a loss of 28,787l. 16s. 9d. In the year 1849 a company of adventurers was formed, who took a lease of the mine for a term of twenty-one years, for which they paid to the duchy, including the value of stores then on the mine, the sum of 16,7971. 98. 10d., thereby reducing the loss to 11,990. 68. 11d. This loss may be considered to have been further reduced by the amount of dues, about 2,000l., received from the new lessees, who carried on the adventure with great spirit, but from the fall in the price of copper and other circumstances, over which the adventurers had no control, they found themselves in the year 1852 obliged to abandon the undertaking The mine has now again been let, but the prospect of any considerable returns from it is extremely uncertain.

It may be right here also to notice the application in 1854 of a portion of the capital funds of the duchy for providing improved dwellings for the poorer classes within the manor of Kennington, in the parish of Lambeth, by the erection of what are called the model lodging houses, in High Street, Vauxhall the total amount expended in the purchase of the site, and the erection of the buildings, was about 16,000l.; and although up to the present time no adequate return for the capital expended has been received, the council have the satisfaction of knowing that fifty-four comfortable residences have been provided of a very substantial and lasting character. In consequence of the want of tenants it was considered expedient in 1859 to sanction a considerable reduction in the rents, which has resulted in most of the dwellings being now occupied, but the net annual revenue from them does not at present much exceed 300l.

In the year 1853 an application was made by the Government for possession of the apartments in Somerset House, which, under the provisions of an Act of Parliament passed in the 15th year of the reign of his Majesty King George the Third, had been appropriated for the Duchy of Cornwall. The officers of the Government were informed that, if equally good accommodation were secured for the duchy elsewhere, the council would not raise any objection to the proposed change. After some negotiation, it was agreed that the site of the present offices at Buckingham Gate should be purchased by the Government and vested in your Majesty, in trust, for the use of the duchy, and that the Government should erect suitable offices upon this site at their own expense, in the first instance, but subject to an arrangement, that if the value of the new buildings, when completed, should exceed the value of the old office in Somerset House, the duchy should repay to the officers of the Crown one half of such excess. The site having been purchased and vested in your Majesty, the new offices were completed and possession taken of them by the officers of the duchy in the year 1857. The surveyors of the duchy and of the Government have been instructed to make the necessary valuation, but their report has not yet been received. The removal occasioned a considerable expenditure in purchasing new fittings and furniture and other accommodation beyond what the Government were required to provide. It was estimated that the cost of this would not exceed 3300l., of which the sum of 1800l. was paid from the revenues of his Royal Highness, and the residue, 1500l., was directed to be paid from the Fee Fund Account hereinafter referred to. Of the latter amount the sum of 558l. 6s. 6d. only has up to the present time been expended; but there are still some additional fittings required, which will absorb a considerable portion of the balance. Irrespective of this, the whole cost of removal and the incidental expenses were borne by

the Government, and the amount, if any, which may have to be ultimately paid to the Government in respect of the excess in value of the present offices will, we apprehend, be properly chargeable to the capital account of the duchy. The ordinary expenses of management, exclusive of law charges, have amounted on an average during the last five years to about 6500l. annually, which we do not consider unreasonable, having regard to the peculiar nature and the scattered position of the property. The council have, as a general rule, and except in some few special cases, considered it their duty to advise your Majesty to sanction donations, rather than annual grants or subscriptions, out of the duchy funds, in aid of local charities, thinking it desirable that his Royal Highness should be left free to exercise his own discretion in matters of this nature after the period when the authority of the council ceased.

With regard to the expenditure in new buildings, drainage, and other permanent improvements, the amount would have been much greater but for the difficulty before referred to in the consolidation of the estates into farms of a convenient size. We have caused an approximate estimate to be formed of the outlay which will be required for these purposes. The estimate amounts to about 125,000l. Of this sum 25,000l. will have to be expended before any very long period has elapsed, and the remaining sum of about 100,000l. from time to time as the estates fall into hand. By this expenditure, however, not only will an increased permanent value be given to the estates, but an immediate remunerative return will be obtained upon the capital proposed to be thus invested. In consequence of the uncertainty of the life tenure upon which the estates are held, it is not practicable to state the precise period within which this outlay will have to be made; but, inasmuch as, if circumstances had permitted, the amount would have been deducted, when required, from the surplus revenues paid over to the trustees of his Royal Highness, we venture humbly to suggest the expediency of provision being made for the payment of at least some portion of this amount from the accumulated savings amassed. We fear, otherwise, that the expenditure for these purposes, necessary to secure an improved system of cultivation, may in some years, at all events, be of such an amount as inconveniently to interfere with the revenues accruing to his Royal Highness.

