10 ( Ireland.) REPORT FROM COMMITTEE ON PETITIONS said entry ; and that an arrear of 501, was due thereout, and that it was ordered by the said common council, that alderman Arthur Roche, to whom a reversionary lease of said premises was granted, should treat with such person as was entitled to said interest upon such terms as he should think fit, and that he should be em- powered to accept of the surrender, and to give a receipt in full for all arrears of rent to twenty- fifth of March following; and that the said Arthur Roche should hold the said lands for the said term of three years, at the same rent which was reserved upon the whole lease ; and the said Arthur Roche being further examined, said, he believed, he accordingly received a surrender of the said lands of Latulla, that lie forgave the arrear of rent due from the former tenant to the corporation, that he did not pay any thing for the said surrender, that he never paid any part of the said rent during the said three years, that he believed the said rent was 12/. per year, that the town clerk's office is annual, but they are generally continued if they behave well, that they are approved of annually by the privy council, that he has made a hundred pounds a year of said office, that he sold the said office to Mr. Ilallam for 400 L and he believed that no citizen of Limerick could nOw get a lucrative office without his consent, or any person be admitted an alderman, burgess or freeman of the said city, without his consent, " that his influence proceeds from the friendship which the people of the city had for him; that upon complaints he several times ordered the toll- gatherers to refund the money they had taken, but never otherwise punished them; he also said, that part of the 2, ooo/. borrowed upon the mortgage of the salmon wier was applied to discharge the expenses of a suit relative to the mayoralty, which were incurred subsequent to the raising the said 2,000/.; he said likewise, he was present at the Pye Powder Court herein- after mentioned, and joined in the proceedings of the said court. The Reverend Dean Massy being examined, said, That Dr. Jeremiah Hall by his will left an estate in houses of the value of above 200/. a year to three trustees for several charitable uses mentioned in his will, that he appointed the bishop, the dean, the mayor, sheriffs and recorder for the time being, overseers of the charity ; that the mayoralty house is part of the estate belonging to the charity, and is sub- ject to a rent of 32 s. 10 d. that in seventeen hundred and forty- nine, there were four years rent due to the poor, that he applied frequently to the chamberlain to pay the said arrear, but he told him he was already considerably in advance to the corporation, and could not pay it, that he offered to advance as much as was then necessary to support the poor, provided the chamberlain would promise to pay it in a reasonable time ; that Mr. Nixon, the heir of the surviving trustees, was made acquainted with the affair, and an ejectment was brought in his name for non- payment of rent, the record was carried down to be tried in Spring assizes, seventeen hundred and forty- nine, a jury was impannelled, and the agent for the corporation challenged every freeholder who was a freeman, so that no trial could be had; that on the nineteenth day of May, seventeen hundred and forty- nine, the council made an order for raising 2,000 I. by mortgage on the salmon wier, and immediately on the same day proceeded from thecouncil chamber tothecourt house, thathe and several of the freemen followed them, that they were scarce seated when he and the freemen got into the court, that they rose up immediately and said, all agreed, all agreed ; that he the Dean declared his dissent in his own name and in the name of his fellow citizens, to any thing which might be done in that pretended court, because no due notice was given of holding said court, and because the common speaker was absent; alderman Ingram declared the mayor was common speaker, and that he was pre- sent, that he the Dean replied that there was an end to their liberties, and so the assembly broke up; that Mr. Maunsell would not lend his money upon such secu- rities, that he on behalf of the citizens proposed to Mr. Jones the mayor, and to Arthur Roche, to join in raising the money, provided they would show it was really and bond Jide due from the corporation, and also proposed to confirm the leases which had been made by the council, provided they would restore the citizens to their rights and privileges under their charters, and redress the grievances under which they laboured, that they rejected his proposal with scorn, that the grievances under which the citizens laboured mostly at that time were as follow; the unequal quar- tering of soldiers— the rating some particular citizens in an extraordinary manner more than others, especially such as dared to complain of their grievances, their abuse of the power granted them by the Lamp Act— the not paying the poor widows belonging to the almshouse, and turning them entirely out of the almshouse^— the exorbitant