The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-03-18 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

In the Rouse of Lords, March 13, Lord Granville, on the
InvitatJon of the Duke ,1 Richmond, recapitulated the state-
ment made it few minute' previously to the other House,
e.e to the provisions of the Treaty signed yesterdsy by the
Plenipotentiarleo at tho Block Sea Conference. fiu added
that the French PleMputentlary had signed the Protocol as
wet as the Treaty,

Lord Nelson, in Calling attention to the new &IoosGNI
Code of 1871, expreeted his gratification that Mr. Fonter
had conceded the prln,pal alterations to which his notice
referred. Accepting the new Code sea bone Mac fulfilment
of the pledges made by the Government last year. he ad-
verted to two or three points which still demanded recon-
sideration.

The Dube of Richin cli, who had also given nolics of a
motion in favour of dh uninhlng the number of attendance s
lee evening .cbool• In su,ricultural parishes, which had been
conceded by the Govrrnmeut. proceeded to criticize several
article, of the new Cod° which required amendment. The
ii,veroment had been more IMeral with regard to money,
but they had made the terms no much more stringent that he
doubted whether the enools in agricultural dLtricts would
be much better off.

Lord Halifax gave el ,I,unstmos on the points raised, and,
with regard to costal eations put without n.tice I y the
Duke of Richmond, aaju he wuuld inform himaelf upon 1,1,m,
and reply on. future (.I,casion.

_
Lord nhaftesbury glanced at various points in the new
rode, expressed him th,cp regret at 0... exclusion of music from
schools lie bore elo,,u,nt testimony, derived from he, 0-
Nervation of many year., to the humanist] g influences of the
hymn. and simple songs taught in nehools not only ui,ou
the children, but upon many wPd and nu len parents To
strike out music from 'le schools was to surrender one of
the greatest advantages God bad put Into our hands for the
refinement of the humbler classes.

The Lord Chancellor, in moving the second reAding of the
Prayer•book (Table of Lesson.) Bill, brittly deacrihed the
changes made by the or •aure, which tam now bee, bet we
the public nearly tw :.eArs, and had been I,ceived re.th
general client. He gat ',droned to the injury in iholed upm
the printing trade by the existing delay and uncertainty, as
an additional resaon for passing the bill.,
Lord Shaftesbury, while accepting the new arrangement of
tenons as, upon the whole, an Improvement, renewed hi.
ro 'actions to certain change., and regretted tout tor the sake
of the peace of the Church the Albanasian Creed bad not
been eliminated from the public sorrier, while retaining it.
place In the Prayer-book.
The Blahop of Gloceater supported the bill.

Lord Stanhope again erpressed his repugnance to the
public use of the AC inaslan Creed, but was unwilling to
harard the loss of the 101 l 1,3, extending Its suope. Ile tru.ded
that the Archbishop of Canterbury, who held an equally
atrung opinion astabic the use of this creed, wool], on Me
return, consult with tho other prelates, anti remove this
great stumbling-block from the Church.
Lord Cairis. renewe %la protest avhist the recital In tha
bill that the new Table had obtained the coasent of the Con-
vocation of Canterbur., and the C .mmltteo of Convocation of
ork, when the limn,' of the Crown had never been elven
to the Convocation of "titer province to consider the subject.
Lord Ehury was dim pointed that to sm au Instalment
of the Commissioners' ',commendations Lad boon tun`sodied
In the bill.

The Bishop of Lomb pointed out that the bill would not
preclude legislative ect,ou upon the other recommendatiohs
of the Ritual Commlo o. Thrusands of the I dty, aa well
as many of the clergy, could regard any ,sttempt to remove
the Athanaalan Creed from the Church S,vice with regret,
If not with Indignation, and any attempt to legtslate in this
sense would only Imperil the passing of the bill.
Lord Grey said that the new Lectien cry, although an un-
doubted improvement, would be dearly purchase.l If, In outer
to remove the uncertaioty in the pfluting trans. any under-
standing Wined that this bill was to be the end of legislative
reform In the Prayer-book. lie denounced tho mts-named
arid Irreverent Athauselan Creed with great warmth as the
barbarous production of a barbarous age, to which he never
listened without teeth:o of horror and disgust.

