The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

654 ance of tho grant of OM/. a year. But, unfortunately, cir cumstances had altered, and just at the present time it would neither be expedient to enter upon such review or to propose to make up this sum, as he should very much have wished to do, by means of a supplementary estimate. (Hear, hear.) He could only state, on behalf of her Ma jesty's Government, and of himself personally, that, if any inconvenience were caused to the Bishop of New Zealand or to the church in that colony, it would be a matter of very deep regret, but, under the circumstances of the case, it was difficult to see any means by which it could be avoided. He should not be doing justice to the Bishop of New Zea land while on this subject if he did not mention a fact which, in his opinion, spoke greatly to the credit of that right rev. prelate, that, as soon as it was known that the estimates as to the MU. s year would be stopped, an offi cial communication had been made to the bishop, who was asked whether he would not reconsider a conclusion to which he had arrived relative to a grant of 6001. a year from the Church Missionary Society, which he had voluu tardy given notice of his intention to resign; but the bishop at once replied that, whatever might become of the parliamentary grant of tk)01. a year, he would not deprive the colonial church of the benefit it would receive in a pecuniary point of view from the sum of 6001. a year from the Missionary Society which he had thought it his duty to resign. (Hear, hear.) As he had said before, it was a matter much to be regretted, and, if there had been any means of avoiding it, he should have been most happy to have availed himself of them." LAND TENURE IN INDIA. An address to the Crown praying for the appoint ment of a commission to proceed to India to inquire into the tenure of land in the presidency of Madras was moved on Tuesday in the House of Commons by Mr. BLACKETT. His object, he said, was to call the attention of the house to a system of local taxation contrary, as he believed, to every principle of fiscal science. The land tax constituted more than three-tifths of the whole Indian revenue, and yet its origin and proper designation were still mat ters of dispute, some authorities considering it a tax and others treating it as a rent which the cultivators of the soil paid for its use to the Government, who were the absolute landlords of the whole country. In either sense, however, he described the operation of the impost as being excessively injurious. After describing the different systems of collecting the land revenue in Bengal, the north-west provinces, Bombay, and Madras, Mr. Blackett proceeded to show what lie regarded as the objectionable features of the ryot-war system under the last-mentioned pre sidency, extending over an area of seven thousand square miles. This system, he said, tended to break down the cultivators, who were at the mercy of the Government—in other words, of corrupt native func tionaries, cutting them off from the power of accu mulating capital, so that such a thing as private property in laud was practically unknown. Explain ing in detail the main defects of this system, he dwelt upon its effects upon the revenue, the land, and the cultivating population. The revenue, he contended, was deteriorated ; the marketable value of the land was lowered and even extinguished; and the system was calculated to sweep away all occu piers on a large scale, multiplying small holdings, and to strengthen the Government by weakening society, which was pressed down to one dead level of pauperism. As one main object for the inquiries of the proposed commissioners, he indicated the discovery of some means whereby a class of native landowners could be created and maintained. Mr. Lowe opposed the motion on behalf of the Government. He contended that a mere statement of grievances sustained under the ryot-war system constituted no sufficient ground for a proceeding so unusual as that of appointing a royal commission of inquiry. It was necessary besides to point out some reasonable prospect of improvement and redress. This, he believed, did not exist in the present case; and, after examining the alternatives which it was possible to suggest for the present land tenure, urged that none of them were better adapted to the condi tion and character of the inhabitants of India than the ryot-war system. Improvements were doubtless possible in that system, but they should be left to the Government in India or at home, whose zeal on that point needed no extraneous stimulus. The motion for appointing a commission was sup ported by Mr. DANBY SEYMOUR, who entered into a long detail of the grievances and misgovernment suf fered by the natives of India. The Indian Govern ment, he declared, showed an obstinate determina tion to maintain all the existing abuses on the spot, and to conceal their results from the English public. The effect of the present tenure was to keep vast areas of fertile land out of cultivation, while the po pulation it should support either emigrated or starved. Sir J. W. Hoot) declared