The Press. — London, England, 1856-06-07 00:00:00

534 PliE PRESS. SATURDAY) tive to military studies the army would no longer be regarded in its present light. Mr. F. PEEL said the question was one of detail, for as to the expediency of improving the professional training of officers of the army all were agreed ; but everything depended upon► the mode in which the principle was worked out. He admitted that the Government had done much less in this respect for the officers than for the privates, and that the coun try had a right to expect that ample means should be provided of enabling officers to obtain that know ledge which was necessary for the discharge of their professional duties, and, with regard to the staff, that staff appointments should be honestly con ferred upon officers who had availed themselves of the means of education. Mr. Peel then reviewed the plan developed by Mr. Herbert, and declared that it was the intention of the Government to de vote their best consideration to the subject, but not to act with hurry and precipitation. Mr. ELLICE said it was essential that the country should set to work in earnest to place the army in the most efficient state. Sir DE LACY EVANS condemned the present mode of examination, and urged the Government to ac celerate its movement in this matter. Lord PALMERSTON assured the house that the Go vernment were duly impres,ed with the deep im portance of placing the army in a state of the utmost efficiency, and of coming as soon as pos. sible to some satis►actory arrangements upon the sutjeci The subject then dropped. The house then went. into a Committee of Supply, when the remaining Civil Service Estimates, and votes for the Encumbered Estates Court, and Scutari monument, after a sharp discussion, were agreed to. SUPPLY.—STATUTE LAW COMMISSION. The house went into Committee of Supply on Monday night. On the vote of 11,9111. for charges of the above commission, Mr. LockE Klan complained of the unsatisfactory results of the present commission. Mr. Bellenden Kerr, the Chief Commissioner, did not give the whole of his time to the business. The constitution of the commission appeared to him (Mr. L. King) to be radically defective. The statute book might be consolidated in twelve months, but under the pre sent system the work would not be done in twenty years. Mr. BAINES admitted that Mr. Kerr only gave half his time to the work of the commission, but insisted that the result of the labours of the commission was satisfactory. The commission had been devoted to the preparation of bills on the Consolidation of the National Debt Act, the Landlord and Tenant Act, the klaster and Workman Act, the law relating to prisons, to stamps, to the Statute of Limitations, to bills of exchange and promissory notes, the consoli dation of the criminal law, consi-ting of eight bills under these heads; then the following subjects had ileen dealt with—namely, offences against the person and against property, malicious injury to pro perty, forgery, treason, and other offence: against the State ; and the law of general procedure. On all these points bills had been prepared, and other bills in regard to other subjects of the law were in for ward preparation, such as the consolidation of the law of carriers by land and water, and the law of aliens and denizens. The apt ointment of a public officer, or of a board to revise current le4islation, had also been considered; and the question, with the above bills, would shortly be brought before Parlia ment. fallacious, the only trustworthy investigation into the accounts of an undertaking being one instituted by the shareholders themselves. Mr. Lowe could not accede to the preposition of the right hon. gentleman. The Board of Trade possessed an analogous function in its power to select an arbitrator to settle disputes between rail way companies. If some such power as this had existed in the case of the Tipperary Bank, the pro ceedings which hed proved so ruinous CO that unfor tunate concern might have been arrested. Mr. NEWDEGATE objected to the appointment of a secret tribunal at the discretion of the Government, and thought the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Lowe) could not have referred to a case more fatal to his own proposition than that of the Tipperary Bank. In his opinion, shareholders might safely be left to decide upon matters affecting their own interests, and he protested against the substitution of the secret action of the Beard of Trade for the open action of shareholders themselves. _ _ _ Mr. WHITESIDE could fully comprehend the illus tration of the Tipperary Bank, and when the proper opportunity arrived he might be able to affori some information with reference to the gang of persons concerned in that establishment. Mr. WALPoLE objected to this measure, because it would enable a public board to deal with private transactions. Mr. Lows said, in explanation, that the bill did not contemplate any intrrterence on the part of a public department beyond the appointment of per