Lord Beauchamp pointed out the difficulties iu the way of
removing from the set vice a creed which, In hie opinion,
had been a source of comfort and Consolation to many
generations of Churchmen.
After a few obeery -.Cons from Lori. Lyttleton and the
Bishop of Chichester,
Lord Granville explained the reasons which had actuated
the Govfonment tfi not going beyond the L,ctionfiry in thd
present OHL At a later time they reserved to themselves
the power of proposinc legislation on other recommendations
of the Commission. If .cogutzleg the force of Lord Citric'
objection, he said the iverninet would be willing In Ci.ra-
mittee to strike out the recital In the preamble an to the
consent of Convocation.

The bill was read a it cond time, and their lordahipa ad-
!iurned.

In the House of Commons, a number el private bills were
read a second time.

Mr. 0 Morgan gave notice that on a future day he would
call attention to the ri...:eut acipitttal of M artha forpry, and
to the expediency of aoolishing the law which Ist certain
cages exempts married women from the responsibility of
their own criminal acts.

Mr. Bailie Cochrane asked whether the Government,
before coning to any decielou in the Conference, would
not take means to learn what were the contingencies whb.h,
In Baron Brnnow's opinion, justified a violation of the Treaty
of 1e.56, the more especially as subsequently. In reply to Lurd
Granville, the Russian ambassador declared that these Con•
tingencles had never be,o realised

Lord Enfield, In reply to the first question, raid that Lead
Granville had received the permission of the Bunten
Ambassador to state that the contingencies to which
his Excellency had nil ailed bad referen .e to the pos-
sible bearing of the veer between Austria and Italy,
upon the integrity eon Independence of the Turkish
Empire. Ills lorashl,l then went on to say A Treaty
has been signed to-day at the Foreign Gibes, by which
the clauses of the treaty of 1.f.56 respecting the 51011-
tralisation of the Black Sea are ahrogatsd. The reelec-
tions imposed by previously existing treaties upon the
Porte with regard to the clot& g of the Straits of
the Dardeuelles and the Boaphorus are no for modified
as to admit of their opening by the Porte, even in time of
peace, to the velsels of war of friendly and allied Powers,
and in case the Pate :tumid think It necessary to do 40, In
order to ensure the execution of the stipulations of the Treaty
of Paris of March, leT I, The treaty just signed also provides
for the prolsalgattm of the European Commission of the
Danube for twelve years, and also for the coutinued neutrali-
sation of the works alre..ly created or to be created by the
Commission with a saving of the rights of the Porte, 93
a territorial Power, to send ships of war into the Danube.
At the tint meeting of the Conference, on the 17th Junior),
special protocol was signed, recording that It wee an essential
principle of the law of nations that no power can liberate
itself from the engfmements of a treaty, or modify the
stipulation@ thereof, unless with the consent of the other
contracting Powers t y means of an amicable arrangement.
I have further to say that the French plenipotentiary has
this day signed the protocol, with the treaty and the proto-
cols sf the Conference, and the treaty will be preaented to
Parliament with the least possible delay
The debate on the Army 11,g,lati-n 1111 was resumed
by Sir .i Pakiegton, and after a lebatheued discussion, in
which several hon, members took part,
Mr. B. Osborne moved the adjmrnment of the debate,
and Mr. Gladstone, in acquleeclue expressed a hope that
it would be brought to a cisme on Th undo,. Mr. Be utinck,
however, and Mr. Anderson, on behalf of the private
members, declined to be bound by any understanding.
The Stamp Act (1870, Amendment Bill was considered in
Committee, and some other bills having been disposed of,
the House adjourned.

la the House of Lords, March 14, Lord Cairns laid On the
tatie as public measures two bills, the Presbyterian Church
of Ireland Bill, and the Primitive Wesleyan Methodist Society
of Ireland Bill, which had in the first instance been intro-
duced as private bills.
They were read a flw t time.
• • -

Their lordships were, Into committee on the Tables of Le.
sone Bill. After a bro I converration, the Lord Chancellor
consented to omit a sentence from the preamble, and the bill
then passed through colcmittee.
Upuo the order of the day for going into committee on the
Benefices Restoration 811 l Lord R mllly, advgrting to the
absence of the Brsluip A Wincheiter, who had charge of the
bill, and to the fact the amendments proposed by the
right rev, prelate had only been delivered that monolog,
moved that the Committee should toe postp ,ned until Thurs-
day. Ultimately, upon. diV.310,1 first of the Scssion ), their
lordships, by a mrjority of to to 23, went into Committee.

