 1830; but I do not hold nor have held any other office or appointment under his Lordship. Before the passing of the act referred to, there were employed in the office, besides the secretary and deputy secretary, four clerks or assistants and a messenger. The office of deputy secretary no longer exists, and the Lord Chancellor has been pleased to appoint Mr. Barber to be one of the registrars of the new Court of Bankruptcy, in which court two other of the secretary's former clerks or assistants also now hold offices. Two of the former clerks remain at the secretary's office, having greatly-diminished salaries provided for them by the act, and besides a messenger, other assistance is daily necessary, which is paid for out of the fees directed to be received by the secretary under the first schedule to the act. The number of bankrupt petitions heard by the Lord Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor respectively during the years 1829, 1830, and 1831, were as follows: office. I attended his Lordship in person daily, ex- certificates in the Gazette; to state the same cept on Sundays, and when his Lordship was for allowance and confirmation by the Lord absent from London during the autumn_vaca- Chancellor, at the proper time after such adproper allocatur, tion, and generally at some time of the day at vertisement, and to write the the office a longer or shorter time, as business and lay the same before his Lordship for signthere required my presence for the perform-ing, and when allowed, to make an entry thereof ance, or superintendence or direction of it, but in an alphabetical list, for reference; to receive not for any particular times or hours; and not all petitions to the Lord Chancellor in matters unfrequently when petitions were in course of of bankruptcy; to write and lay before the hearing, or specially appointed or expected to Lord Chancellor, for his signature, all orders be brought on, my attendance has been re- for hearing, or answers respecting such petiquired and given for seven, eight, or more tions; to arrange the petitions for reference, hours in the day, between the court and the and to make lists thereof in order for hearing; to attend in Court at the hearing of such petiThe assistants and clerks employed in the tions, and to take minutes of the proceedings business of the office while I was secretary, and orders made by the Lord Chancellor therewere, a deputy, who attended the Vice-Chan- on; to make copies of the minutes of such cellor, and to the business passing before him; orders when the parties desire it, and ultione assistant personally to the secretary; three mately to draw up and settle with the soliciclerks at the desk, for the current business, tors, on their attending, and to engross the including the books and accounts; and a orders upon the proper stamps (when stamps messenger; and generally two or three, and were used), and lay the same before the Lord sometimes more, writing stationers close at Chancellor for his signature and to enter the hand, solely employed for expediting with the same at length in proper books, with alphagreatest dispatch the copying and other busi-betical references; to keep and file all bonds, ness in which they could be properly employed. I was at the same time (and before I was secretary) a commissioner of bankrupts, and cursitor for the counties of Gloucester and Cambridge, being an office for life, of small emolument, and not requiring my attendance in person. necessary affidavits, reports, powers of attorney, and J. PENSAM. In pursuance of a communication made to me, I have to state, that I filled the situation of secretary for commissions of bankrupts, from the 1st of May, 1827, until the middle of November, 1830, and that during that time I held no other office or appointment, and that subsequently to my quitting that office, 1 have held no other office or appointment, except the situation of a commissioner of bankrupts (since abolished), to which I was appointed by the Lord Chancellor, on his resigning the Great Seal. The duties of the secretary of bankrupts, I considered, were personally to attend the Lord Chancellor, not only in Court, and on all public occasions of business and state, in rotation with his Lordship's other secretaries, but almost daily, to procure the signature of the documents and authorities for all the proceedings of the department, or at least to be in place to explain or take directions on all special matters, which were of frequent occurrence; and by himself and assistants, to strike all dockets for commissions; receiving, examining, filing, and keeping the necessary doThe duties discharged, and the business daily cuments, called the docket papers, for the issuing of commissions thereon; to receive, transacted at the office of the secretary for file, and keep the bond entered into by the commissions of bankrupt are set forth in the petitioning creditor to the Lord Chancellor Report, p. 121, of the commissioners for inpreviously to the issuing of any commission; quiring into fees in courts of justice, and laid to examine the same, and see that it be pro- upon the table of the House of Commons in perly executed and attested; to write on the June, 1816. Having kept no account of the petition the fiat for the Lord Chancellor's precise number of hours in each day in which signature, and to lay the same before him; to I was engaged in the duties of the office, I am enter in a book alphabetically the name of the unable to state the same. My whole time and bankrupt, his description and residence, the attention were, however, occupied in the disname of the solicitor suing out the commission, charge of the duties of the office, and I found it the date of the docket and of the commission, necessary to relinquish my practice as a barin a book open to be searched by all persons; rister at the Chancery Bar. Whenever the also to receive, examine, file, and keep the Lord Chancellor was sitting, I was present affidavits necessary for the issuing of writs of for some considerable time, both at the sitting supersedeas, or for renewing or rescaling com- and the rising of the Court, at both of which missions; to draw up and prepare orders thereon times original and pressing matters in bankfor the Lord Chancellor's signature, and to enter ruptcy were, without previous notice, daily the same in a book, open to be searched on brought before his Lordship; and also present application; to receive and examine all certi-in Court during the whole day and sometimes ficates of conformity, and the necessary affi- evening, when appeals and other special matdavits and powers of attorney relating thereto;ters in bankruptcy were appointed to be heard; to sign warrants authorizing the advertising of and when not so occupied in Court, in taking |