Sitting of 24 January 1812

PETITION OF THE VAUXHALL BRIDGE COMPANY.
A Petition of the Vauxhall Bridge Company, was presented and read; reciting an act of 49 Geo. 3. for building a bridge across the River Thames, from or near Vauxhall turnpike, in the parish of Saint Mary Lambeth, in the county of Surrey, to the opposite shore, in the parish of Saint John, in the city and liberty of Westminster and county of Middlesex, and for making convenient roads thereto; and setting forth, "That the petitioners were, by the said act, incorporated and empowered to build the said bridge with stone, and to make a new road to pass from the foot thereof in a line across the west of Tothill fields to a point specified in the plan therein referred to, opposite to and about 300 feet to the eastward of the bridge, called the Two Foot Bridge, and from thence, in a north-westerly direction, across the great common sewer to the south eastern boundary of earl Grosvenor's estate, in the occupation of the governor and company of the Chelsea waterworks, and from thence in a northerly direction on the eastern side of the said boundary, to the north-east corner of the said estate, and from thence to Eaton street; and also a road from the foot of the said bridge to the turnpike road leading to and near Vauxhall turnpike, in the parish of Saint Mary Lambeth, in the county of Surrey, and certain other roads therein described; and that the Petitioners were by the said act empowered to raise amongst themselves any sum not exceeding 200,000 l. in shares of 100 l. each, but, in case the same should be found insufficient, they were authorized to raise any further sum, not exceeding 100,000 l. in manner therein mentioned; and that the estimate for building of the said bridge with stone, making the roads, and completing the undertaking, amounts to upwards of 300,000 l; and that 1590 shares only have been taken or disposed of 70 of which have been declared forfeited, and the remainder, if all paid, including the sums advanced on the said forfeited shares, will produce no more than 152,000 l.

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or thereabouts; and that the Petitioners, owing, in a great measure, to the pecuniary difficulties of the times, and the consequent depreciation of all property of this description, have not been able to dispose of any further shares in the said undertaking, and calls have been made on account of the shares so taken or disposed of, which have produced the sum of 101,200 l., or thereabouts; and that the Petitioners have invested the sum of 30,000 l. in the purchase of stock in the names of trustees, as directed by the said act, and have built and erected the abutment on the north side of the river, and have erected a steam engine, workshops, and other buildings, dug the foundation of a second pier, and completed other parts of the undertaking, and have also purchased considerable quantities of stone, timber, and other materials, the greater part of which remain unapplied, in doing which, with other incidental charges, and including the preliminary expences of surveys, and obtaining the act, which amounted to about 6,000 l., they have expended the sum of 79,000 l. or thereabouts; and that there now remains to be called for upon the shares so taken and disposed of the sum of 58,000 l., or thereabouts, including the arrears due on calls; and that the Petitioners, under the circumstances stated, did some time ago suspend the proceeding with the said undertaking, being apprehensive that, when the calls upon the shares already disposed of were made, they would not be able to raise, under the powers contained in the said act, such a further sum of money as would be requisite to complete a bridge to to be built with stone, as mentioned in the said act, and the roads and other necessary works thereto; and that, if the Petitioners, in building certain parts of the said bridge were authorized to substitute iron, timber, and other materials for stone, they would be enabled to complete the same at a much less expence, and considerably within the sum authorized to be taken and subscribed for under the said act; and that the Petitioners, in proceeding to put the act into execution, find that it will be convenient that the first mentioned line of road, passing from the foot of the Said bridge across Tothill fields to Eaton street, should be varied, by making that part thereof beginning at the foot of the said bridge about 100 yards to the eastward of the scite as laid down in the plan referred to by the said act, and continuing
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the same in a straight line across Tothill fields, through the scite of certain buildings called the Pest houses, crossing the old line of road at the east end of the Willow Walk, and continuing in a straight line to a garden in the possession of Thomas Cork, where it enters again into the old line of road; and also that the line of the said road leading from the foot of the said bridge to near Vauxhall turnpike, in the county of Surrey, should be varied, by passing from the end of the said bridge in a straight line through a part of Cumberland gardens, to the Vauxhall turnpike road, on the west side of the said turnpike; and it is requisite that some of the powers of the said act should be altered and enlarged, and further powers granted; and praying, that leave may be given to bring in a Bill for the same."—Ordered to be referred to a committee.

