Note 90 — Chapter IV · ENCLOSURE (2)

From the Select Committee on the Means of Facilitating Enclosures in 1800, reprinted in Annual Register, 1800, Appendix to Chronicle, p. 85 ff., we learn that the fees received alone in the House of Commons (Bill fees, small fees, committee fees, housekeepers’ and messengers’ fees, and engrossing fees) for 707 Bills during the fourteen years from 1786 to 1799 inclusive amounted to no less than £59,867, 6s. 4d. As the scale of fees in the House of Lords was about the same (Bill fees, yeoman, usher, door-keepers’ fees, order of committee, and committee fees) during these years about £120,000 must have gone into the pockets of Parliamentary officials.