The Sun. — London, England, 1851-05-07 00:00:00

rourtti ''''Olibitiott SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock. NAVY ESTIMATES. Sir F. BARING gave notice that he would move that the House go into Committee on the Navy Esti mates on Monday next, and said he would propose first the vote respecting allowances to retired captains. PETI rioNs. Several petitions were presented against Papal ag gression. Mr. F. MACKENZIE presented a petition from Itircudbright in favour of the Education Bill for Scotland. Mr. W. PATTEN presented a petition from Lan cashire against any system of national education which did not combine religious instruction. Mr. LOCKHART presented a petition from a place in Scotland against the admission of Jews into Parliament. Mr. FORBES presented a petition from Stirling against Lord Melgund's Education Bill. Mr. OSWALD presented a petition to the same effect from Stirling. Mr. SCOTT presented a petition in favour of the en tire cessation of Post-office labour on Sunday. AYLESBURY ELECTION. On the motion of Mr. ROUNDELL PALMER, $ Select Committee was appointed to inquire into the alle gations contained in the petitions of Thomas Hugh Bradford and John S.rutt. AUDI I' OF RAILWAY ACCOUNTS BILL. On the motion 'or going into Committee on this Bill, Mr. LABOUCHERE said that the object of the pre sent Bill was to provide an efficient audit of railway ac counts for the benefit of railway shareholders, but after careful consideration of it, he bad come to the conclusion that the present Bill would not be efficient for that par pose, and he thought, had it been 1.,w a few years ago, it would not have prevented the great excitement which then existed on this subject. Yet he could nut deny that there were many provisions in the Bill which would be of great use, but the principle of it he should entirely object to. His opinion was that no proper railway audit could be established except by first placing the auditors in a situation entirely independent and unin fluenced by any parties whstevcr; but he felt quite con vinced that if he himself attempted to bring in a Bill which he should consider efficient, he would never be able to prevail upon the House to sanction it, so great was the influence of railway directors in the House. and so in different were those who were not connected with rail ways, to everything connected with the subject. Mr. B. DENISON quite agreed with the Right Hon. Gentleman that this Bill would do no good whatever, and in fact would create more difficulty than now existed. In his opinion the Government ought to take up the question, for none others could carry any Bill that would be efficient. He should oppose the Bill in ell its stages. Mr. E. ELLICE, jun., said that it would only be consistent, if the:flcuse atlopted the principle of this Bill with regard to railways, they must extend it to all corn- ' panies, banking, assurance, avid of ad kinds whatever. Mr. LOCKE thought it was a little herd that Hon. Gentlemen, who had tried their hands unsuccessfully on Railway Audit Bills, should now cuine forward and do all they could to thwart those who took the trouble to prepar e the present Bill. He hoped the House, after affirming its principle, would not now, on the eve of going into Committee, allow these gentlemen to delay the Bill. Mr. HUME was ftVense to enything like Government interference in the affairs of cornP ! - - nies. Tee r e was no t the slightest reason f ur it; and forhis own part b e wou ld advise Government to have nothing to do with the com mercial affairs of private companies, beyond given them every facility of managing th e i r own affairs in a legal wanner. Mr. STANFORD said many persons who originally purchased their shares at par had been forced, by the pressure of the timee to sail out at a large saer, fice; and the majority of the present holders having got in at great discounts were now receiving very respectable dividends. Taey therefore did not care much about this question; but nevertheless, although they were si lent upon the subject, they were still opposed to this Bill, because it involved the whole question of railway management, whereas it ought to have been confined to the simple matter of rendering accounts. But what was there in the spirit of this Bill which could protect the great body of the shareholders any more than the t 'isting system? Depend upon it, that no independent audit,vi would ever be obtained until they insisted upon 9. 44 12 ,;n w 1e auditors who were bond fide share or bondholders, L , ho were thoroughly be ond the control of the di- rectorepooiriethe managers of Y ule company. That was the adopt, (al which railway sharebolders should then they miaht hose to receive a sure nd to railw ay d continuous audit. With regard be a every check bond sho debentures he would suggest that a _ ai si n be r eg i stere d , ands then there would ing powers. 6 at any company exceeding its borrow- Mr. W. WILLIAMS re not been taken up by gretted that this question had y the Government, for no railway audit cou ld be efficient Cr • satisfactory, unless it was placed in totally independent hands tothose cf the directors. The frauds which the existieg and the BYstem had truly alarming,given rise to were people who had iny cst l e Tnee bad been that their ney in rail masses of had well nigh been e The capital invested ways .... • brought i tome . the brink one-third of the aational !I railways was of ruin. now eq ual to the public had cot the remotest protection debt, and on against the malversation of the directors. How was it that use stock was at so large a viscount? Why, a i alpi railway era the public had no confidence in the managen! °I of the accounts, and he therefore called upon the Government to take the matter up at once. Air. CHAPLIN said, been bad this simply an audit Bill he should not have said a single word on this oeca. sibs; but it embraced a variety of other topics, and If it Passed railways would be placed under an entirely irresponsible management. Legislative meddling t o , railway affairs h a d ser iously injured the putlic ; for, had the Legislat ure a b s tained from fcrcing its er. ron eous view s upon railway companies, ail classes of passengers would be trivet: l Jr u fur more comfortably and far more cheaply than they at the present g were . time. He, therefore, entreated the House to leave railway directors alone, and allow them to do what taught them vela best for the of their shareholders,experience as Well theas s scouring interes t, ,eilino, interest of the ir` r ~,, be public. He moved, us 4 Six months n amendment, that the born committed this dey intr. EWART supported the the notion of handing over Bill, and protested against thoef a auditing of private ac- counts to the tender mercies Government official. and it wo The Bill had this adva.ntage at le e n e i ' lait y' et it went upon the representative principle, therefore place the audit direct - in t wos hands of the sharehelders th I Mr. HEALD . at a loss to uLderstund w hat emsf ; ye : . anybody had to tell hio, , as, a railway proprietor, he was 411 L OWLS affairs incompetent to manag e • It ryas imperti nent to take up such a tone, End he hoped the Rouse Wo u ld think so too ; for the future prosperity of r a il way coal. panies depended upon being let alone, and left to the care of their own immediate managers, who were elected by the shareholders. Captain HARRIS said, if the House of th e 'country want e d any a ddi t ional proof of the inefficiency of t h e Government, i t w ould be fox n d i n the fact that they had neglected to introduce a Bill on this important subject. In many respzets he approved of the present Bill, but b e would rat h er see it i n She hands of the Government than a private Member. VICE-CHANCERY.—(THIS DAY.) (Before Lord CRANWORTR.) THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL V. HARDY. This was a motion argued before his Lordship in the present term to prevent the trustees of two chapels, called the Old and New Chapels, at Holt, in Norfolk, from permitting them to be disposed of or used ad- Tersely to the provisions of the deeds under which they , had been established; and also from claiming to act fur ther as trustees of the new chapel under the deed of 1837. The present motion arose o'it of the recent schism in the Wesleyan body. In July, 1814, a deed was executed between Messrs. Hardy, Curteis, and Johnson, as trustees for the general body of Methodists, by which deed the trustees were empowered to mortgage an old chapel at Holt, and in 1833 a further arrangement was come to, by which Mr. Hardy, who was treasurer of the chapel, agreed to re duce his mortgage debt to a sum of 350/, In 1837 the Wesleyan body having greatly increased in number, a larger chapel became necessary, and accordingly one was erected at Holt; and by a deed dated October of that year, the chapel and the land on which it was built was conveyed to trustees, and the effect of this arrangement eventually was, that Mr. Hardy became entitled to a mort gage upon the new chapel to the amount of 600/., in addi tion to his mortgage of 200/. upon the old chapel. In 1842 Mr. Hardy died, and by his will Cozens Hardy became his executor, and entitled to the mortgages. In 1849 the schism broke out among the members of the Wesleyan body, and extended itself to the Holt district. Mr. Cozens Hardy, wko is a gentleman of fortune and a country magistrate, sympathised with the three ministers expelled, and agitated, as it was called, the Wesleyan body in their favour. After some contro versy, the Conterence proceeded, under the rules of the society, to expel Mr. Hardy, and Mr. Coleman, who was also a trustee of the old chard. In May, 1850, Mr. Cozens Hardy, as executor of Mr. W. Hardy, Mr. Curteis, on e o f t h e trustees of the old applied to chapel, for payment of the sum of 200/., duo on the mortgage, intimating that if the amount were not paid he should resort to legal proceedings. Accordingly in May, 1850, the chapel was advertised fur sale. In the Oc tober following an angry correspondence took place between lir. Hardy and the Rev. Mr. Worker, who is the superintendent preacher of the circuit. Even tually the old chapel was Pot up for sale, and knocked down to a Mr. George Turner for 200/.; and about th e same time Mr. Hill, one of the defendants, took an as signmont of Mr. ll , A.ciy's mortgage on the new chapel for a sum of cool. These The bill are li s a ub e s a t e a d nt t i h a a ll t y m th r e . facts contained in th e case. Hardy and the surviving trustees of the old chapel had been expelled from the Wesleyan body, and that he and others were using their influence adversely to the inter- ' eats of Methodism, and that they h a d i mproperly sold the old chapel. Tae bill also alleged that the transac . tion between Mr. Hill and Mr. Hardy was only colour able, and the plaintiffs by this motion asked to restrain the sale of