The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-12 00:00:00

APRIL 12, 1856• ling expenses he considered as extravagant, and would vote against it. Mr. llowyEn was informed that the " Adoration of t h e Magi " had been offered at one time for 5 01 . Lord ELcuo bore evidence to the high character of Sir Charles Eastlake, but thought his appoint ment to be director a mistake on the part of the Treasury. Mr. WILSON spoke in defence of the appointment of Sir Charles Eastlake, remarking that his qualifi cations were carefully inquired into by the Earl of Aberdeen. After further remarks, The committee divided, and the amendment was negatived by 152 to 72. The report of the Committee of Supply was brought up and agreed to. APRIL 12, 1856. - - li n g expenses he considered as extravag t ote against it. Mr, BOWYER was informed that the had been offered at one tin the e Lo Mag rd Ei " Lcuo bore evidence, to the 1 of Sir Charles Eastlake, but though mea t to be director a mistake on tl Treasury. Mr. WILSON spoke in defence of of Sir Charles Eastlake, remarking t cations were carefully inquired into 1 Aberdeen. After further remarks, The committee divided, and the ar negatived by 152 t o 72. The report of the Committee brought up and agreed to. EDUCATION IN SCOTLANI The LORD ADVOCATE, OD Tuesd leave to bring in a to regulate an provision for parochial schools in Scot to make provision for education wit! Scotland. With respect to the par was impossible, he observed, to main sive test, and his bill proposed to abol did not propose to make a greater int management of these schools than nec He detailed the provisions in the forn the latter, be said, be proposed to councils the right to assess for the b up to a certain amount, subject to rest] two small measures, he said, were on scheme for the improvement of edut land; a third bill, which would place I connection with the Minister and Cot tion, he should develop hereafter. After some remarks from Mr. BA] that although the first measure did nc his wishes and hopes, as a Dissenter,: it as founded upon the basis of a corn Mr. BLACK, who wished for a more and national plan ; and from Mr. MAC Sir A. AosEw, Mr. BLACKBURN, and leave was given to bring in the bills. LOCAL CHARGES ON SHIM On Tuesday, on the motion of 1 following members were named as mittee to inquire into local charges a Mr. Lowe, Mr. Hardy, Mr. M. Gibson Mr. Fenwick, Sir S. Northcote, Mr Watson, Mr. Bouverie, Mr. Headlam, Sir J. Duckworth, Mr. Duncan, Lord Mr. Moffatt. Mr. V. SCULLY denounced, with mut habitual, not to say systematic, excl members from committees and other I calculated to give them their due weigl and enable them to protect the local ii land : One would really suppose, on reading tl model committee, that the Vice-President Trade was ignorant of the geographical land. Did the right hon. gentleman imq some province in the centre of India, or were a species of Australian kangaroos? many week ago there was an announcemei papers—the right hon. gentleman could in whether it was correct or not—that he ws Newtown Anner, county of Tipperary, friend the Secretary to the Admiralty, dropped down upon that hospitable mansh he must have entered Ireland by one Potts. (A laugh.) At all events, his frie could have told him that Ireland posses most beautiful harbours in the world, pr respect a remarkable contrast to the fam Kidderminster, which, perhaps, could la finer than a miserable canal bearing a slimy and sluggish bosom. (Laughter.) to exclude. Irish members from the commi charges upon shipping was one of the mot used the word in a parliamentary sense—( submitted to that house ; but the same t done before, and it would be unfair to I President of the Board of Trade more that That very evening a Cabinet Minist Secretary —had nominated a select comn portation, on which there was only one although formerly it used to be said tl Malted a very large proportion of those she (Laughter.) The CHANCELLOR of th e E XCHEQU E] t ention, on the part of the Governmer the Irish representatives, and on the pi Proposed to en l arge t h e select comm i t Lion of two Irish members. Mr.I)ISRAEII deprecated the reviva long-exho guished feuds between differ the United Kingdom. He denied tha presentatives were habitually prevent PYing high places in the Administ country, or were excluded from enjoy of the Sovereign or the sympathy of and instanced the appointment of the to the Vi ce - presi dency of the Board o 1 Port of his assertion, EDUCATION IN The LORD ADVOCATE, OD Tuesday, moved for leave to bring in a bil: to regulate and make further provision for parochial schools in Scotland and a bill to make provision for education within burghs in Scotland. With respect to the parish