sons, for whose impartiality there was some guaran tee, to investigate the affairs of companies. The bill did not merely provide for the infliction of penalties in case of the non-production of books, but it gave power to examine persons upon oath, and if that power had existed pteviously he did not believe that one person connected with the Tipperary Bank would have obtained possession of 200,0001. The bill was designed to prevent a minority of share holders from being trampled upon by the majority. The house then divided, when the numbers were— understandings arose from personal offence and sus. picion. The noble lord was reported to have said at Blandford, unless the newspapers belied him—" You had better take care, for if you let in the communion table the next thing will be a picture of St. Peter at the east end of the chapel." This was a specimen of the inilammatoly language in which the noble lord had indulged with reference to this subject. So much mischief might be done by men in the position of the noble lord being the persons to circulate such rumours—when the only question really at issue was whether the old service of the Church of England should be adhered to or should be obliterated—that such conduct could not be too deeply deprecated. He trusted that, as his right rev, friend had exhibited a spirit of perfect forbearance, and a simple intention to carry• out the authorised service of the Church of England, he would receive from their lordships that support which they were always ready to accord to the faithful and conscientious discharge of a sacred duty. _ For the motion .. .. .. .. 32 Against it .. .. .. 42 Majority .. .. The bill was then passed. JOINT-STOCK BANKS BILL. Sir J. SHELLEY, on Thursday, moved the order of the day for resuming the adjourned debate on this bill. It consisted of not more than fifteen Rues, and might be disposed of in as many minutes. Mr. VANCE moved that the debate be adjourned. The subject then dropped. TENANT RIGHT (IRELAND) RILL. The house divided,—For the adjournment, 26; against, 53. Mrkjority against, 27. Further opposition twing threatened, Sir J. Shelley consented that the bill should be adjourned to Friday, and it was adjourned accordingly. Mr. VANCE, on Wednesday, resumed the adjourned debate, on the motion for going into committee, and was proceeding to show by what checks Sir R. Peel had guarded these banks from the evils which had hitherto produced so many failures and so much loss, but the quarter to six o'clock having arrived, the debate again stood adjourned. Sir FITZROY KELIX defended Mr. BePendell Kerr and the commission, which he declared had done much to facilitate the great task of consolidating the Statute Law. He briefly explained the object of the present labours of the commission, which was t get rid of the forty volumes now constituting the Statute Law, with all their defects, and to substitute some five or six volumes which should contain the whole Statute Law of England reduced to about 300 acts of Parliament, each act embracing a single subject, but the whole of that subject. Those three hundred acts again were to be reduced into classes, each con• stituting a complete class of the Statute Law. Sir Fitzroy Kelly further stated that. seventeen or eighteen bills were now in preparation, and as soon as possible would be laid before the house. Lord JOHN RUSSELL regarded it as a vital point that the initiatory labours of the commission, before being brought before Parliament, should he first sub mitted to the consideration of the highest legal autho rities of the country, and then such a reform of the statute-book would be obtained as would satisfy the Louse and country. The vote was then agreed to by a majority of 16-70 to 56. Mr. MoutE, on Wednesday, moved the second read ing of this bill, and contended that its principle was quite consistent with a due regard to the rights of property, with the maintenance of law and order, and with the wElfarc and happiness of the Irish people. The bill contemplated four objects—the first, oo make provision to secure the tenants the benefit of any ex penditure of labour and capital which they might invest in their holdings ; the second, that the custom in vogue in Ulster should be properly defined and limit3d ; the third, that landlords should, under cer tain circumstances, be restrained from evicting their tenants ; and the fourth, that the law should inter. terfere to regulate the anomalies which had arisen out of the events of 1845-6 and succeeding years. The hors. gentleman denied that the measure would in any sense interfere with the freedom of contract between landlords and tenants in ',eland, and urged that the present moment, when political agitation and agrarian outrage r. ere almost unknown, was the most favorable to make a great social and political change in Ireland. Mr. MAGUIRE seconded the motion, but as no hon. member offered to address the house a division was called for, when the second reading was carried by a majority of 29, the numbers being 