the chapel, and the continuance of the defen dants in office as trustees. His LORDSHIP this aiming gave jadgment, and ai.er going through the filets of the case at some length, dis missed the bill. IMPERIAL _PARLIAMENT. (THIS DAY.) HOUSE OE COMMONS. The SPEAZER took the Chair at a few minutes pas Twelve o'clock. Mr. LABOUCHERE said, upon various occasions he had ventured to introduce a measure upon this subject, but heewaa always opposed, as well by his own friends as by Hon. Gentlemen opposite; and however efficient in strength a Government might be, he should ever de spair of the Board of Trade being able to carry such a measure as this. He should support the motion for going into Committee. Colonel SIBTHORP would give his consent to any measure which would oblige railway companies to make compensation for the accidents which occurred on their lines. In his opinion the whole system of railways was founded on injustice and spoliation. Mr. 0. RICARDO had no objection to the p r inciple cf the Bill, b ecause h e was f avourable to the establishment of an ampl e rail wa y au di t, b ut he reserved to himse lf the right of canv ass i ng t h e d etails in Committee. After a few words from Mr. PACIE and Mr. W. EVANS, the House divided, when there appeared — For going into Committee ••• 72 Against it... --• 49 Majority ... • TheBEHRNoAuL in thesethen chair.went into Committee on the Bill. Mr. On clause I being proposed, following clause in place of that containedtothe st i i n tu t t b io e n .B o i f m t_he "That notwithstanding anything con or to rat n fr om extraordinary toa e tto t general me tbe con trary in any com pany,Actiwrealyateinogmptoanaiespairaticguelanrerraziliwtasyballbei e determineom p meeting assembled lawful for any railway bled to an method of selecting auditors of the accounts of th a t com pany, and the qualification of such audito rs , t h e i r re muneration, and their duration in offi ce; an d also from time to time to determine the method of auditing the ac• counts of that company; and whether any and what per. sons shall be employed for the purpose of investi gating the said accounts in aid of the auditors of that company; and whether the audit thereof shall be con tinuous or occasional; and what publicity shall be given to the said accounts; and what access shall be allowed to all or any of the books in which the same are con tained, or to the registers of proprietors and of trans fers; and whether copies of all or any of such docu ments, er abstracts thereof, shall be periodically or oc casionally circulated amongst the shareholders." The CHAIRMAN wished to remind the Committee that by proposing the substitution of a new clause, the Hon. Member was evading the rule of the Committee, which required that new matter should be introduced at the end of the Bill. After a short discussion the amendment was negatived without a division on the understanding that it should be brought up afterwards. After considerable discussion, in which Mr. Spooner, Mr. Ricardo, Mr. E. Ellice, and Mr. Waddington, opposed the clause, and Mr. Mowatt, Mr. L. Heyworth, Mr. .Hume, and Mr. Locke supported it, The House divided, when there appeared— For the clause ••• SI Against it ... ,„ 60 Majority ... The clause was then agreed to. Clauses 2,3, 4,5, were then agreed to. Clause 6 gave rise to some discussion. It provided ;hat directors should only vote in their own right, and t was contended that this would prevent a director from voting with a proxy. Mr. RICARDO explained that it very frequently hap pened that shareholders at a distance sent the directors their proxies to vote on particular questions connected with the railway, but if this clause were passed as it stood it would altogether prevent that. Mr. LOCKE said the object of the clause was simply to preclude a director from voting in respect of shares which he held as trustee for the company. Mr. RICARDO proposed that an addition should be made to this clause to render it clear upon that point, and after some conversation the proposal was adopted. The clause, as amended, was agreed to, as was also I clause 7. Oa clause 8 being proposed, Mr. H. BIi3OWN moved, in page 4, line 28, a f ter the word " investigation," add " and shall make a special report as to any increase of capital which may have been made since the then last previous audit, and how such increase has arisen, and particularly whether such increase has arisen in works or plant, and whether the same was contracted for under competition, or how otherwise such increase may have been created." There was no objection to this amendment, and it was, therefore, agreed to. Mr. H. BROWN then moved, in line 40, after the word " line," to add the following words: " and also that such auditors shall require to be produced to them, once at least in every year, all bills of costs for charges in law, equity, conveyancing, and Parliament, and that the said auditors shall have full power and authority, if they shall think fit, to employ some competent person or persons to examine and report to them upon the charges ix such bills of costs, and also to tax the same before the proper authorities." Mr. SPOONER objected to all the words after the word " and also." Mr. LOCKE also resisted that !part of the amend ment, and appealed to thellon.Mover to withdraw these objectionable words. Mr. LABOUCHERE was disposed to support the amendment as it stood, believing that it was of the ut most importance to check the legal expenditure of rail way cow eanies as much as possible. Mr. HUME also supported the clause as it stood. Mr. H. BRO WN, in order to show the necessity for this clause, mentioned a fact that had recently come to his knowledge. A solicitor sent in a bill to a railway company with which ho was connected, claiming a ba lance on his account of 20,7791., but on taxation the amount was reduced 8,3371., while upon investigation he found that of the latter sum only fitteen seven-eighths Was for money out of pocket.— (Hear, and laughtor.) After some further discussion the gallery was cleared for a division, but none took place, and on our return we found the discussion still going on. An amendment was then moved by Mr. SPOONER, that the clause of which he had given notice should be passed. •• • -21 Atter several observations the House divided, but the motion was negatived. A variety of clauses were afterwards gone through; some discussion took place, but after some explanations from Mr. BERNAL they were negatived, and the Bill went through Committee. AUDIT OF RAILWAY ACCOUNTS BILL. On this Bill gring into committee a discussion ensued respecting the accounts presented at the half-yearly meetings, during which Mr. HUME proposed en amendment with a view to have the supervision of the House. Mr. WILSON said that the eleventh clause was evi dandy tyrannical, and gave a power to tee Directors which we.s plainly uncoastitutional, and he should there fore oppose the motion. Mr. LAUOUCLIERE would not venture to say whe ther any arrangement of auditors should take place or not, but this he would say, that transactions had con tinually been taking place of which public officers ought only to be cognizant; public officers ought to be rp pointed—for unles, that was done there could be no se curity for the public. BECKET DENISON said that if this clause was passed, there would be an end to the power of the directors. The fact would be, that the reports sub mitted to, the shareholders would be the report of the Government auditors and not of the effector.. ;?_,Mr. J. LOCKE thought that, us the Honourable Member for the West Riding had suggested, this clause had better be left out than in; he was, there fore, desirous that the Chairman should report progress, and that the House should sit again. Mr. LABOUCHERE said that this was no t a pu bli c , Bill, and as there was much public business before the House, that the better plan would be to postpone the Bill, as the Hon. Member for Honiton had proposed. After some conversation, in which Mr. BECKET DENISON took part, that course was pursued, and the Bill wee adjourned until to-morrow. HIGHWAYS (SOUTH WALES) BILL. This Bill passed through Committee. LODGING -HOUSES BILL. After some convertestion this Bill passed through Committee. The other orders of the day were disposed of, the Sale of Arsenic Bill being postponed till Friday. MILITARY MEDALS. Sir G. PECHELL said that he wished to draw the attention of the House and of the Government to the case of the military and naval officers who had been engaged in great naval operations. It was evident that in the cases of Sir Graham Moore and Sir John Moore nothing had been done. What did they require? Simply that the men should do their duty, but thought little of the advantage which the country would obtain from the conduct of the men. In the action of Admiral Rodney, the senior officer had not, as was usual, in such cases, been promoted. He should therefore move for the return of the letter and of the medals which had been granted Sir Graham Moore. Mr. FORDYCE having seconded the motion, the return was ordered. ADVERTISING VANS. Colon(' SIBTHORE-1 complained of the grevious inconvenience suffer e d b y the pu bli c by these conveyances, and thought that private individuals, to say nothing of Members of Parliament, ought to be pro tected f rom t hi s evi l . If the law was not sufficient, it ought to be made so. He wished for a return of the itlm ierneoefatvhccaien those valuable facts which h a d re f erence to li:; i re n l o Ge t n' a tiGaielll t E tao Y ble s o a f id that the return for which the r• and Gallant Member had moved had already been that he might re blame,tll the nand would House. a l d Forhe happy w n t o part,furnish h a Gallant Member with any information Colonel q` ur e•—(Rear, hear.) s h h e ould believed ther e f t u h r a e t 6lBTlloltPiuivd that the Act was vague, and In t for _. rmation was vague, day. . . . new information onaafnudtuhree adjourrAd at Sixinnss o'clock. been di sposed of, the House The other bus I aving a -dressed from late Mr. .a—ppoliVnte 37relati% to THE STIPENDIARY BENCII Li understand that a communication has been rot:Le the Town-hall to Sir George Gre ment of a stipenLiary magistrate to succeed) Rushton. We believe a reply has since been received the Home-office, to the effect—first, that no decisiZedeafftm announced until the corporate authorities have a greed - „ - '-'e the amount of salary to be attached to the post; an dP n se condly, that on receiving information on that point, Si George will nominate a gentleman of the bar most efficient for the office. We are informed that the corporation do not intend d to give more tuan 1,2 00 /. salary, and that Sir Geor ge desire s to appoint Mr. Henry.