It has been the anxious desire of the council to avoid involving his Royal Highness in legal proceedings, and they have in all cases where it appeared practicable to do so without material prejudice to the duchy interests, made disputed questions the subject of compromise or other mode of settlement, rather than have recourse to law. Questions of difficulty have arisen, and in some cases it has been found absolutely necessary to institute legal proceedings for the investigation and settlement of the rights of the duchy, which, from lapse of time and other circumstances, had become involved in much obscurity. As an instance of this, may be mentioned the case of the tolls in the port of King's Lynn, a proportion of which tolls had been annexed to the duchy in the reign of Edward the Third. Leases of these had for centuries been granted by successive renewals to the Corporation of Lynn at a nominal rent of 5l. The descriptions in these leases were so vague that it became a matter of extreme difficulty to ascertain the nature and extent of the duchy rights. On the expiration of the duchy lease in 1845 the corporation applied for the renewal of the grant, and on being asked for a return, which they were bound by the terms of their holding to

furnish, of the receipts from the duchy proportion of the tolls, they excluded by far the larger portion of the revenues of the port, contending that the duchy right extended only to some petty tolls of small amount, estimated at about 30l. a year, and that all the larger and more important tolls belonged to them, under title which they derived independently of the duchy. Under these circumstances it was considered expedient that proceedings in Chancery should be taken against the corporation, which having been commenced, and for some time pending, a settlement was effected through the aid of the Prince's attorney-general, in which the rights of the duchy were admitted to the fullest extent, and a lease was afterwards granted to the corporation, on the recommendation of the attorney-general, reserving an annual rent to the duchy of 2001.

After detailing certain other cases, the report gives the average annual charges for law expenses for a series of years, commencing with the year 1823, as follows:-For each year during the seven years ending with 1830, 18907. ; this amount included the cost of the important trial of Roe and Brenton, which established the duchy right to the minerals within the conventionary lands of the duchy in Cornwall. The like during the next seven years ending with 1837, 6705l.; this amount included the cost of the preparation of numerous leases upon the Kennington demesnes. The like during the next seven years ending with 1844, 1037. The like during the next seven years ending with 1851, 788. The like during the next seven years ending with 1858, 885.; this amount included the cost of the proceedings in the Lynn toll-booth and Cornwall under sea mineral cases. The like during the next three years ending with 1861, 352. In the year 1849 it was found that the receiver-general's accounts had fallen into a state which rendered it necessary, with a view to the satisfactory collection of the revenue, that some important changes should be made, and after full consideration it was considered expedient that the offices of both the receivergeneral and the surveyor-general should then be abolished, and the late Sir Henry Wheatley, the receiver-general, and the late Lord De l'Isle and Dudley, the surveyor-general, with your Majesty's approval, retired upon their full salaries, amounting together to 1850l. a year.

The duties attaching to the office of surveyor-general were then entrusted, under the provisions of the Act of 1844, to the secretary of the council, and the collection of the revenues was, in accordance with the recommendations of the special commissioners, entrusted partly to the local agents and partly to an officer in the establishment in London, who was appointed, also under the provisions of the Act of 1844, to discharge the duties, not otherwise provided for, attaching to the office of receiver-general, including the preparation of the annual account. In 1850 the present auditor, at that time the deputy paymaster-general, and now an officer of your Majesty's Treasury, was appointed, under whose superintendence the accounts have since been kept, as we believe, in a most perfect and satisfactory manner. These changes were effected without any material increase of expense to the duchy, and by the falling in of the pensions of the late receiver and surveyorgeneral the expense has, in fact, been reduced. The collection of the mineral revenue was at this time entrusted to a local officer resident in Cornwall, but in the year 1856 a further change was deemed necessary, and this service has since been efficiently performed by an officer in the establishment in London. The collection of this portion of the duchy revenues is, from the fluctuating nature of the property, attended with considerable

difficulty, and requires the most prompt and vigilant attention in order to prevent loss, which, if the revenue is allowed to get into arrear, is almost certain to be incurred. The arrears at the commencement of the year 1856, when the change was made, had amounted to upwards of 1000l., but under the new arrangement this sum has been for the most part recovered, and the arrears since have not, on an average, amounted to more than 50%. at the end of each year, being, in fact, merely nominal, and such as in the collection of an uncertain revenue, accruing from day to day, it is not practicable to avoid on making up the account at any particular period. Upon the whole, the council are able to state their opinion that both the collection of the revenues and the keeping of the accounts are now placed upon a most satisfactory footing.