LONDON VICTUALLERS' PETITION RESPECTING PEWTER POTS.
A Petition of the Licensed Victuallers, Publicans, within the cities of London and Westminster and its environs, was presented and read; setting forth "That the Petitioners form a very extensive body, and are the medium of contributing greatly to the annual public revenue: and that, from long usage, they have been under the necessity of furnishing the public with beer in pewter pots, in which article a considerable portion of their property is employed; and that, from the manner in which (partly unavoidable, but principally from the inattention of servants and lodgers) their said property is continually exposed to the temptations of the needy and the prey of the vicious; and that the Petitioners found that the depredators of their properly consisted of the most miserable and pitiable objects, and many very young; and the Petitioners some time ago associated themselves for the purpose of prosecuting such offenders, and they prosecuted several to conviction, but the punishment (doubtless from motives of humanity) have been in most instances slight, and in all very inefficient, as these offences still constitute some considerable part of the business of the sessions; and that any measure undertaken by the Petitioners to prevent the consequences stated, by substituting any other mode of accommodating, the public, is entirely hopeless (such plan having failed some years ago), and must ever do so, from the continual change in the trade

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creating a competition that nothing short of legislative interference can counteract, so as to carry into effect any such measure, if proposed again; and that proofs are ready to be produced by the Petitioners, of loss to the enormous amount of from 70,000 l. to 80,000 l. per annum; therefore they trust that the House will consider their situation claiming, as a class of men affording accommodation to the public and the army, and as the means of contributing much to the facility of business and the comfort of society; and farther, the Petitioners are anxious to represent to the House, that the present mode of sending out pewter pots, forms of itself a nursery for the various depredators of the metropolis, inasmuch as it affords a constant supply in the absence of more extended prey, thereby enabling them to take advantage of any opportunity to plunder; and, when the extent of loss is considered, it is more than probable that from this cause alone has arisen many of those atrocities of late (more than ever committed) to the great terror and annoyance of his majesty's subjects; the prevention also of the nuisance (particularly on the Sabbath) of the calling out for and collecting pots, the Petitioners humbly conceive will be a desirable object with the community at large; and that the Petitioners have been informed that it is intended to make some regulations respecting the police of the said cities; they therefore hope that some clause or provision may be introduced in such Bill for the protection of their property, by restraining all publicans, under heavy penalties, from sending out from their houses any pewter or other pots; and that they may be permitted to afford the public an equal accommodation by vending their commodity without the use of pewter pots (excepting such as are necessary for the purpose of measuring their beer to their customers), which they are prepared to prove to the House may be effected without difficulty or inconvenience to the public."
Ordered to be referred to the Committee on the state of the Nightly Watch and Police of the Metropolis.

PETITION OF MR. CORT RESPECTING HIS PATENT FOR WORKING IRON.
A Petition of Coningsby Cort, eldest son of the late Mr. Henry Cort, of Gosport, Iron Manufacturer, on behalf of the Petitioner and family of the said Henry Cort, con-
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sisting of a widow and nine other children, was presented to the House; setting forth, "That in the years 1783 and 1784, two respective patients were granted by his present Majesty to the Petitioner's late father; the one, for a new and improved method of making iron in a reverberatory or air furnace, heated by common raw pit coal; and the other, for manufacturing the iron when malleable into bars, bolts, and a variety of other uses, by passing it in a welding heat through rollers, with grooves accurately formed, instead of working it under forge hammers; a process never before adopted or brought to perfection, and now in general use; and that the Petitioner's father expended the whole of his private fortune in bringing the said discoveries to perfection, and endeavouring to establish the means of availing himself of the benefit of his patents; and that various unforseen misfortunes, arising from the failure of the funds of the Petitioner's father, prevented him reaping the beneit of his discoveries, and in the mean tine the period of his patents expired, and the process had come into general use, and the Petitioner's father was wholly depend of the means of participating in the benefits of his discoveries so valuable to the public, and advantageous to all those engaged in the trade; and that the paent method is not only universally adopted throughout Great Britain, but, from its immense and progressive increase of late years, has been the means of rendering the nation in this most important branch of commerce independent of all foreign countries, whereby very large sums, formerly paid to Russia and Sweden it their ports of exportations, and which from the late vast augmentation of demand in this article of trade would be greatly increased, are saved, and iron is now made in this country, fit for the use of his Majesty's navy, equal in body strength and toughness to the first sort of Swedish Oregrounds iron, and at a much cheaper rate than it could be obtained by importation; and that it is now computed and admitted by the trade, that there is about 250,000 tons of wrought iron manufactured according to the principles of the patent method of the Petitioner's father; and that about 150,000 tons of iron, part of the above quantity, are rolled into bars, upon the exact and precise principle laid down in the specification of the patent granted the Petitioner's father, without any material or practical deviation whatever; and

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praying, that, as the facts herein Stated can be fully established by various authentic documents and reports of the navy board, and which are ready to be produced before the House, and also on the authority of the most respectable characters, some of whom are now holding high official situations under government, and most decisive and unquestionable oral evidence, that the House will, on a due investigation of their case, condescend to deem the family of the Petitioner's father objects not undeserving of some parliamentary remuneration; and they most humbly implore the House, that they may be allowed to prove the above facts in support of the Petition, and that such relief may be given as to the House shall seem meet."—Ordered to lie upon the table.