88-59. Mr. HORSMAN, on Thursday, in reply to Mr. Staf ford, explained that his vote, given on the previous day in favour of the Tenant Right Bill, was intended merely to record his approval of the principle on which the measure was founded. With its details he could not agree, and begged to express his regret for having omitted on Wednesda) to explain the in tention of the Government on the question : The ban member for Mayo ( Mr. G. Moore ) expressed a desire that no discussion of the provisions of the bill should take place on that occasion, but that the house should simply reaffirm a resolution it hail affirmed in the preceding session—that the relations between landlord and tenant in Ireland were not on a satisfactory footing. The Government had no difficulty about reaffirming that resolution, although be (Mr . Horsman ) could not think that such a declaration of opinion would lead any prac tical result. ( Hear, hear.) He had been quite prepared to state the view of the Government, that proceeding to committee upon the bill would be a mere waste of time, hut a general cry of " Agreed " arose upon the other side of the house, and therefore, seeing the general feeling of the house, the Goveniment deferred to it. As, however, the Government had opposed last year the measure of the hon. member for Kilkenny ( Mr. Sergeant Sbee ), which was not so extensive in its character as that of the hon. member for Mayo, it was not likely that they should sup port the of provision of the present bill. (Hear.) If, when the motion for going into committee upon that bill was made, the hon. member for Northamptonshire would move its committal on that day six months, he . would have the support of the Government. (" Hear , ' and loud laughter.) Mr. DRUMMOND thought it would be as well to know whether the house was to look to the hon. member for Northamptonshire or to the Secretary for Ireland for a declaration of the intentions of the Government upon Irish matters. (" Hear," and laughter.) At a later hour in the evening Mr. HORSMAN, in reply to Mr. G. Moore, said he was perfectly ready, when the bill got into committee, to vindicate the vote he gave on Wednesday, and the course he should adopt then. JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES Mr. Lowe, on Monday, moved the third reading of this bill. Mr. HENLEY moved the omission of clauses 40, 47, and 4,1, which authorised the Board of Trade to appoint an inspector to examine into the solvency of a company. The provision was mischievous and 1111111- THE BISHOP OF SALISBURY AND THE BLANDFORD BUM kl.-GROUND. The Earl of SH tiFTESBURY, on Thurcday, presented a petition from the mayor and inhabitani. of Bland ford, complaining of the non-consecration of thAr new burial-ground. It appeared that the Bishop of Sali.hury had required a communion-table to be placed in the chapel attached to the cemetery, to wiiich the Burial Board and the inhabitants object. The Earl of Shaftesbury contended that the ceme tery alone was required to be consecrated, and re ferred to the 13th section 15th and 18th Victoria, c. 35, and the form of consecration, drawn up in 1712, in support of this view of the question. The Bishop of SALISBURY declared that adminis tering the communion was an ?ssential part of the service of consecration, and what he required to be done was strictly necessary to the proper performance of this rite of the Church. The right rev. prelate appealed to the opinion expressed by Coke that the law knew no church nor chapel until alter consecra tion. Lord PORTMAN accused the bishop of attempting to exercise a great r authority than Parliament chn,e to exert. He thought the Bishop of Salisbury should endeavour to carry out the law, not set up his own authority in opposition to it, and by refusing to consecrate that which was a fit place for consecra tion, deprive the inhabitants of burial in their accus tomed form. The Bishop of OXFORD deeply lamented the spirit with which the noble lord bad spoken, because he had hoped that the noble limo, alter the speech of his right rev. friend, would have exerted himself to allay the agitation which it appeared he bad, almost single-handed. created in the town of Blandford. He was sure that if the noble lord applied his mind to peace-making he would not fail to succeed, and that he would bo quite able to allay the storm he had aroused. The truth was that the whole of the mis- PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS (SCOTLAND) BILL. The adjourned debate of the 25th April was re sumed on Monday by Sir J. FERovssoc, who supported the bill because it did not sever the schools from the Church. Although it abolished the formula of the test for a schoolmaster, it preserved the religious character of the schools. He suggested, however, that there should be a provision in the bill that the school masters were of some definite Christian denomi n stion. Mr. C. BRUCE thought the bin in its present shape would lead to the abolition of the guarantee of the union of religious and secular education.