that Mr. Seymour had picked up a carpet-bag full of exaggerated statements during a hurried tour in India, and now retailed them to the house without authentication. Mr. BRIGHT dilated upon the atrocities which, he argued, characterised the British administration of India. Exorbitant taxes were imposed upon the ryot in the shape of a land rent, and torture was in some instances used to enforce pa)ment. The whole subject required a searching investigation, which THE PRESS. should be prosecuted by persons unconnected with the Indian Government. Sir C. WOOD remarked that the alleged instances of abuse formed proper subjects for inquiry and redress upon the spot, but presented no case for breaking up the existing system of land tenure. He had never denied the existence of evils con nected with that system in the Madras presidency, but believed that they were attributable to the over assessment of amount, and not to the nature of the tax itself. He then enumerated the comparative advantages of the ryot-war system, in the absence of any middlemen, and in the greater certainty of tenure, the tenant holding the land by the inde feasible title. Some of the most experienced officers in India declared that this system was the best that could exist, and the most favourable to the people. So long as the tenant paid a certain assessment he could not be disturbed in his possession of the land; if the assessment was too high, that did not affect the tenure, which was better suited to the habits and prejudices of the natives than English systems. The evils of over-assessment were remediable by the local Government, and he had pressed Lord Harris to take prompt measures to put the revenue system of Madras on a better foundation. Changes must, however, be effected cautiously and with dis. cretion, much injury having followed in different parts of India from inconsiderate attempts to intro duce European forms and modes of holding land. Mr. J. PHILLIMORE said, the question was not whether the ryotwarry or' the zemindarry system was the hest, but whether, under the system, whatever it might be, it was true, as had been alleged, that only one-fifth of the country was under cultivation; that torture was constantly practised to extort rent; that farming was a wild speculation, which no reasonable man would undertake; and that land was unsaleable in the market. Mr. R. MANGLES enforced the argument that the evils of the ryot-war tenure were occasioned not by its system but its assessment. Mr. HENLEY, accepting that explanation, inquired why those evils were nevertheless permitted to con tinue? He reminded the Government also that a charge of resorting to the practice of torture bad been brought against the Indian officials, and never an• swered. Sir C. WOOD did not believe the torture-stories, but was unable on the moment to prove the negative. He promised an inquiry. Mr. R. MANGLES, briefly " explaining " on the same point, said that during twenty years' residence in India he never heard of torture being applied to extort revenue. Mr. V. Scumx thought that whether the question related to tenure or to assessment the necessity for in quiry was equally urgent. The prosperity of every country depended upon its system of land tenure, as was shown by the different conditions of Ireland, the Channel Islands, Belgium, Palestine, and India. Mr. OTWAY adduced evidence to prove that torture was used in India to extort confession or money. Mr. R. MANGLES, renewing his explanation, de clared that if such a practice existed at all it was em ployed for police purposes, and never to collect revenue. Mr. ELLIOTT corroborated this representation of the Me. A division was then taken, when there appeared— For appointing the commission, 59 ; against, 64 : majority, 5. This narrow escape of Government was hailed with much cheering. THE CENSUS RETURNS. A motion was made in the House of Lords on Tuesday by the Bishop of OXFORD for the production of returns connected with the census, lately published under the authority of the Registrar-General, the accuracy of which there was strong reason to doubt. In proof of this fact, the rev. prelate instanced his own diocese, in which he had tested the number of wor shippers in the Established Church by the number of stated in the returns, these being respectively 117,421 and 98,410. le also read extracts from letters he had received from various parts of the country, charging the members of dissenting denomi nations with intentional exaggeration. He urged that the returns, from the way in which they were taken, were not to be relied upon, though he admitted that the fault did not lie with the Registrar-General, but with those whom he had to refer to. The result, i he believed, was that the number of members of the Established Church, as compared with dissenters, was stated very much below the truth. Earl GRANVILLE said it was impossible to give an official opinion as to the accuracy of the returns, though it was most probable that they were, as regards members of the Church, below what ought to have been given. He could not, however, accede to the motion, as the Census-office was