APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 



87 



tegrity,in persons employed for this 

 purpose, has usually confined the 

 choice of them within no very enlar- 

 ged limits ; and the expediency of 

 dispatch, without the additional ex- 

 pense of multiplied litigation, has 

 suggested the necessity of investing 

 them with a summary, and in most 

 cases uncontrolablejurisdiction ; un- 

 less where any flagrant instance of 

 misbehaviour, of which no instance 

 has been stated to your committee, 

 might subject them to the ar.imad- 

 version of a criminal court. This 

 latitude of confidence, however ne- 

 cessary for some of their functions, 

 may in some cases lead to abuse, 

 particularly in the charges which 

 may be occasioned by neglect in not 

 proceeding regulai'ly, and with as 

 little interruption as possible, in the 

 dispatch of the business intrusted to 

 them. 



Your committee find it is usual 

 to appoint three commissioners, the 

 attendance of two of whom is re- 

 quisite to give effect to their acts ; 

 and that the sum allowed to each 

 for his trouble and expenses is gene- 

 rally about two guineas for each day 

 of necessary attendance, exclusive of 

 charges for his journe}^, in some 

 cases not only from their residence 

 to the place of meeting, but from 

 considerable distances, to which their 

 other avocations may have carried 

 them. 



It appears to liave been the prac- 

 tice of late years for the commission- 

 ers to appoint a clerk to draw up 

 the minutes of their proceedings, 

 which he may thus be prepared to 

 authenticate in case of litigation, 

 to which the commissioners tliem- 

 selves are a party, and to assist tiiem 

 with his advice in legal (questions. 

 The country solicitor employed to 

 prepare the bill is generally appoint- 



ed the clerk, which seems now to 

 be recognized by the late standing 

 orders of the house, requiring books 

 of account in all cases to be left at 

 his office. It appears to your com- 

 mittee, that the clerk receives, in 

 general, emoluments equal to the 

 commissioners, besides hislegal per- 

 quisites for business done as a soli- 

 citor, for which his charges are se- 

 parately made. The expenses in- 

 curred, both on his account, and 

 that of the commissioners, for at- 

 tendance at the regular meetings, 

 necessarily depend on the number 

 of such m.eetings ; but it has been 

 stated to your committee, that these 

 are sometimes rendered more fre- 

 quent than is necessary by the prac- 

 tice of the same commissioners trans- 

 acting the business of two enclosures 

 on the same day, which must ne- 

 cessarily interfere with the dispatch 

 of one or both of them ; that meet- 

 ings are sometimes held, at which 

 little or nothing is done, and that 

 charges are sometimes made for the 

 attendance of all the commissioners 

 where one or more may not actually 

 have been present, though they may 

 afterwards have signed the minutes 

 of the proceedings. 



Acts of enclosure commonly re- 

 quire a survey to be made either by 

 the commissioners, or by some per- 

 son employed by them, and a map 

 to be prepared from it : both which 

 are generally done by a surveyor 

 specially appointed for the purpose, 

 who also frequently makes all the 

 calculations for tiie commissioners, 

 and stakesout the several allotments; 

 for all whicli the charge made is one 

 shilling and sixpence per acre, be- 

 sides a guinea and a half per day 

 for attending the commissioners, and 

 an allowance for making a reduced 

 plan. It also appears to your com- 



