§ The Marquess of Lansdownerose to move for a return of the Fees to Clerks at Petty Sessions, similar to that which had been already agreed to in the other House of Parliament. It had been his intention to have included in that return an account of the Fees paid to the Clerks of the Peace, but, upon consideration, and as that return had not yet been called for in the other House of Parliament, he did not mean on the present occasion to extend the return to Clerks of the Peace; and he should, therefore, confine it to Clerks of Petty Sessions. The returns which he was about to move for had reference to a subject of very great importance to the poorer classes of the community, for he believed that nothing bore more heavily and with greater severity upon the poorer classes, than those demands for fees. He did not mean to say that those who obtained such fees made an unjust demand, or one that they were not entitled to make; but this he could say, that the result of those demands for fees, was, its many cases, an absolute denial of justice to a great number of persons in this country. He could state to their Lordships, from numerous examples of the severity with which these demands pressed on the poor, an instance which happened in his own neighbourhood. A person was committed on a charge of fe- 691 lony, and it turned out, upon investigation, that he had not committed felony at all; but the consequence of his being charged with felony was, that his mother, a poor woman, had been put to an expense of 14l., although her son was acquitted. Another case occurred recently in Buckinghamshire, which forcibly illustrated the effect those demads produced as regarded the poorer classes. Two persons prosecuted for an assault of an atrocious nature; that assault was proved, and the result was a trifling fine upon the person convicted of this aggravated assault, whilst large costs were demanded and obtained from the persons who had the virtue—for it was in that case a virtue—of prosecuting the person who committed the assault. It would have been better for them if they had not prosecuted the man for the assault, but had assaulted him in return, as it cost them so much to prosecute him. Costs, which to their Lordships might appear trifling, were of the greatest importance to the poor who have such insufficient means of paying them. In Gloucestershire, another case of a similar nature happened. A young woman was charged with an assault by a man, but it turned out that he was the offender, and the girl was desired to prosecute him. She did so, and the result was, that in addition to the grievance she had already endured, she was obliged to pay a large sum in costs. The costs, in consequence of obtaining a conviction for the very smallest penalties, were sometimes very large, amounting to sums that never could have been intended by the Magistrates who adjudged those penalties. The noble Marquess concluded by moving for a return from the Clerk of each Petty Session of the Amount of Fees received by him for the last three years; a return of the Convictions during the same period, specifying the Amount of Fine or Penalty and of Costs in each case, the purpose to which the Fine was applied, or term of Imprisonment, and Expense of Imprisonment.—Ordered.