Ca Clause 3,
L ,rd Cairns said It we lid be neeessal7 to decide how low
the bill ought to go No one would propose that In the
case of a living of £lOO year the Incrimben: should be able
to retire with & third of that sum lie accordingly moved
that the line should be mein at livings of £3OO a year.
Lord Nelson adduced instances to show that the amend-
ment would Injuriously narrow the operation of the bill.
The Bishop of London said that the machinery would
seldom be set in motion in the case of livings under £3OO a
year, but that it would Le undesirable to draw any hard and
fait line.
The Bishop of Winchester I who explained that he had been
detained by unavoidable duties), said he could not accept
the amendment, which would render the bill practically
uncles..
the amendment was negatived, and the remaining clauses
were considered.

In Clause 6 the operation of the bill is restricted to cases
where the Incumbent thelares himself to be " Incapacitated
by permanent mental and bodily infirmity from the due per-
formance of his doles" In Clause 9, which enabled the
Bishop to fix the rettrivg pension at an amount not exceeding
one-third the "gross" annual value of the benefice, the word
'gross" was struck out, It was also agreed to omit from
the preamble and clatnes the word "ace," as constituting a
ground for claiming retirement under the bill.
The bill was then reperted with amendments, and their
lordships ad I ,coned.

- -
loth° Howe of Commons, the Right Hon. James Stansfe'd
took the oath awl his coat on his re election for the borough
of Halifax.
- -

Mr Gladdone, reply to Mr. acland, cati that the Pill
for the Adjustment o Burdens, referred to tu her
Majesty's speech, ve, • . continue to receive the et-
tentlon of the First '. lof the Admirvlty, notwithstand-
ing his change of °Mte tie could not name We date of Its
Introduction until the rmy Regulation Elli ho' been read a
second time, and some !scopes. had bees made with the
army estimates ; but t was the intention of the Govern-
ment to introduce it b., me Easter.
-

Captain Dawson-Oster asked whether the env° of the
Westmeath Committee ecently Appointed would he extended
to the county Mayo,
• -

The Marquia of Hart: lirton said that, although the County
Mayo was not entirely tree from outrages of various kinds,
there had been • great And satisfactory Improvement in the
condition of that county. Ile could no no YOSE,II, therefore,
for including that county within the scope of the committee.
Mr. Buxton, In defcrince to an appeal from the Prime
Minister, withdrew Br the present his motion in reference
to the "conduct of the vier," and Lard H. Lennox, In reply
to Mr ll,uverle, said ho meant to go on with his motion re-
lating to the lost of th. Contain which etood originally ?or
lost night; after the new Fin: Lord had had time to make
himself acquainted with the case.

