The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-06-19 00:00:00

THURSDAY.

The Speaker took the chair at noon.
The house having resolved itself into a committee upon the
Education (Scotland) Bill, Lord ELCISO inquired how the
government intended, in the event of a bill passing, to admin-
ister and distribute the Privy Council grants, with reference
to Romanists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians.—Lord PAL-
MERSTON replied that there were certain schools for which the
bill made no provision, and, as the object of the government
was to ditilise education, there was no wish. on their part to
withhold assistance from schools which would not receive
benefit from the bill. The committee proceeded to discuss the
details of the bill, which occupied the entire sitting.
GOVERNMENT OP VICTORIA.—At the evening sitting, Lord
J. RUSSELL, in moving the second reading of the Victoria
Government Bill, stated the reasons why the Government had
adopted the colonial bill, removing those clauses to which
Her Majesty could not assent.—Mr. BELL moved to defer
the second reading for six months. He objected to the bill as
introducing an element of discord connected with religious en-
dowments.—Mr. LOWE said the bill encroached upon the Co-
lonial Legislature, which was invited to encroach upon the
jurisdiction of that house. If the bill should pass, and Her
Majesty gave her assent to it, a competent court would pro-
nounce it a nullity. He pointed out instances in the bill in
which the Colonial Legislature had exceeded its limited juris-
diction, and trenched upon the rights of the central authority,
as well as examples of anomalies in its frame and structure.
The house ought to proceed no further with the bill, which
should be sent back to Port Philip.—Mr. J. BALL said the
same principle had been applied to this bill as to the
Canada Bill by the 10th and 11th of Victoria, so that there
was no reason to doubt the legality of this legislation.
Substantially, this was simply a bill to give legal form
and validity to an act of the Colonial Legislature.—Mr.
ADDERLEY, after reviewing the long and tangled history
of the Australian constitutions, assented to the views of Mr.
Lowe as to the form of the bill, and suggested what he con-
ceived to be a better mode of dealing with the subject.—Sir J.
PAKINGTON said he had heard nothing from Mr. Lowe or,
Mr. Adderley which made him think it his duty to vote
against the second reading of the bill. He considered this
bill and the next (the New South Wales Government Rill) to
bear the complexion of an arrangement to meet the expressed
wishes of the colonies ; and that, under the circumstances,
should they be rejected, except upon the most clear and valid
grounds, it would be like a breach of faith, and create the
greatest dissatisfaction in the colonies.—Lord J. RUSSELL
said that, upon the whole, whether nu agreen or not with -
every particular of the constitution, he was satisfied that it
had been framed with great deliberation, and he heartily
trusted that it would contribute to the happiness and pros-
perity of the colony.—Mr. BELL withdrew his amendment,
and the bill was read a second time.
NEW SOUTH WALES GOVERNMENT.—On the order for the
second reading of the New South Wales Government Bill, Mr.
LOWE said, almost all the objections he had urged to the last
bill applied with equal force to this. He should not, however,
repeat those objections, but state that the reason why he
thought the house should not proceed further with this bill
was that the Legislative Council which had sent this bill did
not represent the colony or its interests, but other interests ;
that the constitution was not the primary object of the bill,
but was secondary to another and ulterior object, namely—the
obtaining for certain parties in the colony enormous tracts of
the public land. He then proceeded to show the influence of
the squatting interest in the colony, the manner in which the
new Legislative Council was elected, and the animus with
which they went to work in framing a constitution, the ob-
ject being, he said, not to consider the wants of the colony, or
what the popular voice required, but to serve the purpose of
keeping the public lands in few hands. He moved to defer
the second reading for six months.—After a short discussion,
the second reading was affirmed by 142 to 33.
The Waste Lands (Australia) Acts Repeal Bill was read a
second time.—The Coal Mines Inspection Bill passed through
committee--The National Gallery, &c. (Dublin) Bill, the
Public Libraries and Museums (Ireland) Bill, and the Places
of Religious Worship Registration Bill were read a third time
and passed.—The Absconding Debtors (Ireland) Bill passed
through committee.—The Insurance on Lives (Abatement of
Income-tax Continuance Bill) and the Cinque Ports Bill were
read a third time and passed.—The amendments in the
Burial-grounds (Scotland) Bill were considered and agreed to.
—The Spirit of Wine Bill passed through committee,—The
Woolmer Forest Bill and the Stamp Duties Repeal on Matri-
culation and Degrees (Oxford) Bill were read a third time and
passed.—The Consolidated Fund (B 10,000,000) Bill was read
a second time,—Mr. CAIRNS brought in a bill to amend the
Court of Exchequer (Ireland) Act, 1850.
The house adjourned at 20 minutes before 2 o'clock.