shut up, and the clerks dismissed. The motion was then withdrawn. MEDICAL GRADUATES OF LONDON UNIVERSITY. The Medical Graduates (University of London) 13111 stood for committal on Wednesday, when the motion for its progress through that stage was opposed by Mr. Bouvraua, on the ground that it SATURDAY, would exclude gentlemen holding diplomas from Edinburgh and Dublin from the right to practise in London. The measure did no more than extend a monopoly which ought to be abolished altogether. The graduates of the London University were to be admitted to privileges from which Scotch and Irish practitioners remained excluded. He moved that the bill be committed that day three months. Mr. Cowie supported thi s amendment, urging the claims of the Edinburgh University to an equal share of privilege, and exhorting the Government to intro duce a general bill on the subject. Lord PALMERSTON defended the bill. When the London University was founded there was, he ar gued, an understanding that the degrees granted there should convey the similar professional ad. vantages to those acquired at Oxford or Cambridge. This was the case with respect to all degrees, except those in medicine, although the medical examination in the London University was confessedly excellent. The present measure was designed to remove this anomaly, and if passed would not stand in the way of a general bill, which he admitted to be desirable, and hoped to introduce in another session. Mr. WALPOLE urged that the existing law with respect to medical practitioners wasin a most anoma lous state, and this bill would make it worse. He recommended the noble lord to introduce a general bill on this subject next session, and meanwhile to make the present bill merely one to relieve the parties affected. After much debating the house divided, and the motion for going into committee was affirmed by a majority of 90 to 26. In committee, an amendment proposed by Mr. MOWBRAY for extending the privileges conferred by the bill to Durham University was, after much dis cussion, adopted. A provis) was also passed to the effect that nothing contained in the bill should be construed to enable graduates of the University of London to practise in Scotland and Ireland. The bill then passed through committee. DEALINGS IN RUSSIAN SECURITIES. Lord D. STUART has obtained leave to bring in a bill rendering the purchase or dealing with securities issued by the Russian Government during the present war between England and Russia a misdemeanour, if committed by a British subject. IRISH CONSTABULARY. Mr. J. FITZGERALD, on Tuesday, moved for certain returns respecting the constabulary force in Ireland, and accompanied his motion with various statistical statements to support his complaint that while the rank and file of the force presented a proportion of eight Roman Catholics to one Protestant, in the upper ranks of the service that proportion was reversed. Sir J. YOUNG opposed the motion, contending that the returns asked for must contain figures which, if taken without detailed explanatory statements, would lead to false conclusions. In practice he was assured that no injustice and no partiality had been exhibited towards the members of any sect in Ireland with regard to the promotions in the constabulary force. After some remarks from Mr. J. O'CONNELL and Lord NAAS, and a reply from Mr. FITZGERALD, the house divided on the motion for producing the re turns :—Ayes, 21 ; noes, 62-41. IRISH NUNS AND JURIES BILL. The (Nuns) Property Disposal Bill and the Jurors and Juries (Ireland) Bill, which stood for progress on Wednesday, were on that day abandoned for the session. Mr. WHITESIDE, in announcing his intention not to proceed with the former measure, stated that he gave it up most reluctantly and from sheer necessity, finding that the minority in that house could so overrule the majority as to render all legislation im possible. For the abandonment of the latter bill Mr. Wurre - sine made the Government responsible, observing that the Ministry never allowed the bills brought in by independent members to proceed until the publio took up the subject, so as to compel them to attend to it. And when that happened the independent members were unfairly treated in another way, as Government then took the bills out of their hands altogether. As an indication of the altered state of feeling with respect to the Emperor of Russia, in the mind of his quondam friends, it has been noticed that at Chats worth, the ducal owner of which was the personal friend and host of the Czar during his residence in this country, the full-length portrait of the Emperor hanging at the foot of the grand staircase, and other remembrances of the imperial house, have been turned with their front to the wall. The fountain, too, which was once named after his Russian Majesty has repudiated his relationship, and now bears the more worthy appellation of Victoria. A LARGE DEMAND FOR UNDERCLOTHING for the army and navy has given an impulse to employment this week at Leicester and the neighbourhood. It is reported that more than fifty tons of yarn will be re• (Inked to complete the orders.