Mr. Lambert moved f.rr a Committee to inquire into the
salaries paid to Mlnistors and judicial (Riau From his re-
marks on the alditlonal duties cant on Ministers, and tr.e
Increase In the cost of living since the present standard was
deed, Mr Lambert seemed to contemplate that the vault of
Mn Inquiry would be an augmentation of Of mistrial pay, hut
Mr. Dillwyo, who seconded the motion, avowed is belief that
some offices might be shown to be already overpaid.
After remarks from Mr. Fawcett, Mr. Rathbone, Mr.
Irsntinek, and Mr flu"
Mr. Gladstone dentin- to anent to a I annrlttee on the
ground that no ciao he been made out for au„mentatlon—
certainly not in his owi title' of Prime Minister —and that it
would be unbecoming him, who had burned himeell elated;
in reducing salaries. to >operate in an enterprise of • direc
opposite character. 1 Importance of each department, he
printed out, varied at !fferent times, but on the whole the
salary of each office c 'responded with the dictates of goon
nense. As to the oth parte of the question, he agate.;
that the present systeo. of promoting froon one department
to another, though It 1.. ght have momentary inconveniences,
Was necessary for the trifling of statesmen tit to take the
share In the general re peoMbilitles of Government and in
deliberations of tbr 'arrinet, as distinguished from mar of
specialities. Ile defer ded his recent apirointmente, main-
Lathing that they had been dictated by a regard for tint,
which, ou the whole, wee molt beneficial to the public
aervine, and pleading Viet no other Government for the teat
City years had been ...r unfortunate as to lose three of it.
foremost men in eight ---,moths.
The motion was efterarerds negatived without a division.
Mr Graves (who war seconded by Mr Akroyd moved two
resolutions calling for a restoration of the facilities for
transmitting small pare..ls by post enjoyed by the public
nrefore OA her, 1870, sod also for an amendment of the
money order system, I oder the (lost head he dwelt at length
on the anomalies and confusion introduced by the change
complained of, and hs Prgued with much force that a lower
Mg of the money order rates would remove the temptation,
DOW offered by the privoira, of transmitting coin and postaga
stamps In letters, and taint It would ultimately repay itself.
Mr. Monsen, after SMn preliminary observations in vindi-
cation of the Post Mee, explained the concessions he was
ready to make with a view to placing these two branches of
tno,Post Moe on • bails of finality. lie proposed to do awry

with OA astimotiOn betireen -cioeed and -npen parcels, to fix
the limit of weight at 120 z., and to transmit them at ratew
001111110, dug with Id for loz., 141 for 202., and id. for eves),
two additional ounces. Al to money orders be proposed to
reduce Vie rate to Id. for 10i., 21 for gl, and Id. for every
pound addisional up to ,ClO. It was also li.tended to pro-
hibit ge stmasters from purehasing postage stamps
Mr. Graves expressed himself satisfied, auguing well from
the manner as well as the matter of the concession, and
accordingly withdrew his resolutions.
- - - -

Mr. G Gregory called attention to the Report of the Royal
C‘mmission on the operation of the Land Transfer Act, and
moved "That it is expedient to afford further facilities for
obtaining • declaration of title at the office of Load
lt,cletr)." The motion was seconded by Mr. Wreu.lloskyns,
who argued that no important change could be made
without examining thorume ly the law of real property ; but
It was not premed, as the Attorney.G -uleral repeated his as.
aurance that a bill had been prepared, nod would be intro.
due d, if not this at least the very earliest moment text
Session. It would be of such a nature, he adde Ink to
make it necessary to go fully and at length into the whole
in Joel.
-•-•

The Private Chapels /till was cmishiered in Committee,
an I cart, 'us amendments Introduced. The Poor Lew Loans
and the Customs and inland Revenue Duties Act (1E.89
Amendment Bale were read a second time, and the Fairs
Bill was read a third time and passed.
• .

The second reading of the Trade.' l Moo 111 gave rise to
a short debate, after whlat the bill was read a eecoud time.
liveral other bills were forwarded a stage, and the House
adjourned.

In the House of Commons, March la, the MedfcM Act
Amendment. (No. 2) Bill was brought tu by Dr. Brady and
fled 0 first time.

