THE NEW PALACE OF JUSTICE. FROM THE "ECONOMIST.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2259, 17 October 1864, Page 5

THE NEW PALACE OF JUSTICE. FROM THE "ECONOMIST.")

The long-delayed proposal for the •Notion of a Palace of Justice is at length before Parliament ju a substantive measuie. Tlie Government "propose to 'select u hat jb called the C.irey-stieet site, that'll, the nest of hovels aud bad houses bounded on the north by Caiey-stieet, on the cist by Bell Yard, on the west by Clement's Lane, .ui-.l on the south by the Strand. Within this space they propose to erect building! which blull contain all the court* of law> at »n expense of ii million and a half. This sum is not, however, to be piovided by the nation, but. only lent by the Treasury, which shall be paid by a somewhat complex arrangement;. One million will be -taken at once fiam a fund now amounting to £1,300,^00, and w Uit-h has been accumulated out of the profits made on investing the great sums deposited by $he suitois in the Chancery Com t and for which there aro no claimants. Should any atise who could not be satisfied out of tli 3 £300,000 remainiu^-and the profits steadily accruing, the State will mak» good any deficit. Another Gum, as yet undefined; will bo written off by lissimiiuir the existing courts -t»-*si« Ootnmiasioneis of Works at their value, aui th» balance will be piovidecUor it out of the proceed* a small stamp duty, to be* levied on suitors, for' wlp«» benefit the points aie erected. The plan seems to m in all it* devils singularly well considered, and we tiust that, whafeter Ministry may be in power, it will be carried into operation. The site selected is one of the -in^t aourenient in London, will not cost too much, will dear awny a'diicieditable lookery, and is convenient' f or^tfat» mm in which the majonty of banister* ®Nt tlieir clients. It is far more accessible to even Wesuitnsler, and sufficiently large to all^w of- that spacf the want of which is the drawback of alnnoit all of our public buildings. The cost, though -rery considerable, is not too great if the work be thoroughly well done, and the anangement for raising the money seems to us perfectly fair. The suiplas profit in- the Court of Ch.mceiy has been made on the strength of the national gimi.wtee under which nil the vourf* couduot all their financial operations, and belongs, therefore, to the public. An evcess of claims ou-jbhe fund ia^tery improbable, — ib could only aiise front enormous and long continued blundeiing ime^tment* limited by Uw and tiie contiugeucy, Bhould it ante, is provided for by a still better sccmity than the one, namely, the f.uth of the State. To say that this 1* imperfect, as some oW lawjera still do, is the merest nonsense. What the guards the substancrpf. the suitor's deposits 1 The security which is deemed sufficient for the payment of enormous ascertained c]*jnM u surely enough to protect small contingent pesjibilitiei arising out of precisely the same transactions:,- The transfer of the old couits is a mere matter of detail, and though any additional stamp duty on suits is," fonsidsring the cost of law proceedings, in itself obj«fionable, still it is cci tain that the auditors will Day ; f bis . partioujar one with cheeiful leadiuesv For-rand-. this is the neglected point of the whole affair— i^-U to the nation that the new courts will be so great tbpoQ.

Theodoras, Emperor of Abyssinia,«~»od on* of the most original Negous of whom the W9*W «ver haard — has put the crown upon his impfiul '«ceentricitiu by an act far beyond any of hia 'pt&dout performances Ifaviiig learnt that Queen Victoria ia wow a widow, he wiote a lettor to her M*je*ty containing an offer of his. hand. Mr. Cain«ron,- -th» Engliah consul, was, charged with the dusjM»f pating'that this missive reached her Majesty* band.Tha answer to nn offer so unforeseen, and deiorvtyf of" ao much consideration, being rather long- jar coming, - the.. Emperor Theodoins thought, himaelf 'a%hteaj »nd put Mr. Cameron in iious until -ntiafaetum «nonld bo given him for tho informal way-in whioh hia-ofFer had been met. His Abyssinian MajMfr ia a ptipce who rather stands upon punctilio. ©a n»Wa own'g brought of the incarceiation of Mn-Ca*mon,-it'i» said that her Biitannio Majesty dtt«*mi^«d torttod a polite refusal, induced to take that com** front the consideiation that the sending of * l#tterjtfould \>e more economical thau the sending of an-Engltth «• pedifcion into Abys.sinia. „ H l A Highlander named Hugh MniA, fon»»rljr 4' look* keeper on the Aheideen and Inytrary, Canal, died recently at Abeuleen at the^age oMO3-yeaw. *^H« retained all his faculties unimpaired Hor^t'hmt, • and was walking about within a few dayj p|»l(i»jdeath. - '.. A matried woman, about to sign */l(gaJ d«e.d;'wa» askod, as usual, whether her husband^ hji4 compaUed her to sign it ? "He compel m« P'ljk^^ W9l9"*"no, not tweaty likohiml" " .. r *. -- ~