schools, it was impossible, he observed, to maintain an exclu sive test, and his bill proposed to abolish it; but he did not propose to make a greater inroad upon the management of these schools than necessity required. He detailed the provisions in the former bill, and by the latter, be said, he proposed to give to town councils the right to assess for the borough schools up to a certain amount, subject to restrictions. These two small measures, he said, were only part of his scheme for the improvement of education in Scot land; a third bill, which would place that scheme in connection with the Minister and Council of Educa tion, he should develop hereafter. After some remarks from Mr. BAXTER, who said that although the first measure did not come up to his wishes and hopes, as a Dissenter, yet he accepted it as founded upon the basis of a compromise ; from Mr. BLACK, who wished for a more comprehensive and national plan ; and from Mr. MACKIE, as well as Sir A. Aosnw, Mr. BLACKBURN, and Mr. STIRLING, leave was given to bring in the bills. LOCAL CHARGES ON SHIPPING. On Tuesday, on the motion of Mr. Lows, the following members were named as a select com mittee to inquire into local charges on shipping : Mr. Lowe, Mr. Hardy, Mr. M. Gibson, Mr. Horsfall, Mr. Fenwick, Sir S. Northcote, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Watson, Mr. Bouverie, Mr. Headlam, Mr. Cardwell, Sir J. Duckworth, Mr. Duncan, Lord Hothani, and Mr. Moffatt. Mr. V. SCULLY denounced, with much warmth, the habitual, not to say systematic, exclusion of Irish members from committees and other public positions calculated to give them their due weight in the house, and enable them to protect the local interests of Ire land : One would really suppose, on reading the names of his model committee, that the Vice-President of the Board of Trade was ignorant of the geographical position of Ire land. Did the right hon. gentleman imagine that it was some province in the centre of India, or that the people were a species of Australian kangaroos? (Laughter.) Not many week ago there was an announcement in the news papers—the right hon. gentleman could inform the house whether it was correct or not—that he was on a visit at Newtown Anner, county of Tipperary, the seat of his friend the Secretary to the Admiralty, and, unless he dropped down upon that hospitable mansion in a balloon, he must have entered Ireland by one of its numerous pmts. (A laugh.) At all events, his friend the secretary could have told him that Ireland possessed some of the most beautiful harbours in the world, presenting in that respect a rem ar k a bl e contras t t o th e f amous b o rough of Kiddermin s t er , which, perhaps, could boast of nothing finer than a miserable canal bearing a bnmboat on its slimy and sluggish bosom. (Laughter.) The proposal to exclude. Irish members from the committee on the local charges upon shipping was one of the most impudent—he used the word in a parliamentary sense—( a laugh'—ever submitted to that house ; but the same thing had been done before, an d i t wou ld b e un f a i r to bl ame t h e Vice- President of the Board of Trade more than his colleagues. That very eveni ng a C a bi ne t Minister—the Home Secretary —had nominated a select committee on trans portation, on which there was only one Irish member, although formerly it used to be said that Ireland fin fished a very large proportion of those who were banished. (Laughter.) The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER denied all in tention, on the part of the Government, to disparage the Irish representatives, and on the present question proposed to enlarge the select committee by the addi tion of two Irish members. Mr. DISRAELI deprecated the revival of the old and l ong - extinguished feuds between different sections of the United Kingdom. He denied that the Irish re presentatives were habitually prevented from occu pying high places in the Administration in this country, or were excluded from enjoying the favour of the Sove re i gn or the sympathy of her subjects, an dinstanced the app o i n t ment o f t h e l ate M r . Shell to the Vice - presidency of the Board of Trade in sup port of Ins assertion, THE PRESS. Mr. WATSON objected to the selection of the com mittee in toto, insisting that it would be essentially a partisan tribunal. After a few words from Mr. MACARTNEY, Mr. J. MACGREGOR, observing that the great sea port towns were very imperfectly represented in the committee, recommended that it should be wholly re constituted. A similar conclusion, upon different grounds, was urged by Mr. HADFIELDand Sir F. BARING. iord w PALMERSTON submitted that the committee were to exercise no judicial functions, but merely to ascertain