The Press. — London, England, 1857-03-14 00:00:00

246 , gat 0 e ke Chii any addition to the estimates on account 'mar. The aniegKent was negatived without a division. Mr. W. WILLIAMS then moved that incomes below 150/. be exempted from the tax. nit CHANCk.LLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the rate of the tax upon this class e persons would be re duced by the act more than one-half, and 350,00 a a year was a larger sum than he felt himself justified in asking the house to surrender. The amendment was negatived upon a division by 53 to 7. The bill then pissed through the committee. PUBLIC EXPENDITURE. The report from the committee of supply having been brought up, Mr. GLADSTONE moved a resolution, setting forth the necessity of further limiting the public expendi ture. He made the motion, he said, upon two grounds ; first, that there did not appear to be an adequate provision for the exigencies of the year ; and, second, that the expenditure of the country had not of late been kept under due control, but had increased to a point which had become embarrass ing, and which threatened to become even alarming. Since 1853 the total outlay of the country had in creased by more than 0,000,000/., of which excess only a small portion could fairly be attributed to the war. Of this 4,500,000/. increase had accrued upon the Military services. In The civil service the augmentatitin had been nearly 1,700,000/., arising, not upon a few itans, but scattered over a multitude of small accounts, and therefore requiring the more vigilant scrutiny. The right hon. member called upon the house to make a vigorous effort to amend the mischievous extravagance in which it had lately indulged : Within the recollection of many who now hear me—at least within the recollection of those who sat in Parliament twenty years ago—the miscellaneous estimates amounted to only t,ooo,tX►nl. per annum, and even then they had been greatly increased. Many necessary and beneficial additions have been made to them; but that is no reason why the same strictness of rule and method should not now be applied to the consideration of every question con nected with them as used to be applied for almost the whole period which is within the memory of the existing generation. (Hear, hear.) I am convinced, whether it be owing to the war, which engendered a kind of extrava gance in trifling sums, or to some other cause, that a very great change, an unhappy and mischievous change, has come over the spirit of Parliament: and the time will come—nay, bats come—when it is necessary to make some vigorous effort to return to the wholesome rules and maxims which used to prevail some tenor fifteen years ago. Of one thing at least I feel quite certain—that you will not go on, peace continuing, for twelve months longer without some strong movement in this direction. ( Hear, hear.) I defy you to meet the finances of this year without opening up the whole subject of your expenditure, and what I now propose is that we should expren our desire, before we go t r the country, that her Majesty's Government should, during the interval of comparative leisure and repose which they will enjoy, employ some portion of it in a care ful consideration of the estimates, which appear to me beyond what the necessities of the country require. I do believe, if the Parliament had continued, that that would have been found to be the genuine and deliberate feeling of the house. At present I only appeal to the Government and those wbo hear me to give this subject their due consideration, and with no intention of challenging a division. I confess I believe it is one of those subjects which are always handled better when handled earl•, and with respect to which, if we do what we can by a judicious and well•cotsidered measure, we shall be the more likely to give greater satisfaction to the country, and run much less risk of coming to a precipitate conclusion, than if we delayed dealing with them to the very last moment, under the pressure of public impatience, alien the time for jii tickets retrenchment has passed away. ( Hear, hear.) beg leave, sir, to move this resolution.—stating. at the smile time, that I do not wish to interfere with votes of credit in the committee of supply : That in order to secure to the country that relief from taxa- tion winch it justly expects, it is necessary, In the judgment of this house, to revise and further reduce the expenditure of the State. Mr. W. WILLIAMS seconded the resolution. The CHANCELLOR of the EAChEQUER admitted that the subject demanded the most serious considera tion. Nevertheless, he contended that the state ments urged by Mr. Gladstone were overcharged. The revenue and expenditure of the ensuing financial year were brought, he believed, into a satisfactory equilibrium, and he justified the arrangements by which the adjustment had been effected. With regard to the present estimates, he remarked that the vote of money on account in no way committed the futttre Parliament to accept the amounts proposed by Government, nor, on the other hand, would any re solution now adopted impose any pledge of economy or retrenchment upon the succeeding Legislature. As