—Liverpool Albion. - - METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS JUNCTION. — Yesterday 'colsnliicrour Master Kindersley proceeded with the further the names of the list of provisional committee, expunging s of Dr. Marsden, Air. Addis, and ethers, for want of conclusiPe evidence. INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. Oa Tuesday, April 29, (Wm. Cubitt, Esq., President, in the chair), previous to the ordinary meeting, Mr. Joseph Whitworth (Manchester) exhibited, in the Library, a new measuring machine, for determining minute differences of length. The accuracy of the ma chine was demonstrated by placing in it a standard yard measure, made of a bar of steel, about three quarters of an inch tquare, having both the ends rendered perfectly true. One end of the bar was then placed in contact with the face of the machine, and at the other end, be t Keen it and the other face of the machine, was inter posed a small flat piece of steel, termed by the experi menter " the contact piece," whose aides were also ren dered perfectly true and parallel. Each division on the micrometer represented the one-millioneth part of an inch, and each time the micrometer was moved only one division forward, the experimenter raised the contact piece, allowing it to descend across the end of the bar by its own gravity only. This was repeated until the closer approximation of the surfaces prevented the con tact piece from descending, when the measure was com pleted, and the number on the micrometer represented the dead length of the standard bar to the one millionth part of an inch. Eight repetitions of the experiment in a quarter of an hour produced identical results, there not being in any case a variation of one millionth of an inch. This method of operating was termed " the system of proof by the contact of perfectly true surfaces and gra vity;" and in connexion with it was shown another in terestieg, experiment. When the micrometer was up within one division of the number where contact would be presumed to occur, the application of the finger to the centre of the steel bar sufficed to expand and lengthen it instantaneously, so as to prevent the descent of the "contact piece." The other method of proof was by having a small simple battery composed or a piece of zinc soldered on to a piece of copper and plunged into rain water, with out the admixture of any acid; this was connected with the two ends of the measuring machine, and also with a delicate galvanometer. On pursuing the same process of advancing the micrometer, one division at a time, no effect was produced, until the last millionth of an inch of distance was traversed and absolute contact occurred with the end of the bar, when the deflexion of the needle of the galvanometer instantly detected the move ment. Repeated experiments showed this to be unerr ing in the result, and on placing the finger on the middle of the bar, under the same circumstances as in the other course of experiments, the expansion was instantly de tected by the deflexion of the galvanometer needle. The delicacy of these experiments was so great as to preclude the possibilty of making them in a crowd, or in a room with a varying temperature, therefore, al though the machine was destined for the National Ex hibition, its merits could not be appre elated or exhibited there; it was announced, however, that probably another opportunity would be afforded by Mr. Whitworth for the exhibition of this beautiful instrument, whose results were calculated to make great modifications in the cal culations of the changes of volumes of metals and other substances under variation of temperature. The paper read was "On the Demonstration of the Rotation of the Earth, by means of Two Pendulums," by Mr. Ilomershani Cox, B.A. The demonstration of the rotation of the earth was usually made to depend on phenomena presented by the appearance of the heavens. Two mechanical experi reente had, however, long been known, which demon strated the fact that the earth revo l ved —the one, the d by N ew t on, consisted in which, by th e diur aretardation of the pendulum by centrifugal force, a t q a ti n es a t t i h o e n r. d i% is .h cu in s h sed wa b s y su N gge e wsttoen, Huyg ens, and others; h a a b t a t l a, the ea s t ward. l n dro l The experiment had hitherto been perf ormed with one pmpointigon fr , om was a movedgrea theightsomew pendulum, but in the present instance free pendulums were used, and were suspended at a sufficient distance apart to allow of the free vibration of each. The weights were held together by a thread, which on being burned released them, so that they were set vibrating, initially, in the same vertical plane; consequently to the eye of en observer situated in that plane the two pendu lum wires appeared co-incident, one of them covering, or eclipsing the other. In a short time, however, the course of the two pendulums visibly altered. As their planes of oscillation appeared to revolve the same way on the earth's surface, the wires no longer covered each o: her, but appealed to separate and alternately to cross each other. The advantages of this mode of operating were, first, the rapidity with which the deviation of the pendulums Was manifested; for as their planes revolved in the same apparent direction, their arcs diverged from tech other twice as fast as tither from its initial position; and, secondly, the apparent crossing and recrossing of the p re e i n e a r u re lu d u t l o e a x plane perim entso sires ccaistituted, to the naked eye, a much more dis innoictitoand palpable test of the result than the apparent Thenbeneathcc u o p n i e ed p e s n o d l u o l n u g m a . that it was New m, _, necessary to postpone the paper " On some 'n4l:flea' Application of Vulcanised aunt un C chouc," by kir. Bperiod • rockedon ,until the next meeting, on ; Tuesday evening, May 6 th, when. Mr. ,Lealio'a paper LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, STATE OF TRADE. (From the Manchester Guardian of this day.) MANCHESTER, TUESDAY.—In our last report we stated that the loss of confidence had become greater and prices lower subsequently to Tuesday' s mar k et. To day, mule and water twist,in the bundle, has been sold at id. to id. per lb. below the quotations then current ; and goods also have generally yielded more or less, in the light and medium qualities lid. to 3d. per piece. Prices may be considered sully as l ow as they were on Friday and Saturday; certainly, the decline is batter ascertained, for business was rendered next to impossible last week, by the prevalence of a feeling very much akin to panic; where as, there have been transactions to-day, particularly in shipping yarns, and offers to a fair extent have been made, both for them and for some descriptions of cloth, which serve at least to indicate an opinion amongst the buyers that it i s as well to be purchasing some of the supplies they may want. The fall in prices is now very serious, and, singular as it may appear, stocks are light in the hands of spinners, and by no means heavy in those of the manufacturers at large. From Bombay the advice as to yarns and goods are more favourable than they were expected to be, but they are not very satisfactory from Calcutta. For the former market there have accordingly been inquiries and offers for yarns and goods tc-day, but scarcely any for the latter. The impression produced by the American letters is, that they point to a larger supply than the precious ones did. ROCHDALE, MONDAY.—Tbe flannel market remains dull and inactive, and the merchants are offering lower prices. In kerseys and coarse goods there has been very little doing. The wool market is still, and former prices are fully maintained. HUDDERSFIELD, TUESDAY,—NOt so much has been done in our market to-day. The stocks in the Cloth Hall are on the increase; there have not been many large buyers in town this last week, and consequently delive ries have not been very large. The wool market is slack, as the manufacturers cannot be induced to buy until the forthcoming sales have commenced. HALIFAX, SATURDAY.—There has been but a slender attendance of buyers in our Piece Hall to-day ; and the amount of business transacted has been very limited. The spinners are asking a slight advance upon y arn , and a check has c onsequent l y been given to the purchases. On some sorts of wool the staplers have obtained a trifling advance in price, and the quantity changing hands is scarcely so large as it was. LEEDS, TUESDAY.—The markets at the Cloth Halls to-day were dull, ne i t h er can we report much doing to order. The shipping houses are rather busy ; but for the home trade there is not much doing. WHERE SHALL WE BURY OUR DEAD? (From the Leader.) A long and interesting Report, dat e d " Whi te h a ll , April 2, 1851, and signed "Ashley, Edwin Chad- wick, and T. Southwood Smith," hes been presented to Parliament and published, on Extramural Inter meets in the country towns. According to the report, the country generally is in favour of an Act of Par liament for prohibiting the burial of the dead within the limits or towns; and certainly the evidence fur nished by the corps of inspectors acting under the orders of the Board of Health, of the ever -crowded and dis gusting state of our graveyards, sufficiently warrants the conclusions of public opinion. The inspectors have ex amined the burial places of 200 towns, and found them mainly in as bad a condition as those of London. A fwri instances will give an idea of the general condition of the inspected districts. At Great Yar mouth 9,235 bodies have been buried in the parish churchyard in twenty years. At Burslem and other towns, bodies are brought into the town from the country; and at Norwich the churchyards, which Evelyn declared to be 200 years ago, a " congestion of dead bodies, one on another for want of earth, even to the vary top of the walls, and some above the walls," have since received no less than halt a million in addition; consequently, in the words of the report, "a very large portion of the soil, for the depth of many feet, consists of decomposed human bodies." Dover, Huddersfield, Portsmouth, and other towns are in the like condition. In Pearith the churchyards con tain, some twenty-one, others fourteen and fifteen layer. of bodies. The stench arising from these patches of corruption in summer is so strong and baneful, that one instance is reported of the windows of a church opening on the yard being boarded up. At Banbury and Beaconsfield, we are told that the coffins swim about in the vaults; the sexton of the former stating that he always got the water out as nigh as he could when the parties were coming out of church. The remedy of these evils the Board of Health find in a general prohibitory Act, giving adequate power to the local boards for establishing cemeteries, and reserving to the central board the duty of supervision. Tee machinery created by the Public Health Act would be available for this purpose; end it is recommended that general district rates be levied under such Act where it is in operation, for meeting preliminary expenses ; and where it is not, those expenses to b e c h arged on th poor-rates. Choice of sites, plans, burial arrangements, all these are to be subject to the approval of the Board of Health. An ad ministrative functien, the raising and eontrol of the necessary funds, would be entrusted to the local boards. Not the least important paragraphs of the report are those which detail the obstacles in the way of im provement. These may be indicated as consisting of enormous expense attending special Acts of Parlia ment; difficulties of inducing unity of action among the interested parties ; and ignorance among the local authorities. It is also stated that the provincial cemeteries have generally failed hitherto, and that, in spite of the over-crowed state of the graveyards, bodies are continually sent to ho buried. On the whole the report contains ample proof of the necessity for burial without the limits of towns ; but it may be questioned whether the centralizing tendency is not too much iatroduced into the plan recommended to Parliament. " On a mode of Computation for excluding Floodwater from a Set of Guagiegs at Regular Intervals," and Mr. Blackwell's " Results of a Series of Experiments on the Discharge of Water by Overfalls," were announced to bs read, and the monthly ballot for members to take place. MAY 7, 1851. FRENCH RAIL WAY TRAFFIC. The following are the last returns of the gross re ceipts of the principal French Railways : .NORTMERN.