In consequence of a change which took place in the duchy establishment in 1861, occasioned by the retirement of the secretary of the council, who had discharged, with great zeal and ability, the duties attached to the office of surveyor-general, as well as those of the other offices which he held, it became necessary to consider whether or not the previous arrangement under which these duties were discharged by an officer in the establishment in London, should be continued, which upon the whole was not thought advisable, but it was recommended that an officer, to be called "inspector of surface property," distinct from the duchy establishment in London, should be appointed. The duties attached to this office are of such importance in the management of the duchy property, that the council, having regard to the near approach of the period when his Royal Highnesss the Prince of Wales would probably himself take an interest in the selection, forbore to recommend your Majesty to make any permanent appointment to this office, for the temporary discharge of the duties of which provision has, with your Majesty's sanction, been made. At the same time the separate duties of the secretary of the council were confided to an officer of long standing and experience in the service of the duchy, who, since his appointment, has discharged them to the entire satisfaction of the council.

In the alterations which took place on this occasion, it was found necessary, in order to meet the provisions of several Acts of Parliament, that there should be some officer authorized to discharge certain duties attaching to the office of receiver-general, and to provide for this your Majesty was pleased, upon the recommendation of the council, to confer that office upon the treasurer of the Prince's household as an honorary appointment to which no salary is attached.

the

In the spring of the present year it became apparent to the council that upon his Royal Highness attaining his majority, when, as before mentioned, powers of the council under the Sales and Purchases Act of 1844 would cease, there would be various negotiations in progress under that Act which it would not be practicable to carry into complete effect by the particular day when the powers would expire. They therefore determined upon applying to Parliament for such powers as would obviate any difficulty in that respect. The council on this occasion were enabled, through the kindness of the late chancellor of his Royal Highness, to obtain his lordship's advice as to the course which it would be proper to pursue with reference to their proposed application to Parliament, and a bill was prepared in accordance with the opinion of Lord Kingsdown, which, having passed through both houses of Parliament without any objection or question being raised upon it, received your Majesty's royal assent on the 29th of July, 1862.

By this Act the Prince of Wales is authorized, on attaining his majority, to direct the completion of all arrangements commenced by the council on behalf of his Royal Highness during his minority, for which purpose the powers of the Sales and Purchases Act of 1844 are vested in his Royal Highness, and may be exercised either by him or by such persons as he may depute to act therein on his behalf.

In an early part of our report we have referred to the existence of powers under the Leasing Act of 1842, which was passed shortly after the birth of the Prince of Wales, enabling his Royal Highness to make grants, either in possession or reversion, upon which fines might be taken and the revenues anticipated as his predecessors in the duchy had been enabled to do, and thus to create anew the evils which the instructions issued by your Majesty to the council were intended to avert. The operation of these instructions will cease with the existence of the council, and we deem it our duty before closing this report very respectfully to tender our advice to your Majesty and to his Royal Highness that these objectionable powers should be abandoned. For this purpose we beg leave to submit that some legislative provision should be made, and we think it may at the saine time be desirable that certain powers of selling and reinvesting the proceeds, exchanging, enfranchising, making grants by way of compromise of claims, and other similar powers of administration, to be exercised under the sanction of the Treasury as heretofore, should be conferred on the owner of the duchy for the time being.

In thus closing our report upon the present state and future prospects of the duchy of Cornwall, and with it our labours as the council appointed by your Majesty, we beg leave to express our gratitude to your Majesty for the confidence which has been so graciously and uniformly reposed in us. We earnestly hope that the results of our exertions may be found to have placed the administration of the affairs of the duchy on such a basis as to fulfil alike the intentions of the royal founder and of your Majesty, and to promote the permanent interests of the Prince of Wales and of his sucessors in the duchy possessions.

The report was signed by the Duke of Newcastle, warden of the Stannaries; William Dunbar, keeper of the privy seal; W. J. Alexander, attorney-general; C. B. Phipps, receiver-general and treasurer; and Earl Portman.

The capital account of the Duchy of Cornwall from the passing of the Act 7 & 8 Vict. c. 65 to 8th November, 1862, showed the following state:

The debtor side or the receipts, were as follows:-To balance on the 6th August, 1844, being the date of the passing of the Act, viz. :-Cash at the Bank of England, 190l. 38. 1d.; sterling value of Stock in 3 per Cent. Consols and 3 per Cent. Reduced Annuities, 20,1401. To sales of estates, viz. :-Sale of lands to railway and other companies, exclusive of copyhold property in Kennington, from 1846 to 1861, 14,200l. 5s. 6d. ; enfranchisement of copyhold property in Kennington, from 1847 to 1862, 54,038l. 98. 4d.; sale of coinage hall premises at Truro in 1848, 13751.; sale of property at Shepton Mallet to various parties, from 1848 to 1861, 6752. 148. 9d.; sale of portions of the foreshores of the water of Tamar to various parties, from 1849 to 1861, 8944l. 148. 10d.; sale of lands in Stoke Clinsland to the Duke of Bedford, in 1850, 7628l. 10s. 7d.; sale of dispersed lands in the county of Lincoln to various parties, from 1850 to 1858, 7985l. 28. 10d.; sale of lands in Treverbyn to various parties, from 1850 to 1859, including