Sir 11. belwin-ibbetson, In moving the second reading of
the Railway C.mmanies Bill, expressed his deep sense of the
responsibility attaching to any one who ventured to touch
encl. great Interests as those of the railway companies
of this country. The interests of the t üblic, however,
deserved as careful col36illenktioll as theee of the great
railway companies. The feeling of doubt In the public
ailed with regard to the security of ran way travelling had
grown considerably during the last few ye ara especially since
the frightful accident at Abergele, in connection with which
Use Board of Trade inspector reported that the siding did
not fulfil the conditions laid down by the Board of Trade,
and was worked without the [sanction of tne board. The
Inspector also stated that the rules of the railway corn-
paulos were made with a view to being proonced when any
acjelent happened, and were systematically allowed to be
disobeyed without the slightest notice being taken. The
public had hcen led to consider that they were in danger
from three causes, viz , the neglect of rules by railway ear-
valets; the excessive hours of work imp wed upon the ear-
valets ; and the want of proper Inspection by competent
authorities. In the reports which had recently been issued the
Inspectors reported ninny cases, In which systematic dis-
obedience to rules was shown, and In which the hours of
labour were proved to be very excessive. The great increase of
accident, was a test of the efficiency of the present eyetem.
Daring the four years ending 31st i/eceruber last there were
145 deaths from collisions which might have been prevented,
against 59 deaths from other accidents, and 2.845 person. Ink-
juro-1 in collisions, against e 26 by other accidents. A vast
ntunber of these death, and injuries would have been prevented
II a proper system of working had been inte,duced. Among
the Improvement, which had been repeatedly urged by the
Inepect. re of the Board of Trale, and which, II adopted,
Iv.- Wel have prevented many of the accidents which had
rer_ently occurred, were the ab,olute block system and con-
Mamie break power. Ile believed that many companies
were wllllng to 'adopt these systems, but there were others
which had set their face against them ard he maintained
that the interference of Parliament in these latter cases
w.ruld b, quite justifiable. By the bill now before the House he
proposel to extend the powers of inspection now held by the
B ard of Trade, and to save to the board the power of en-
forcing penaltlee, provided an appeal were allowed. Power
wedfid also be given to the board to examine into the difficult
question of long beim. The principle as to compensation
now applied to workmen's trains would be carried out gene-
rally. Hie object was to give greater security to the public
than was now poeseseed ; and it the Government would pro-
mise to deal with the whole question, he would be e Intent
with tha.; assuraece.

Mr. Leeman, who opposed the bill on the part of the
great railway Interests of the country, said that those who
bat the practical working of the railways entirely disagreed
with the views of the hoard of Trade officials. and that
differences also existed between the tnspectort themselves.
He eat red at considerable let gth into statistics of the
niheege and traffic of the &derma railway companies with
the view of showing that to proportion to the increase which
had taken place of late years in these respects the 'number
Of accidents van extremely small. Ile moved that the bill
be read a second time this day six months.
Mr. Dodson said that some amendment was required in
the law respecting it quiries into railw.y casualties, and he
theiefore cordially approved of the second part of the bill
tmdkr discussion. He was opposed to fixing a maximum
Heal of compensation, but he approved generally of the
principal of the third part of the hill. Hu 11, pod that if the
Board of Trade were willing to deal with tne suiject the
bill would oe withdrawn, but if they declined to do so he
should vote for the second reading of the measure.

Mr, illude Palmer urged the House to read the bill a second
time, as all the obj.ctions which had been urged against it
Worn objections which should be brought forward in com-
mittee, as they were not directed against the principle of the
meaute.

Mr C. Fortescue admitted that the large Increase in the
Lumber of railway casualties was a subj-ct for the
ansu us consideration of Parliament and the country,
bat the system of compu'sory Intervention and dictation
which the bill invitsd the Board of Trade to enter
Upon was beset with many ditil .ultles and dangers
That portion of the bill relating to the liability of com-
p sties and the tribunals for trying cares deserved full con-
sul erattrai. He thought that there should be a legal obllgar
Hon upon companies to report all accidents to the Board of
Trade ; that the Inspectors should have full powers of In-
spection, and to obtain all necessary information ; and that
the inquiries of Inspectors shouhl be legal, statutory, and
judicial. Whilst in the matter cd the policy of State Inter-
ference with the managemert of rallaays In detail he could
not agree with the hon. baronet, he should go with him to a
very great measure in the other parts of the bill, and should
giro them the fullest consideration.
After some remarks from Mr. S. Cave, Mr, Bass, Mr.
Eleadlam, and Mr. W. P. Price,
Mr. Danison moved the adj urontent all the debate.

Str H. Setwln•lbbeteen wu speaking at a quarter to six,
when the debate was adkntrued.
The other orders of the day were then dhp med of.