facts, for which duty he considered its mem bers were amply qualified. The discussion was pushed at much length, and with considerable warmth, by various hon. members. Mr. F. Sctir.r.v reopened the Irish point of the con troversy ; and Mr. LABOUCHERE defended the present selection of the committee. The house at last divided upon the motion for adjourning the debate, which was negatived by a majority of 108 to 67-41. The committee was then nominated. Upon the motion of Mr. WILSON, on Thursday, the committee was increased to seventeen. On the motion that Mr. Beamish's name be added to the list vice Mr. Kirk, Mr. Lowe opposed the proposition The question was debated with some vigour, when. the house divided, and the following numbers appeared : _ _ For Mr. Beamish 94 " Mr. Kirke Majority against the Government candidate 21 Mr. Beamish's name was then entered on the committee, and Mr. Kirke's removed. TRADE REGULATIONS IN RUSSIA. Lord PALMERSTON, on Thursday, in reply to Mr. Ewart, as to whether it might be practicable to endeavour to make arrangements with the Russian Government for the removal of vexatious restrictions imposed upon British traders in Russia; more parti cularly the regulations of the guilds as to the buying and reselling of imports and exports, said : I am fully aware that the internal regulations of Russia affecting trade are exceedingly unfavorable to commercial transactions, and a grievance to foreigners ; and, un doubtedly, her Majesty's Ministers will be anxious to avail themselves of any proper opportunity to impress on the Russian Government the expediency, for the sake even of its own interests, of establishing a more liberal commer cial system within its own dominions. But I am sure that the hon. member and the house will feel that with the negotiation now proceeding on the subject of the general pacification of Europe this is hardly the most fitting moment for opening a discussion of that nature. The Russian Government would, in all probability, be indis posed to mix up matters relating to its own commercial policy with the question of peace; and, therefore, a more opportune occasion must be chosen for commencing the overtures to which the hon. gentleman refers. I can assure the house, however, that this subject shall not escape the attention of her Majesty's Government. SALE OF CAVALRY AND ARTILI CRIMEA. HORSES IN THE The Earl of MATMESBURY, on Thursday, inquired into the truth of the report that the Government intended to sell the horses of the cavalry and artil lery in the Crimea, before embarking those portions of the army. He deprecated the measure as likely to injure the military character of the country in the eyes of other nations. If the horses were sold to the Russians, it would be easy to represent them to that people as trophies gained from us during the war. Lord PANISIURE explained that the expense of bringing home each horse by the transports now in the Black Sea would be 471.; if by transports sent from this country, the expense per horse would be 671. He could not see any degradation in selling such horses as were not necessary ; nor would there be any difficulty in replacing them at home. The Government had no intention of authorising a general sale. INCOME AND PROPERTY TAX. Mr. MUNTZ, on Tuesday, moved a resolution, " That an equitable adjustment of the income and property tax is essential to the interests of the country, particularly as regards the rates of payment upon industrial and professional incomes, compared with those derived from fixed property." Mr. Muntz then briefly expressed an opinion that a tax upon property was the best tax that could be imposed; but there was a great difference between a property tax and an income tax. A man who had property should pay for its protection ; but the tax upon incomes operated unequally, and the mode of assess ment, by which a man was often made to rob himself, was a denial of justice. The present tax was not fair in itself; it was unjust to the public at large, and its injustice and inequality might be remedied. Mr. POLLARD•URQUHART seconded the motion. _ The CuANcEu.on of the EXCHEQUER said the motion would nocesquate an entire reconstruction of Pitt's policy, of which Mr. Muntz had carefully abstained from intimating more than the general prin ciple. All taxes were subject to serious objections, but Government could not be carried on without taaation. Ur. Ditunta proposed that the income taut should be repealed, and that the tax should be a tax upon property alone. He had argued that it was the holder of property who should pay for the protec tion of the State ; but Adam Smith laid it down that taxes should be paid in proportion, not to property, but to revenue. Moreover, this plan