an abstract proposition he fully concurred in the principle set forth in the resolution just proposed. Mr. DISRAELI protested against the principle, which, he observed, ',had attained a mischievous ex tension, of referring to select committees the btrincs.i of the Government : If a select committee is to prepare estimates, it will supersede the Government; and why, let me ask, are we to have Ministers if they do not perform the duties of THE PRESS. Ministers? (Hear, bear.) I admit that on rare occasions the House of Commons appoints committees of finance, hut such committees ought to be very rare ; and if select committees are to do what should be done at Whitehall and Downing .street, a question may then arise whether the Administration is not on too large a scale. I fear that, if we surrender too much of the business that of right belongs to the Administration, we shall have a Ministry like some of the indolent Kings of France, and that we shall see Secretaries of State for the Home Department and Chan cellors of the Exchequer who teeny have nothing to do with the business of the offices of which they are the no minal head. It is, iu my mind, the last resource for a committee to prepare the estimates. I hope the Govern ment will profit by the leisure which they will shortly have and other influences, which may make them wiser and perhaps sadder, and that when the new House of Com• mons meets it will have more moderate estimates to con• sitter; but let them originate with the Government and be presented by the Government, so that we may know whether the Government is entitled to the confidence of the house. Ido not think that the new Parliament, all crude as it must be, ought to commence its functions by pouncing upon the duties of the Administration, although hope it will hold the Government to the performance of its duties. We want such a Government, and not a Govern ment which will be ready to be superseded whenever a ditfi cult) , occurs by allowing its functions to devolve upon a select committee. (Hear, hear.) Sir H. WILLOUGHBY reminded the house that 4,500,000/. of the total revenue of the coming year arose from the war income tax, which must be regarded as an extraordinary ways and means, which, if calculated in a future year, would leave the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the lurch. If they did not reduce the expenditure in time, they must impose fresh taxes or there would be a deficiency. The amendment was then put and negatived, and the report of the committee of supply was brought up and agreed to. The Mutiny Bill was then ordered to be brought in, and subsequently was brought in and read a first time. HOUSE OF COMMONS.--WEDNESDAY. NEW :MEMBER. Mr. WALTER BUCHANAN, the newly elected member for Glasgow, took the oaths and his seat, vice Mr. John M'Uregor. The order for the second reading of the Marquis of Blandford's Ecclesiastical Bill was discharged, ou the noble lord's motion. The second reading of the Imprisonment for Debt Bill was also negatived without a division. The house then went into committee of supply on the vote for 1,5:3:3,2001. for the civil service. _ Sir J. PAKINGTON (in committee of supply) ex pressed his concurrence in much thathad fallen from Mr. Gladstone on Tuesday night, as to the extrava• gant increase in the votes for public education, but said he could not agree with the right hon. gentle man in thinking that the education of the people should be left altogether to voluntary efforts. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER withdrew the Savings-banks Bill, on the ground that too much difference of opinion existed to admit of the measure passing into law this Parliament. The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Bill, the Customs Duties Bill, the Indemnity Biil, and the Copybold and Enclosure Commissions Bill passed through committee. HOUSE OF Lonns.—THrRSDAY. CHIN t. The Earl of Er.t.r.snoitoron moved for certain returns connected with the execution by the British authorities in China of the supplemental treaty of 1847. Those returns related to three articles of that treaty which aimed at the prevention of smuggling and illicit trade. Earl GREY wished to know whether the Govern ment had received by the last mail despatches of an alarming nature. The Earl of CLARENDON said that Admiral Sey mour, as had been already stated on a former occasion, hail announced to the Government his intention of abandoning some of his positions before Canton, owing to the threatening :aspect of affairs at Hong Kong. With regard to the returns moved for by Lord Ellenborongh, there could be no objection to pro ducing them. The motion was then agreed to. HOUSE OF COMMONS......THCRSDAY. SIR J. lI 4 NEILL AND COLJNEL TITLJACH. Lord l'Amtr.r.sTos stated, in reply to a question from Mr. Evart, that the Government intended to confer no additional token of approval or recognition of the services of Sir J. M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch. The subject was immediately resumed, on the order for going into committee of supply, by Mr. Nis, who moved a series of resolutions re cognising the important services in the Crimea of Sir John