—From April 23 to April 29: Passengers, 256,518 f.; goods, 2 04,507 f.; total, 461,025 f. ROUEN.—From April 20 to April 26 : Passengers, 80,634 f.; goods, 79,515 E; total, 160,149 f. HATRE.—From April 20 to April 26 : Passengers, 32,0731.; goods, 34,778 f. ; total 66,851 f. ORLEANS.—From Apirl 21 to April 27 : Passengers, 94,137 E ; goods, 118,5561.; total, 212,6931. BORDEAUY.--FrOM April 21 to April 27: Passengers, 39,953 t.; goods, 42,875 f.; total, 82,828 f. VIERZON.—From April 21 to April 27: Passengers, 47,276 f.; goods, 44,094 E; total, 91,370 f. BOULOGNE.—From April 21 to April 27 : Passengers, 23,344 E; goods, 16,178 E; total, 39,5221. NANTES.—From April 19 to April 25 : Passengers, 23,5261.; goods, 14,322 E; total, 37,848 f. STRASBURG.—From April 23 to April 29: Passengers, 85,8191.; goods, 61,3541.; total, 147.173 f. BALE.—From April 14 to April 20 : Passengers. 9 1,73 V.; goods, 15,840 f.; total, 37,576 f. MONTEREAU.—From April 16 to April 23: Passengers. 11,417 f.; goods, 1 4,2841.; total, 25,721 f. MARSEILLES.—From April 16 to April 22: Passengers, 45,614 E; goods, 21,1961.; total, 66,8101. LYONS. —From April 13 to April 19 : Passengers, 111,525 f.; goods, 37,930 f.; total, 149,455 f. CHARTRES.—From A pr il 14 to April 20: Passengers, 28,444 E; goods, 1 2,951 f.; total, 41,395 f. IMPORTANT AND EARLY NEWS FROM GREENLAND. —By the Enterprise, Cardno, which left the ice on the 21st ult., arrived at Peterhead at noon on Thursday, with 9,500 seals, the result of on l y f our days' fishing, we have the following intelligence :—The Commerce, Sellar, 4,000 to 5,000 seals ; Columbia, Birnie, 1,100 Dublin, Mackie, 8,000 to 9,000-90 tuns oil; Eclipse, J. Gray, unknown; Fairy, Robertson, unknown; Ha milton Ross, Johnston, unknown; Mazinthien, Bur nett, unknown; North of Scotland, D. Gray, 1,700; Pomona, Robertson, unknown ; Resolution. Walker, 600 ; Traveller, Hutchieson, 12,000 to 13,000; Union, R. Walker, 5,000 to 6,000 ; Vi ctor, Martin, 400. The above are all Peterhead vessels. The Flamingo, Lee, of Hull, is the only English ship reported—sbe had 400 to 500 seals. It is feared that the ships not reported have nearly all missed the fishing ground, owing to the peculiar state of the ice. Foreigners are poorly fished.—Aberdeen Herald. THE LONDON GAZETTE, May 6, BANKRUPTCY SUPERSEDED. William Thompson, spirit merchant, Morpeth, Nor. humberland. BANKRUPTS. Richard Edwards, linen draper, Sudbury, Suffolk, to surrender May 15, at eleven, and June 12, at twelve, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Johnson, official assignee, Baiinghall.street; Hardwick, Davidson, and Bradbury, Basingball-street. William Lane Martin, ironmonger, Gravesend, May 13, at eleven, and June 20, at half past one, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Whitmore, official assignee, Basing ball-street; Wilkinson, Gurney, and Stevens, Nicholas lane, Lombard -street ; Sherlund, Gravesend. George Wheeler, grocer, Richmond, May 14, at half past one, and June 13, at half-past eleven, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Siansfeld, official assignee; Digby, Circus-place, Finsbury -square. Samuel Cockerill, draper, Northampton, May 20, at one, and June 17, at eleven, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Edwards, official assignee, Sambrook -court, Basinghall street; Reed, Langford, and Marsden, Friday-street, Cheapside. James Evott, apothecary, Shiffnal, Shropshire, May 24, at one, and June 9, at ten, at the Birmingham Dis trict Court. Yalpy, official assignee, Birmingham; Mot tram, Knight, and Emmet, Birmingham. Thomas Pearson, merchant, Cann-house, Devonshire, May 22 and June 19, at eleven, at the Exeter District Court. Hernaman, official assignee, Exeter ; Gibson and Moore, Plymouth. Francis Farrand, fancy cloth manufacturer, Almond bury, Yorkshire, May 30 and June 19, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court. Young, official assignee, Leeds; Sykes, Milos-bridge, near Huddersfield; Bond and Bar wick, Leeds. the Admiralty to creep out of at their pleasure—far the order proceeded:—" Those captains who rise to their flag, and who have not served"—he took it for granted that this meant those who have not served for six years —" will be placed on permanent half-pay, rising in rank as at present, but with the half-pay of rear-admirals." The right of the Crown to select its officers had existed for many a long year in the naval service of the country, and he should be sorry if it should ever cease to exist. It was in the power of the Crown to place any admiral in the command of a squadron in any part of the world, and the Crown was now about to delegate the same com mand to any commodore. The Government was now going to ask for an increased grant of money to do that which was an act of injustice on a certain number of officers. It would then have, apparently, a very active liat, from which it could select able officers; but, in reality, the condition of the navy would be just the same. You would have two lists, in one of which you would have an increased amount of pay to certain admi rals and captains, while in the other you would con tinue their pay at its present amount. There was no chance of this new regulation turning out a substantial saving. He had mentioned the circumstances of this case to the House for the purpose of showing how ineffi cient the machinery of this regulation was to carry its object into effect. The Earl of MINTO had no objection to the produc tion of this return. He concurred in the propriety of many of the Noble Earl's observations; and especially in that in which he had commented on the extreme in justice of taking as the only test of an officer's capacity the period which he had passed in the command of a ship at sea. Still he must say that it did appear to him that some experience at sea was an indispensable qualification for command. The Noble Lord then en tered into some further explanations on the subject of this arrangement; but we could not hear distinctly any two consecutive sentences of the remainder of his speech. After a few remarks from Lord COLCHESTER, which were equally inaudible, Lord STANLEY observed, that the speech of the Noble Earl opposite had strengthened rather than con firmed the case made out by his Noble Friend behind him. He hoped that he did not misapprehend the Noble Earl opposite, when he understood him to ssy that this document was rather a suggestion of the Board of Admiralty than a measure of the Government. He (Lord Stanley) did not understand that this arrangement had yet met the approbation of the Cabinet; yet, he could hardly reconcile the idea that it was not yet finally determined on by the Cabinet with the fact that the paper now moved for had been laid on the table of the other House of Parliament, and along with it a statement that it had been sanctioned by the Board of Admiralty. He was afraid this " suggestion" would shortly be carried into execution by the House of Commons. He was glad that this discussion had taken place, as it would call the attention of the Government to the subject, and thus give it a locus penitentic. No one had denied the injustice of the system of compulsory retirement consequent upon an officer not having served a certain number of years when it was not optional with him whether he would serve that time or not. He asked the Government whether they were determined to insist upon the period of six years? That period had b?en taken when there was a larger number of captains afloat, but if the same period were required at a time when there were not one-tenth or one-twentieth so many captains afloat it would greatly enhance the difficulty of captains arriving in due course of time at their flag.—(Hear.) • Earl TALBOT admitted the great necessity of, if pos sible, limiting the dead weight of the country, but it ought not to be done to the injury of old navel officers, numbers of whom had been many years upon the list; but, in spite of all their exertions, had never been able to obtain the command of a ship, He hoped that the question would be considered in all its bearings by Par liament before they sanctioned such an injustice as was contemplated by the Government plan. While speaking upon the subject of the navy he begged to refer to a recent order with respect to the examination of naval cadets. thought, though be admitted that the ex amination was excessively slight, only extending to such matters as the first three rules of arithmetic and the like, that a boy, upon being examined on his entrance into the service, might, from nervousness or timidity, be unable to answer the questions that were put to him, and in such a case it was a hardship that the boy should not be allowed to go up again, but should have his nomination altogether cancelled. Earl GREY said, if it had been intended to discuss the merits of the Government plan upon this subject it was only fair that a longer notice should have been given of that intention. But as that had not been done, and as the motion was only for a return, he was not possessed of so much information upon the subject as he might otherwise have had. In the first place, it he understood the matter, no officer "would suffer by this arrangement in any pecuniary point of view; but the gist of complaint was that the feelings of officers were injured by their being placed upon the retired instead of on the active list. He should be the last person to sanction any mea sure to