AN OLD MINUTE BY SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES. 7 



protection of the community generally against fire, both with 

 regard to the construction of buildings, the storing of gun- 

 powder and combustibles, the manufacture of arrack, &c, &c, 

 the power of infringing on a neighbour's property after a fire 

 has broken out either for the purpose of access to the means 

 of extinguishing it or to prevent its spreading to a greater 

 distance. 



Boatmen and parties offering themselves publicly for hire 

 may also be subjected to regulation with the view of facilita- 

 ting the attainment of redress when they are guilty of fraud 

 and negligence. 



Weights and measures of the acknowledged standard should 

 be accessible to all, and those used in purchases and sales 

 ought to be in strict conformity w T ith such standards. Certain 

 Magisterial Officers, therefore, should be employed to examine 

 those used by persons who openly keep goods exposed for 

 sale. When found defective the person in whose behoof they 

 are used should be liable to fine proportioned to his supposed 

 means and the apparent degree of fraud resorted to. 



Fraud with respect to the quality of articles is a crime more 

 readily detected, and may be left to private prosecution. In 

 giving redress to the individual, punishment ought to be 

 annexed in proportion as the fraud is of an injurious nature. 



As a great check to fraud and falsehood, a general Regis- 

 try Office for all written agreements or engagements which 

 are liable to be made the ground of dispute before a Court of 

 Justice, should be opened for the public. Regulation should 

 be made for the authenticity of the document in the first 

 instance, and either party or any party interested should be 

 entitled to a copy, paying for the same a moderate fee as a 

 compensation for the trouble given to the Registrar and his 

 Establishment. Precaution must of course be taken against the 

 falsification or abstraction of such documents from the Regis- 

 trar's Office. All deeds which may be so registered should 

 have an avowed preference over one that is not so registered, 

 unless the holder of the latter can shew a clear, distinct and 

 satisfactory cause why he has not been able to have his deed 

 registered and the onus of establishing this ought decidedly 

 to rest on him. 