M.Neill and Colonel Tulloch. In support of these resolutions Mr. Palk went over the sad details of the *horrible and heart-rending " sufferings and the great mortality of the Crimean army, con• tending that the ,conclusion of the commissioners SATURDAY, that they were attributable to departmental ineffi ciency had been, by implication, confirmed by the Chelsea Board. _ _ Jr. BLACK eulogised the services of Sir John M'Neill and his co-commissioner, whom he thought had conferred incalculable benefit upon the country, and he strongly condemned the treatment they had experienced. Lord PALMERSTON considered the resolution now offered to be ill.timed. The period had long passed when it would have had any practical utility. The services rendered by the commissioners sent to the Crimea had, be believed, received all the reward and acknowledgment to which they were entitled. The motion was not one to which the house, in his opi nion, ought to accede. General PEEL vindicated the proceedings end the conclusions of the Crimean Board, of which he was a member, and urged that Mr. Palk, in his speech as well as in his resolutions, had cast undeserved impu tations upon the members of that board. The services of the commissioners, in his opinion, had been somewhat overrated. Mr. S. HERBERT proposed, as an amendment to the resolution : That Sir John M'Neill and Colonel Tunnel' ably ful filled the duty intrusted to them of inquinug into the arrangement and management of the Commissariat Depart ment, and, considering the able services rendered by them and the high testimony in their favour by her Majesty's Government, that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying that some especial mark of approbation be conterred upon them. Sir J. PAKINOTON considered that the services of the commissioners had not been recognised to the extent to which they were entitled, and he supported the proposition of Mr. S. Herbert. Lord PAI.MERSTON deferred to what appeared to be the opinion of the house, and, the original motion being withdrawn, the amended motion was agreed to. The house then went into a committee of supply on the army estimates, when Mr. F. PEEL said the. money vott s for these esti mates were on account for four months only, and, as the whole votes would come before the ensuing Par liament, it would be more convanient not to antici pate discussion and explanations upon the money votes. The case was different with the number or men, which must be voted at once—namely, 1•26,70.1 men, being a reduction of 119,9:20 upon the vote of last year, which was for 246,716 men. The several votes were ultimately agreed to. RETIREMENT OF TIIE SPEAKER. Lord PALMERSTON read the reply of her Majesty to the Address of the House, voted on Tuesday, signifying her Majesty's intention to confer some signal mark of her regal favour upon the Speaker, and gave notice that he should on Friday night move that. the house do resolve itself into a committee to consider the subject. In a committee of ways and means, 21,049,700/. Exchequer Bills were voted towards making good the supply. The Income tax Bill was read a third time and passed. The Extraparochial Places Bill likewise passed. NOTICES OF MOTION. MONDAY. W The Earl of At.nelcutr.ti.liat on Monday nest he would move for • copy of a memorial from the European AIM other Protestant missionaries residing in or near Calmat', ad dressed to the Hon. F. J. Halliday, Lieut.. Governor of Bengal, alleging that the tortures are inflicted by the native police, remindars, and others, on the inhabitants of Bengal. TUESDAY. Mr. SPOONER—that if he had a seat in the next Pediment he should take the earliest opportunity of moving the repi-al of the grant to Mayuooth. t Laughter.) THURSDAY. The Earl of ELGlN—that on Tuesday next, In moving for certain papers, he would call the attention of the house w our relations with the United States. The Earl of DERDT—that on the second reading of the Income tax Bill, which might be taken as a notice of the approaching dissolution of Parliament, he should trouble their lordsh , ps with a few observations ou the circumstances under which an appeal was now about to be made to the country. THE LAHGEST NUGGET yet discovered is now in London. It is in the possession of Messrs. Connell and Co., 4, Broad street Buildings, in the City. It weighs between 400 and 500 pounds of quartz and gold. It was turned up in the sand at the Commis sioners' Lower Paddock, Louisa Creek, New South Wales. When it was first seen some persons were sanguine enough to estimate its value at 20,009/. The fortunate finders were two labouring Irishmen. THE DEATHS registered last week in Lonuon were 1,175. In the ten years 1847-56 the average number of deaths in the weeks corresponding with last week was 1,160. The average rate would become 1476, so that the public health is at present so far good that the deaths last week were less by 100 than the number that would have occurred if the average rate of mortality had ruled. Last week the births of 970 boys and 888 girls. in all 1,858 children, were registered in London. In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 184740 the average number was 1,049. 4 I w I