at present pro• posed by Mr. Muntz would derange the relations and proportions of the schedules, which had been disturbed by the tax on successions, He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) believed that this was not a favorable moment for enter taining such a discussion, and, that the house should nut pledge itself to an abstract proposition, he would move the previous question. Mr. LUNG thought that nothing was more dange rous than for the house to adopt an abstract pro position upon the subject of our finances, unless it had before it some practical plan; that a tax should be judged of with reference to a substitute proposed. He should, therefore, vote against the original motion. At the same time he was strongly impressed with the conviction that this tax must become a per manent part of our taxation, and that its principle must undergo some revision. Mr. W. WILLIAMS advocated some modification of the tax as respected incomes of small amount. _ Mr. SPOONER could not support the motion, as he dissented from the latter portion. He believed that the assessment of the tax might be made less harsh, and at the same time more productive. After a very few words from Mr. MACKIE and Mr. JOHN MACGREGOR, Sir H. WILLOUGHBY said the inequality of the tax pervaded all the schedules, and instanced the Long Annuities, which paid, he said, twenty per cent. tax, instead of 61. 3s. 4d., which was nothing more than extortion and robbery. . _ _ Mr. MUNTZ made a brief reply, and, the house having divided, his motion was virtually negatived (the majority deciding that the question be not put) by 194 to 63. 343 A AUDIT OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. Mr. BOWYER, on Tuesday, called attention to the constitution of the Board of Audit and to the defects of the law regarding the audit of public accounts. The hon. member detailed at length the present arrangements for auditing the public accounts, the immense arrears of business on the hands of the audit officers, and the want of power in the Audit Board, which he characterised as a purely passive board, having no power to compel the production of accounts or enforce the requisitions it might make. The hon. and learned gentleman then proceeded to take an historical review of the origin and progress of the audit system, carefully indicating as he went along the peculiar defects and shortcomings with which in each successive reign it was chargeable. He had come down to the twenty-third year of George 111., and was elaborately explaining the state of things at that period, when AR HON. MEMBER moved that the house be counted. There were at that moment about a dozen mena hers present, of whom the majority appeared asleep, but the Government " whips," rushing eagerly into the lobbies and adjoining rooms, collected as many hon. gentlemen as completed the prescribed quorum, and so saved the " House." Mr. BowYEn then resumed his argument, and, after drawing a contrast between our Board of Audit and the Court of Accounts in France highly favor able to the latter, concluded by expressing a hope that the Government would see the propriety of in stituting an inquiry into this matter, with the view of substituting a more efficient tribunal for the very defective one now in existence. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave detailed explanatii,ns respecting the functions of the Audit Board and the portions of the public accounts that were audited at the Treasury and in other depart ments. He did not believe that the business of the department had fallen considerably in arrears. Sir F. BARING following, made a few remarks. Mr. DISRAELI thought the Audit-office ought to be directly responsible to the house. The notice of the Government must be drawn to the question, and he trusted the matter would not be lost sight of, and that the house would see that the auditing of the public accounts was placed upon a satisfactory basis. He thanked the hon. and learned gentleman for bringing forward this question under rather dis couraging circumstances, owing to accidental causes, and acknowledged the ability which he had shown in dealing with this as with other matters which he took in hand. _ Lord PALMERSTON said, it was a mistake to sup pose that the audit of the army accounts was not complete and effectual, and deprecated transferring the control of the army expenditure to the public auditors. Some observations were made by Mr. HENLEY and Mr. W. WILLIA3I9, and the subject dropped. INDIAN FINANCE. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE, on Tuesday, moved that the return of the territonal revenues and dis bursements of the East Indian Company, lately pre sented to the house, be printed, and asked fix a