wound the feelings of so meritorious a class of men, but he believed that it was for the interest of the country and of the service that the nominal acting list should not be unnecessarily swelled by having -upon it a large number of officers who were practically retired, but that, being at present far beyond the real wants of the service, it should be reduced as much as possible. For his own part, he thought that the rule requiring a certain amount of experience in the command of a ship before taking command of a feet was an exceed ingly good one. Whether six years were or were not , too long a time it was not for him to say, but, after all, the line must be drawn somewhere, and he believed that the rule with regard to the six years was established in 1827, when we hcid a very much smaller number of ships afloat than at this moment. With reference to the other point which had been raised by the Noble Lord opposite (Earl Talbot), he had never heard of the ques tion before, but he thought it appeared that the new re gulation was a desirable one. There were infinitely more candidates for admission into the navy than could by possibility be admitted, and surely it was de sirable that of that great number they should have the very best. He was reminded by his Noble Friend (Esti Minto) that in the case of an unsuccessful examination there might probably be a second nomination, and a se cond examination. Lord STANLEY observed, that in 1827 the officers who then stood for the flag were captains of 1799, and so late down as 1840 the officers who stood next for the flag were captains of 1106. Therefore, in 1840 the offi cers who stood next were officers who had been post-cap tains from 1106 up to the close of the war, or 10 years. Earl TALBOT wished to know if the Noble Earl (the Lord Privy Seal) could confirm what the Noble Earl at the head of the colonies had stated as to a second no mination being allowed for the same lad, and thereupon a second examination? Earl kINTO was not able to speak officially on that point, but he gathered from what information he had upon the subject that such would be the case. The return was then ordered, and the House adjourned. had prevailed of stating the number of paupers; and he seemed to say that this change had been made for the sake of delusion, and rendering the returns valueless. Now, the Hon. Member had not given him any notice that it was his intention to allude to him as responsible for a change that took place three years before he came into office.—(Hear, hear.) He conjectured that that change was made for the purpose of bringing about more correct and satisfactory results, and his belief was that such had been the effect of the change.—(llear, hear.) The resolution which had been moved by the Hon. Gentleman so 'ght to affirm the ex pediency of relieving the destitute poor of this country by means of a national rate.--(Hear, hear.) He did not use these words very often in the course of his address; he rather seemed to avoid them; but the whole question in volved in his proposal was, whether the House of Com mons was prepared to affirm the expediency f maintaining the destitute poor out of a national rate.—(Hear, hear) He was happy to think that the subject of a national rate up to this time had not met with much favour from Parliament, and he should be surprised if it was more favourably re ceived on that occasion. In 1847 a Committee of that House was appointed at the instance of his predecessor (Mr. Buller) for investigating the whole subject of settlement, re moval, and rating. This Committee, composed of some of the ablest members of the House, heard evidence on the whole of these questions, including that of a national rate, which was brought before them very distinctly by several witnesses; but it was remarkable enough that when the Committee came to consider what recommendations they should make to the House, not one member of it took up the subject of a national rate at all, or propounded it as a re medy deserving a moment's consideration by Parliament. —(Dear, hear.) Two y ears ago a mot i on was brought forward by the late Lord Nugent in that House for the ap pointment of a Committee to consider the propriety of a national rats ; but the motion of the Noble Lord was negatived without a division.—(Hear, hear.) They had lately been called upon to discuss in a va riety of ways the subject of the burdens on land. Several motions bearing upon that point had been brought forward by the Hon. Member for Buckinghamshire, and everything that ingenuity and ability could do was urged by him in favour of his object; but the Hon. Gentleman never pro pounded a national rate as that which was likely to afford relief to the agricultural or any other portion of the com munity.—(Hear, hear.) Such had been the reception given to this proposal in times past, and he could not think that, on the ground of any arguments which had been used by the Hon. Member for West Gloucestershire, the House would now recommend the adoption of a national rate.—(Hear.) What was the precise proposition of the Hon. Member? It was, that " to alleviate a portion of the burdens from which the agricultural interest at present is suffering through the payment of parochial poor- rates," it was necessary " to sub stitute an equeleed poor -rate in England and in Wales, not exceeding Is. 6d. in the pound, and subject to local govern ment," The Hon. Gentleman said something about union rating in the sou-se of his address. He would not now enter upon that wide subject, but would simply remark that it was essentially different from a national rate; first, because the area over which the union rate could be distributed was ma nageable for all necessary purposes, and secondly, because every person who contributed to a union rate had by himself or his representatives a voice in the expenditure of the mo ney that was raised.—(Hear, hear.) It was raised within a certain area, and expended within that same area._( Hear, hear.) There were in England and Wales 5,000 parishes maintaining separately their own poor, almost altogether of an agricultural character, the rates in which were under Is. 3d. • but .he Hon. M em b er for West Gloucestershire pro posed to raise the rates of all these parishes from 2d., 3d., or 4d. in the pound, which many of them now paid, to Is. 6d. in the pound.—allear.) The excessive injustice of this, to say nothing of its effects on the interests of agriculture, must be evident to every one. In one place there was a pariah where the expenditure was carefully managed, and in another they found one where it was wasteful and extravagant, and a system at work at once injurious to the ratepiiyere, and & man moraliziwould ng and deb ese asing to the p oor; yet the ?Hors. Gentle parish that n put th ow paid a high rate on the same 'Lootto Is. 6d., g;—the would b e l owered and the one that now paid a low rate would be raised to the same amount.—(Hear, hear.) The economy of the one would have a reward, the extravagance of the other would have no penalty.--(Hear, hear.) the Hon. Gentleman proposed to make this change all at once. Those who this year paid 4d. in the pound were next year to pay is. 6d. What effect would not this have on the property of a parish! They had lately had considerable discussions on the incidence of taxation, but he apprehended that with such a sudden change as this there need be no discussion as te whether the owners or occupiers of land were likely to suffer, for unques tionably the result would be that both owners and occupiers would be the sufferers.—(Hear, hear.) Let the House con sider the waste that must take place under such a scheme as this. What motive would anybody have for economy?— (Hear, hear.) What would induce boards of guardians to investigate minutely the applications for relief that came be fore them, and what an opening would there not be to the ad mission of the most shameless impostors ?—(Heae, hear.) Then there was the fraud and jobbing that would unques tionably be committe and the efforts that would be made on all hands to get the largest slice of the general national fund.—(Hear, hear.) There would be a scramble on all hands ; many who wished to empl o y labourers at the cost of others would hail the advent of the national rate, and all the abuses of the old poor-law would Once more be engendered.— (Hear, hear.) Added to all these evils, could any one doubt that there would be that which must startle everybody, an indefinite increase of pauperism throughout the country—. (Hear, hear)—while the new system would be one of great cruelty to the really deserving poor?—(Hear, hear.) People who once got into pauperism would have no motive for coming out of it; habits of self-reliance would be de. stroyed in the Oise of the poor, every kiad of vice would be encouraged, and the national character debased and de graded.—(Hear, hear.) Next let the House look at the expense of the plan. The Hon. Gentleman proposed that in no case should the assessment exceed is. 6d. in the pound. Now, the total value of th e ratea bl e property of the country in 1847 was 67,320,587/. The amount levied last year under the head of parochial poor-rates, out of which county-rates, borough rates, and other items were paid, was 7,270,492/. What would be the produce of a rate of 18.6 d. in the pound? It would amount to 5,049,044/. Deducting that from the amount actually paid last year for the poor there would be a ,deficit of 2,231,4484.- (Hear, hear. ; This was to begin with. The Hon. Gentleman would start with a provision that was upwards of 2,000,000/. below the necessary expen diture; and how was it to be prpvided for? It must either :come out of the consolidated fund or the poor must starve. 'The Hon. Gentleman said he would have nothing to do with the consolidated fund, and, therefore, as the poor could not be allowed to starve, the assessment must be raised above is. 6d. in the pound, which his resolution declared Was not to be surpassed.—( Hear hear ) Any propo sa l more mischievous or rash it was difficult to conceive; indeed it swas the rashest and most inconsiderate scheme ever, per haps, brought before Parliament.—(Hear.) But then the Honourable Gentleman said the scheme was to be subject to local government. Now, was it pos sible to conceive of local self-government with a national rate to manage?— (Hear, hear.) Why, the thing would become such a nuisance that everybody would be petitioning for the abolition of local self-government as re spected the poor -rate.--(Hear.) He had never been for doing away with local government, and he believed it would . 'be one of the greatest calamities to the country if it were destroyed ; but he believed this would be a great blow at its -existence. Then, if there was to be a central board, only let the House think of the stipendiaries that would be neces sary to relieve the destitute poor in some 15,0,0 places in England and Wales, and the unconstitutional system thereby encouraged. Let the House also consider what the conse quences would be in times of pressure and difficulty, when it was understood by the poor that the Government of the country held the national purse for their relief.