HC Deb 05 March 1812 vol 21 cc1170-3
Mr. Hutchinson

presented a Petition of the mayor, sheriffs, and commonalty of Cork, setting forth:

"That the franchises of markets, tolls, and customs, and the regulation of all weights and measures within the said city, have been vested, by virtue of their several charters of incorporation, from the reign of king Henry the 3rd until the present time, in the mayor, sheriffs, and commonalty of the said city; and that, by a statute passed in Ireland in the 4th year of queen Ann, it was enacted that the chief magistrate in all corporate towns, and the proprietors of the tolls and customs in all other places, should appoint weigh-masters within their several jurisdictions, who should be sworn justly and truly to weigh all goods, wares, and merchandizes between buyer and seller, for which service they should be entitled to the fees provided by the said act; and that, in the reign of king William the 3rd, when first the trade of butter became an object of legislative regulation in Ireland, the inspection of its qualify, and the ascertainment of its weight, were committed to the chief magistrates in corporate towns, as incident to their corporate right; and that, by a statute passed in Ireland in the 8th year of king George the 1st, distinct weigh-masters were first appointed for the weighing butter, hides, and tallow, and the chief magistrates in all corporate towns were empowered to nominate the weigh-masters within their respective jurisdictions, thereby evidently recognizing and confirming, as the Petitioners submit, the ancient corporate right hereinbefore mentioned; and that, by another statute passed in Ireland in the 10th year of king George the 1st, various additional regulations for the butter trade of Ireland were introduced, but the appointment of weigh-masters was still vested in the chief magistrates and aldermen of the several corporate towns, Dublin and Cork only excepted, and it is to this exception, and to the unjust and unequal consequences which flowed from it, that the Petitioners beg leave humbly to call the attention of the House, as the causes of the grievance of which they complain, for, by a subsequent section of the said act, the appointment of weigh-masters in the city of Dublin was re-vested in the mayor, together with the sheriffs, commons, and citizens of Dublin, in which body it remains to the present day, whereas, in Cork, the place of weigh-master was granted by name to Edmond Knapp and Edward Hoare, the then representatives in parliament of the said city, and to the survivor of them, though contrary to the express wish of the mayor, sheriffs, and commonalty of the said city, as appears by their records; by which grant the Petitioners' predecessors endured the double mortification of witnessing the invasion of their chartered rights, and of seeing those representatives who had betrayed their sacred trust, rewarded with the spoils of those rights which they were bound to protect; and that, so flagrant was this breach of trust and violation of right esteemed by the lord Middleton, then lord chancellor of Ireland, that he entered his solemn protest against the passing of the said act on the Journals of the House of Lords of Ireland, thereby evidencing the opinion of the first legal character in the kingdom as to the injustice of the said act; and that even the framers of the said Statute, as if to excuse the violation of the right, while they retained its benefit in the particular instance, introduced a clause in, the said act, empowering the mayor, aldermen, and common council of the city of Cork, in case of the death of the said Edmond Knapp and Edward Hoare, to appoint the weigh-masters of the said city in future, which power of appointment, by the intervention of several subsequent acts, made to continue the act of the 10th of George the 1st, was rendered nugatory, inasmuch as new appointments of weigh-masters, by name, were made in the said acts of continuation, previously to the occurring of any actual vacancy, whereby the Petitioners' predecessors were tantalized by the abstract recognition of their rights, and the practical prevention of its exercise; and that the foregoing method of parliamentary appointment was continued through four successive changes of weigh-masters, until an act was passed in the 31st year of his present Majesty, continued by an act of the 40th year of his Majesty, by which the appointment was vested in his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, during the continuance of the said last mentioned act, and no longer, viz. until the 29th day of September, which will be in the, year 1812, and to the end of the then next session of parliament, at which period an opportunity will occur of restoring to the Petitioners a right of which they have been deprived in the manner hereinbefore stated, without the slightest insinuation of criminality or misconduct on their part, and which they are chiefly anxious to regain, in order to exercise their right for the public advantage; for, the Petitioners further shew, that the emoluments of the office of weigh-master of the city of Cork now amount to a very considerable annual sum, arising altogether from the fees paid by the proprietors of the articles weighed, branded, and inspected; and that, as the office is executed principally by deputy, a large annual tax is thus levied on the industry of individuals, without producing any local or national benefit whatever; whereas, should it please the House to grant the prayer of this Petition, a fund might be formed, by the application of which great local and no inconsiderable general advantage would arise, it being the Petitioners' object to vest one third part of the emolument of the said office in trustees, for the deepening the river and improving the harbour of Cork, which work would greatly contribute to the safety and facility of the navigation and commerce not only of that port, but of the United Kingdom in general, inasmuch as nine-tenths of the shipping which trade to the city of Cork are the property of British subjects; and further, it would be the Petitioners' object to vest one other third of the said emolument in trustees, for widening and improving the streets of Cork, a work of great local utility, and from the prosecution of which, although commissioners have been long since appointed by act of parliament, the Petitioners have been prevented, from the want of any fund whatever, parliament having always been pleased to reject the applications of the Petitioners for aid, on the ground that local improvements should be provided for by local taxation, a principle, the benefit of which, in its application to the subject of the present Petition, they now humbly seek from the House; with the remaining third part of the emoluments, the Petitioners would engage to render the weigh-master's office more effective than it ever has been hitherto; and the Petitioners beg leave to refer, for the truth of the above allegations, to the records of the Irish parliament, humbly trusting that, when the original invasion of their rights is called to mind, and when it is considered that the restoration of those rights will unite private justice with public advantage, without the possibility of injury to any one of his Majesty's subjects, the House will be pleased, by whatever act may be introduced to continue or amend the last mentioned act of the 40th year of his present Majesty, to restore the appointment of weigh-master of Cork to its former possessors, the Petitioners undertaking to apply the emoluments arising there from in the manner aforesaid, or in any other manner that may be pointed out as more consonant to the purposes of public utility."

Ordered to lie upon the table.