—(Hear, hear.) How would they be able to manage in periods of convulsion with such an understanding among the people?— ( Hear, hear.) Why, it would be attended with danger to all the best institutions of the country..,.( Hear, hear ) The -Hon. Gentleman concluded by expressing the hope that the House would negative the motion of the Hon. Member for West Gloucestershire. Mr. G. BERKELEY, after a few words in reply, said he Would not press his motion upon the House, and • The motion was then withdrawn. SPIRITS IN BOND. Lord NAAS rose to introduce his motion on the above subject. It was, in effect, the same motion which he had the honour to submit to the House last year, the principle of which was affirmed by a majority of the House on two oc casions, and which was rejected the third time by a narrow majority of one. (Hear, hear.) The complaint he had to make on toe part of those interested in Irish spirits was that the duty was levied, not on the quantity of spirits that went into consumption, but on the quantity originally measured into the spirit receiver, or what was te c h n i ca ll y ca ll ed the worm end, so that if the spirits were left for a considerable time in bond, the owners had to pay duty on a considerable quantity that had been lost by waste and evaporation. In making this motion he laid no claim to any reduction of taxation, or to any part of the surplus of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was said that the proposal he made would lead to fraud, and that it was an attempt to un settle the state of matters arranged after the appointment of the Committee on the sugar and coffee duties, in 1848. He found four sets of resolutions submitted to the Com mittee, and out of those four only one alluded to the dis tillers' case at all. That, he thought, might be taken as a proof that the distillers were no parties to the settlement which had been come to on this subject. But, assuming that the measure of 18 8 was a settlement of the question, and that the distillers were satisfied with it, what was the baais on which it was made? There was a differential duty between colonial and home-made spirits, but it was not made in any degree by way of protection; it was merely laid on as an equivalent, and a very inadequate equivalent, for the restrictions and disadvantages under which the home distil lers laboured on account of the laws enacted for securing the revenue. The differential duty between the colonial and home-made spirits was 4d. per gallon. It was said that the adoption of the plan he advocated would occasion a con siderable loss to the revenue. He had never heard of any calculation as to the probable amount of that loss, and he believed it was a mere matter of speculation. His opinion was that, so far from any loss being sustained, if that plan were adopted the re venue would be a considerable gainer. It would cause a great i ncrease in the consumption of whisky, and that without any increase of intemperance, because the sat of spirits w hi c h would then come into consumption ed would be very diff erent from that which was onuoly con hate sum in the thre e ki ng d oms. The peo ple was rips and pro aer sp i r i t instead of t h e raw, wcrudestuff which they we re now o bli ged to consume.regard With well known th a t to the export t ra d e i n sp i r i ts , it far from its bein g a th r i v i ng t ra de, during last year it h a d considerabhlyefoduencd b y reasedte returns,h and, so our export from the United Kingdom amounted _ that while, during the last month, y t e h a e rteo e f x 6 : sr o ,yoo rta eor ti p o g n oaritiao a nt e isoa,:noinof mention w T a u s ru m u spirits, g ad h e ou d t u t r h in e g re t ! l u e rn ias t t he article . of home made e valuable d. n p epieurttieofn fact, of t s r p a i d ri e t , s, w w as hi n ch et the reten tion of the present duty t am at o ti tt e n le t . ed almost to a prohibition of the export trade in the true the English m on ig ce ht me forma n 't mentioned . distillers did not call for any change in the present system. But what was the reason ? Theirs was a Spirit in its uality by the Irish quite different from h that which was consumed l' and the Scotch. 'I ere was only eight distillers in England, notwithstanding he enormous quantity of spirits consumed in this country. Owing to there being so few distillers, they, in effect, possessed a monopoly of the trade, and they perceived th.t if the plan which he (Lord Naa) desired to see adopted were carried out, and the allowance s granted to the Irish and Scotch distillers, it would considerably inter fere with their monopoly, L e y l i s e : g i V w e h n e e u r a t ls he cf d t i h fr e er lZ ta i sleu, ' 11 ;13 'noble Lord then read the following opinions of Messrs. Logic and Halliburton, Sur uwthyiewhaswaiss.d6edli.v:e—red by them " When spirits remain any time in the duty free ware house, they hill offiu strengaa often as much as 5 per cent., and also fall short in quantity, in many cases to the same amount. Th e d uty is, however, charged en the original quantity an d strength stored, the distiller has, therefore, not only to pay the duty in the first instance for the quantity wasted in store by evaporation and leakage, but he has again to pay for the difference in strength between 11 or 15 per cent., and the strength at which the spirits were actually taken out of store. This we consider a very great hardship, and it s h ou ld i n our o pi n i o n, beimme diately ren4cdled. The beard are al - are that: thc; /91- porters o n t tit d; ree t, s ( i l e u ty a i e . e e o e f l , a t a a e i r d i l d fo N e r v e e h e i e g e n n r i t a t a , n g k d e n t c o o o l i o t t t n h i e a of l h p u e i a r n i a t t s s- i a t r s le n :h a_ ( e y ai n s d b e if each cask is then found to contain, although, Per7 l years under bond ; we think it would be but brs lust this equitable regu l a ti on, w hi c h the importers o f ruin, and hollands have so long tended to the distillers of these countries; indeed, w Si 'er it would absolutely be necessary, in order to prom them." last The Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary-at-War , enjoyed, should b e t d h not e ujg°i'' conditionsaid th at this f h l e v a p s oo a r ot Scotland,question whicheud that cone h e concerned the proposition his support, because it would dernor e al a i;, people of that country by increasing intemperanc e n , them. But, so far was he (Lord Naas) from agreti the the Right Hon. Gentleman, that his Upinion was !, u8 „, they wo o l land, because (as he had said before) the aunts , • He hoped sure would tend to improve the habirs of the people or acv h , consume would be of a better quality. ceodul nt or " siou of this demand would not be an unsettlement losse to tb,' question; that it was not likely to cause any grea had proved to the satisfaction of the Ilouse that the cori , c . e4 would encourage the export trade in spirits; th , t it would increase intemperance; hat it would give addition a l revenue; that it would not open a door to fra . usl_,4 d ' ai very ment to the poor; and, lastly, that it would be b i n areas' portant measure in an agricultural point of view, Y all the ing the markets to the farmers. In consequence ~n g considerations, he thought he had not done wro 015 1 sub mitting his proposition to the House.—(Cheers.) reS t Noble Lord concluded by moving that the H ouse Lord for Mr. J. WILSON, after complimenting the No ad brougli l it selfin eeinetfo levying v C :s o i m ng m t i i t t t e ee d , a t t o y t o a n k e into home-made epconsiderationritaibatlhebeeap. present the clear and temperate manner in which be h bro u ght his motion forward, said, that as the question übs& already settled by a Parliamentary Committee, ands of t h e ; quently by the House in consequence of the report at an! Committee, he (lid not feel it necessary to enter egaineestios great length into the subject. If there was one . l , cone . more than another which engaged the attention of I ,u ° mittee of 1848 it was the arrangement of the aPir ltd e ut e l i n es. - It was true no Irish distiller was examined before that m ete& mittee, nor was there any Irish Member on the Co not —( Hear.) When that Committee was appointed it contemplated to make the spirit duties the subject rn an y That would fully account for the fact of there not bung i Irish Member on the Committee.. Although the originalduties sP ir ! c ` b took tention of Lord George I3entinck excluded the from consideration, yet during the discussions place before the C omm i ttee the rate of duty :evied ,on co rum became so imp or t ant a subject that the whoreTogioaairy., of the spirit d u t ies was necessarily involved in the b rut, although no Irish distiller was examined, a S e° a ble of dis tiller of great eminence and ability, and a person capa bl e Mr. and' as giving the fullest information on the subject— u tbe was examined with regard to the Scotch distilleries , he (Mr. Wilson) understood the Noble Lord to Plattise claim of the Irish and of the Scotch distillers on the co . principle, he thought their case could not be more ah l Y„,eal ducted than by Mr. Greig. With regard to the diffetl, his duty, although he believed the Noble Lord was correct e i "„ o t statement generally, yet he would find, from subs 6 1" 1 , 0 discussions that ensued, that a more correct egire ste se eich afterwards made as to the component parts of that 4d. ena y constituted that differential duty. It was intended a Flit of the 4d. should represent the deficiency in bonded ar y but a large quantity of spirits went direct from the dirtn ti ge into consumption, and thus the distiller had the advs 10 of the penny. Thus, the total quantity of spirits rOS I ",,Iy Scotland in 1850 was 11,500,000 gallons, of which l ' t es 3,760,000 gallons went into bond, leaving the producL ad' benefit of the penny; and the Irish distiller had th e s oe vantage of Id. p er ga ll on on 2,000,000 gallons, in the se , for the same y ear. H e was aware the number at bid tilleries bad diminished in Ireland, and no doubt them p ly been numerous instances of local distress, but that was: ta te Alia same thing th a t h a d taken place in every manda wa in this country a l so; and the whole tendency ef o e nufacture was t o grow up i nto large establishments, awn' gel ing up the smaller ones by the application of machinery capital. Th e N o bl e L ord had not stated that the glut' t ee of spirits produ ce d h a d i ncreased considerably, thouect abet number of distilleries had been diminished. In 1841 "eel. were 82 distilleries in Ireland, which produced 6,900,00 0 °es, lons, and last year, though there were snly 53 distillervir the quantity of spirit made was 8,2'66,000 gallons. li tt l ac er posed the object of this motion was to compare the pre l e tt of home-made spirits with the producer of rum. But 0 00 were the fact s ? I n 1847, the last year before the dritlico rum was lowered, the quantity of spirits made in Irelahe• 6,370,000. In 1850, alter four years of competition v r , n /L rum at the altered duty, it had increased to 7,4oSouv A i s There was a complaint that the trade with England hard diminished, but would Hon. Gentlemen look from those fe 0 preceding 1846, when the average export from Ireland! W m 300,000 gallons, to last year, when it amounted to 871st gallons? Ile admitted i t h ad risen to 1,418,000 gallor 3 s s j 1846, but in the ye ar p rev i ous the average was as ha P be stated, and it had falle n f rom t h at year till 1853, at which last returns sho w ed th e a b ove result. Now, it happened t b f it simultaneously with thi s d ecrease from Ireland there bad b eeo an increase is the i mports from Scotland. The qua ll imported from the latter country had increased last year fr e cp , 1,500,003 gallo ns to 2,6W,000 gall ons , an d therefore t i le 2 - ,1 ficiency of imports from Ireland was more than comper e3tior by the increase from Scotland. It would be worth while the Irish distillers to look to this question, and see why s,°;, a result had tak en p l ace; for unquestionably the Scotch ol tillers hail no advantages w hi c h they did not posse 0 io fr equal proportion. S o f ar f rom the low duty having belai vourable to the colonies, it would appear there had ee contrary result. The quantity of home-made spirits in E e l . land, Ireland, and Scotland in 1848 was 22,202,000 ga in 1850 it had increased to 2 3,862,000 gallons, an increase ° j 1,600,000 g a ll ons i n two years, while Ireland and Sco f /J. 1 1: showed an i ncrease of 920,000 gallons on the same pc :l4 ig notwithstanding this co mpet i t i on with the colonies. P them look to th e c o l on i a l spirits, and they would find th tit ,5 1847 the consumption of rum was 3,328,000 gallons, while 1850 it had falle n t o 2,902,000 gall ons , s h ow i ng a decre,sse o f 400,000 gallons on the foreign produce. Would any one Aitb these facts before hi m pretend to say the settlement of 1' was unfair to th e h ome produce?—(Hear, hear.) The Scotch and Irish di s till ers could send their produce into - this country, but the produce of the English distillers oi* re'; tifie , s was prohibit e d i n S cotland and Ireland.—(No, ne./ English raw sprits re ight be introduced into those cour ttrieft but not, he believed, the compound spirit, which alone• 10 , 5 consumed. Th e S cotc h and Irish distillers would think tile°, case a hard ono it that rule applied to them. If any party 'Th e cause to c om pl a i n, it was the English distiller. consumption of spirits manufactured in England had de creased during the l as t t en years. In 1841 the quantit, v o f Etigish-made spirits consumed in England was 5,5007 000 gallons; in 185 u it was 5,800,000 gallons, showing a fal ling off of 100,000 gallons. While this was the position of a s English distilier, the consumption of Scotch spirits had creased in his own market during the same period lfroo 4,000,000 of gallons and upwards to nearly 6,000,000 of gal lons, and of Irish spirits, from 2,300,000 to 3,400,000 al ,lone- These facts show e d th a t t h e Scotch and Irish distiller s had no reason to complain of the Excise regulations. I - Trader these circumstances he called upon the House not to' dis turb the settlement which was come to in 1848. If they should determine to grant the prayer of the Irish and S eitch distillers, the colonial distiller would immediately claiim re lief' to the same extent, and the struggle would probably eau' in the abolition of the spirit duties altogether. Mr. REYNOLDS said, the Honourable Gentleman who bad just sat down had, referring to the Committee of 184 S, talked of a settlement and an arrangement. H e (gr. Reynolds) was not aware of any arrangement having beea come to, though he had paid much attention to the subjec at the time. There was, in fact, no Irishman either on thsi' Committee, nor examined as a witness before it; but hi way of reconciling them to the conclusions of the Corn mittee, the Honourable Gentleman had stated that User a were two Scotchmen examined before it. Though he evil the great figure-Member—(A laugh) —put forward by t be Government, the Honourable Gentleman had failed, with . his statistics, treated. to convince hirn (Mr. R e y no ld s ) that they h sd been fairly , the Honourable Gentleman h ad rather astonished him by quoting figures which only e isted in his own fertile imagination. He had said, for la' stance, that the loss from leakage in Ireland to the ( is tiller was ' arid in Sc o tl an d 1-10 d. Why, an offit pia' document which he (Mr Reynolds) held in his hand show red that in the bonded warehouse in Dublin the total deficicne:l by leakage and evaporation on twelve puncheons was 141 1 gallons, or 8 1 / 2 per cent., instead of a penny and. ail eighth. Again, with respect to the differential duty of 4d., the Honourable Gentleman s'id that 1(1. was allowed for plant, 34 d. for another descries,. Lion of plant, and ld. for a third description of plant, and the three together the lion. Gentleman, with all his power of fi gures , called 3%(1., while it w as only 2%d. The fact, however, was that 3&d. was allowed for the greater cost of the plant of the home manufacturer, ,as compared 'with the foreign and colonial manufacturer, and id. for lealsage and evaporation. But to plaint—the Frenchman, the Portugue se , th e Spaniard--in might send d me to hisowtnhewirneea,lrcuamu,seorobfrileenmdy iwnotordLaynypatorrteoir the er Llnited Kingdom, and h ave it bonded in the Queen's stores for five or six years, and when he took it out he paid duty only 011 the quantityut aanseltostrtehnegltrhiswhhaincah existed at the time of takin g i t out; but Scotch subjects of the realm, they paid a penalty amounting considerable. For if a. in some cases to something very vap2osrapteedr half of i o t l e ee st r re p u r g o t o h f e lveeaskseedl, half say that of 120 a quantityl l on a s nd and e while in bond, the bonding party i m et rhu,ses therefore, e p fi o a t r y lev, aa did d u a tnyotof2s question, contain. I d.. per gallon in Ireland upon every proof gallon which had ib,eheenq l u o e s e t t , i o a n n d w a w a h n i c e h t a t h a e p i v ri e t s . s d e e l a , labour ;it was an agricultural question —a question of the of profitable employment of the labour of the country. The present was the third time they had tried this question ;last e ear they had been beaten by a majority of one, but he trusted that that night they should have a considerable ma jority. He did not believe teat any Irish Members would vote against them. However they , might differ, like other men, on some other ques ions, on this he trusted they were all agreed. Mr. B. CARTER opposed the motion. If the Noble Lord's (Lord Naas) views were carried out it would destroy the distinction between Excise and Customs t the duty in the one case being p a id on consumption, in the other en production; besides, it was askin g an un f a i r a d vantage for the Scotch and Irish had di stillers over the English di s till er. If a case been made out for anything it was for a Committee nee Mr. GROGAN reminded the House that the motion, if carried, would confer a benefit on the English as well as on the Irish and Scotch distiller. As the case stood an ad 'vantage was conferred on the foreigner from which they shut out their own fellow-subjects. The Customs and Ex cise system ought to be identified. The argument of the Hon. Member for Westbury was directly at variance with the evidence given before the Committee by Mr. Wood, wh o stated that the differential duties between colonial and Bri ilodwoi on the thbeu quantity not anti a ty t the expense of spirit a t the time of payi ng th e d u ty. A punche on o f whisky was also Bri tish spirits w ere j ust and r i ght because of t h e peculiar charges incident to Scot c h an d I r i s h sp i r i ts . A pILE cheo n o f foreign brandy was l an d e d at Li verpoo l, w h ere i t remained five or o si f x th 3 e . importer, ears impro% W in h g o a o u n d ly m p e a l bonded at Liverpool, but in the first place it paid a duty on the decrease in taking it out of bond in Ireland, and then came to England, and might be bonded, perhaps, in the same store as the puncheon of French brandy. He assumed that both decreased equally: but what Was the positioo of the owners? 'rho Frenchman took his brandy out, and paid only on the quantity in the cask a t that time; while the Irishman or the Seotelitnan, in addition to paying on the de crease in his own cou try, paid also on the deficiency occur ring after the time when his g lets were bonded in England detaitseree might t w i s ) t: m a a fa d c e t o N u V t 2_l c a o t the high ot iie rate y t o i the English whatever figures t . The Hon. Memer for Westbury had endeavoured by to institute an invidious comparison as to the extent of trade carried on with England by Ireland and Scotland ; but the truth was, that both Ireland and Scotland were suffering from one common injuatice, and now came to ask a remedy at the hands of the House. The increase in the manufacture to which allusion ha been made would not remedy the evil, but rather magnify it. The Hon. Member for Westbury had referred to the number of gallons brought to charge as an indication of prosperity; but he had always thought it much. more beneficial to have a number of distillers distributed throughout the country than to have all the business cons°- , 'dated in the hands of aNW large capitalica, All that the IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF LORDS, May 6. RETIREMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. The Earl of HARDWICK!? then rose, pursuant to his notice, to move for a return of the supplementary estimate for the retirement of naval officers. He moved for this paper merely for the purpose of making a state ment on the subject, as the paper itself, as their Lord ships all knew, had already appeared in all the news papers. There was no doubt that the state of the naval profession had engaged the serious attention of all recent Administrations, as well as of her Majesty's present Government, not only as regarded the navy list gene rally, but also as regarded the inefficient officers on that list, with a view to inducing them to retire from it, and of causing thereby a gradual reduction of the heavy charge of the dead weight. That was a subject which must at all times be interesting to the country, as it re lated to a branch of the national service which was justly dear to it. Questions had been made with the views he had just stated, and which had been to a certain extent successful in reducing the list. In the year Is4o the last effort had been made for the reduction of that list, and had been in operation up to the present time. It had two principal features—first, it was voluntary, and next it had reference to the discipline of the navy. It was deemed necessary that all captains should serve six years at sea before they could obtain their sags. Those who had not were put some years ago on the retired list; but this regulation was thought to bear hard on many officers, and theirnames were in consequence transferred to the active list. He therefore assumed that if the Crown called for the services of those officers, they would be compelled to perform active service, and would have no means, if they were so inclined, of avoiding it. A recent order, which bad been issued for the purpose of putting certain officers on the retired list, was a com pulsory order, and made them take rank summarily on the retired list, without any choice whether they would do so or not. Those officers who were at the head of the captains' hat would also be compelled to retire, if they had not seen six years' active service mt. He would enter into a brief explanation of the mode in which this regulation would act. The first operation would be this, that every officer on the admirals' list who had been per mitted to take his place on the active list, and who had not served six years at sea for his flag, would be com pelled to lease the active list, and to retire with his per manent rank on permanent half-pay. Now, this was a breach of faith with rorty-two or forty-three officers, who, being on the active list, were still anxious to serve the Crown. There were on the admirals' list undoubtedly a number of officers who wished it thinned to a certain extent, but, at the same time it must be admitted that though there were officers who would be satisfied with the place which they would obtain by the retire ment of their seniors, it would be extremely hard on many of those officers who were still anxious to serve the Crown. There might be officers who, when the list was thus cleare i off, might find themselves within reach of a vice-admiral' s flag. It was proposed to give to the Treasury a sum of 1,5004 a year, which was to be di vided into pensions of 1501. a year for ten retiring ad mirals. No doubt many officers might be glad to see a large portion of officers struck off from the admirals' list, and 8 ° many admirals who stood in their way bought off by the country; but this mode of dealing with the senior officers might not be so agreeable to such of them as were still hale and active and ready to go into any part of the world on the service of the Crown. His next ob jection was to the mode in which it was proposed to re duce the number of captains. Every captain who came to the top of the list was to be asked whether he had ' served six years afloat. If he had, then he was to be told to pass on to the admirals' list; but if he did not, then he was to be told to pass off to the rear- admiralelist, and was to be put on half-pay at once for the rest of his life. He would suppose that there were three, whom he would call Captain A, Captain 13, and Captain C; Cap tain A is introduced to the secretary of the Admiralty; he looks rather old—indeed, he is 65 or 70; he is rather subject to the rheumatism, and his nerves are somewhat out of order. But he has served his six years afloat, although it unfortunately happens that it was some 20 years ago. " Well," says the Secretary, " let him go to the active list." Captain Bis then introduced. He has served hie six years afloat, but it has been at South ampton, or some such place, in the packet service. " Oh," says the Secretary, " pass him on, too, to the admirals' list." Captain Cis then introduced. "Have you served six years at sea?" " No," is his reply; " though willing, I was not able to get employment." He is a hearty, healthy man, knows his business, and is anxious to serve, but he has not been employed, and therefore the order is given, "Put him on the retired list." Such was the fact. An officer, who had gained his laurels many years ago, and who was perhaps too old to acquire more, might be placed on the active list, while another was placed on the retired list when he was able and willing to serve, but was rendered incapable of serving by this new regulation. It was true, that it was intended by it to give an honourable retirement to those officers who were worn out in the service; but it was not just to use it to turn out officers who were yet capable and desirous of serving. You lay down a rigid Jaw that every officer must serve six years before he can have his flag; but do you offer to every officer the opportunity of serving for that time? No; you have not been able to employ your captains of late for that period in active service; and, therefore, your recent re gulation is but a summary process for turning a certain portion of them out of th© service. The reduction of the number of captains on the active list from 500 to 350 was au extraordinary course, whereby they were enabled to place on the active list many officers who ought to retire, and remove from it many officers who ought to be retained in the service. The order, in its very words, implied a contradiction, though he hoped that there was no contradiction in reality. Their Lordships observed "that their arrangement included the creation of ten pen sions for admirals." That item of ten pensions would entail on the country an additional expenditure per annum, but they went on to express their hope that the Lords of the Treasury " would Lot withhold their as sent to a small charge which will enable them to effect a beneficial alteration with due consideration of the claims of old officers." It was therefore a matter of some doubt yet whether these pensions would be granted. But their Lordships further observed, "As vacancies occur in the active list of flsgscfficers ' the captain first in seniority who h as served far his flag will be pro moted (reserving her Majesty's undoubted right of selec tion)." In that last parenthesis there was a loophole for HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 6. POOR- R A TES —A GRICULT URAL BURDENS. Mr. GRAN :'LET BERKELEY rose to move a reso lution in u Committee of the whole House, that to alle viate a portion of tile burdens from which the agricul tural interest is at present suffering, through the payment of parochial poor-rates, varying in many instances from 65., 75., is., 95., to 13s. 10d. in the pound. it will be necessary to substitute an equalised poor rate, in England and Wales, not exceeding Is. 6d. in the pound, and subject to local government. Some parishes were paying 179. in the pound; Bishop Wearmouth, he believed, even paid as much as Its. 9d. He proposed that there should ba an immediate fresh assessment for making rates for the support of the poor, iu order to remove the inequalities of the present system of rating. A copper, tin, or iron mine, for instance, which yielded 10,0001. a year was exempted from the tax, while a coal mine in the same neighbourhood, pro ducing only 2001., had to pay the full rate. If the whole mines in the kingdom now exempted were made to pay towards the support of the poor, the poor-rates would no longer be burdensome, arid would be easily borne. He wished to make a na tional rate, but he totally disagreed with the pro position that the cost of the poor should be paid out of the Consolidated Fund. He wished to maintain, if possible, a local power, in order to check all unnecessary expense. He would suggest that there should be a general maximum rate of Is. 6d. in the pound. Some would say that this would be unfair to those localities which paid a less sum, but he found if his plan were adopted there would be a much greater number of districts benefited than compelled to pay a larger sum. Besides, he did not think as high a rate as ls. 6d. would be required; he only fixed that as the maximum rate which should be assessed. The Hon. Member concluded by proposing his motion. Captain HARRIS seconded the resolution. He referred to the report of Mr. Beckett, a Poor-law Commissioner, who stated that he had perceived in many quarters a feeling in favour of a national rate • and the justic e o f t h e principle had been acknowled ge d b y the Secretary of the Treasury, who in his evidence before th e L o -d s ' Committee last year, though he put forward many difficulties, said nevertheless he was quite prepared to admit that, unless it could be shown that there was a special reason in favour of a local tax limited to real property, it was more fair and equitable to defray the expense of poor relief out of a national tax, to comprehend all descriptions of property. The plan of Lord Malmesbury made every man pay according to his ability, and retained local management. No fewer than 200 unions had given in their adherence to it; in the union where he (Captain Harris) attended the board of guardians there were objec tions to it at first, but they agreed to it after a discussion. Lord Malmesbury proposed to ascertain the whole poor , law expenditure for seven years. For the seven years pre vious to March, 1849, the total expenditure for England, Wales, and Scotland was 5,850,0001. He then ascertained what amount of tax would reach that average. hd. in the pound levied on every species of income down to 301. would meet the expenditure. The Poor-law Board would draw from the Exchequer the average sum for each pariah and union; and if the guardians exceeded the sum remitted to them they would be called on to raise a rate-in-aid on the real property in the parish ; but, if a surplus accrued, the amount would be applied to the county rate. Mr. BAINES hoped the Hon. Gentleman who brought forward this motion, and the Hon. Gentleman who seconded it, would not think him guilty of any disrespect towards them if he should pass over many of the topics to which they had directed the attention of the House, seeing it was his desire to confine himself as closely as possible to the resolution which had been submitted for their ,pproval. The questions of settlement, of assessment, of personal property, and other matters winch had been introduced into the discussion were u each of them of su ffi c i ent importance to merit a distinctdis cussion ; but he did not th i nk they should be mixed p with the question now b efore the House, and therefore, instead of referring to them, h e would confine his observations solely to the resolution which had be n proposed. But, before he did so, perhaps th e H ouse wou ld perm it him to allude to the appeal made to hi m persona lly by the Hon. Member for West Gloucestershire, as to the Poor-law ie returns for whi c h he held him re s pon s ibl e . The Hon. Member mber asked ho w it ) was that in 1846 a change was made y a general order o . the Poor-law Bygcl d, IV PP to that time VA roo