The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-04 00:00:00

THURSDAY.

The Royal assent was given by commission to the House of
Commons Offices Bill, and the Metropolitan Police Bill.—The
Royal Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of
Argyll, and the Earl of Harrowby.
On the motion of Lord REDESDALB, The Charitable Uses
Bill wastread a first time.

On the motion of the Earl of HARuowBY, the Turnpike
Trusts Arrangements Bill was read a second time.
APPELLATE JURISDICTION.

The Earl of DERBY moved for the appointment of a Select
Committee to inquire whether it is expedient to make any,
and what, arrangements to secure a more efficient exercise of
the judicial functions of the house as the supreme Court of
Appeal. Having described the appellate jurisdiction of the
House of Lords as a power inherited by the Barons from the
great council of the realm, which exercised it in the earliest
times, Lord Derby said that notwithstanding the antiquity of
the privilege, he did not consider it so essential to the fitting
discharge of the other functions of the house as many appeared
to imagine. It no doubt placed the law lords in a very high,
responsible, and important position ; and perhaps the sem-
blance of authority it gave the lay peers might have some
weight in public estimation. But if it became necessary to
' choose between maintaining a privilege of the house and
failing to administer justice to Her Majesty's subjects, he
would say, let justice be properly administered, whatever pri-
vileges the house might be called on to abandon. That ap-
peals were supposed to be heard and decided by the House of
Peers was merely a legal fiction, and from that fiction the
stigma on the house as a court of appeal had arisen. It was
necessary to keep up the appearance of the peers being present
to form a quorum, as if they had mqt for legislative business;
but they had nothing whatever to do with the decision ; they
merely assented to any decision put to them by the Lord
Chancellor. They paid no attention to the proceedings, nor
even affected to give any opinion upon them. In all the
objections made to the working of. the present system he
did not concur; some of them had been exaggerated. These
objections he detailed, stating also the difficulties in the
way of remedying them, and suggesting that in cases of
common law, the house should call in the advice of the com-
mon law judges; in cases of equity, that of the vice-chan-
cellors, and have the power, in Scotch cases, of summoning to
its aid some of the most eminent of the Scotch judges; all
cases to be referred to the legal members of the house, as a
judicial committee, which should embody the decision of the
judges in a report to be presented to the whole house, and
agreed to as a matter of form, but still preserving to it the
right of its jurisdiction.
Earl GastrvlLLE moved as an amendment the addition to
the motion of the words—" and, further, how any such pro-
vision would affect the character of this house." He thought
Lord Derby's motion the most fitting opportunity of consider-
ing the judicial question, and regretted that the subject of the
constitution of the Peers had been introduced in the other
House of Parliament.

Lord CAMPBELL, Lord ST.LEONARD'S, and Lord BROuGusat
supported the motion for a committee, which, as amended,
was agreed to.

The committee w•as then appointed, and the house ad-

journed.

FRIDAY.

Their lordships met at five o'clock.

TORTURE J/T INDIA.—The Earl of ALBEMARLE moved
for various returns connected with the taxation of the nations
of India, the means employed to levy it, and the character of
the officers of police and revenue, in illustration of the offi-
cial report recently laid before parliament on the system of
torture used by the government agents in the Presidency of
Madras. To these returns and to the report itself, which he
recommended the house carefully to peruse, be gave notice
that he should hereafter call its more direct attention. It was
almost incredible that such a system should have existed fifty
years ; that for so long a period the native population of so
large a district should have been subjected to the cruelty of
agents, who, acting at once as a police and collectors of reve-
nue, were often themselves merely associations of thieves. The
facts contained in the report had been rumoured before but
it was only now they were fully ascertained and confirmed. It
was the duty of the legislature to regard with mistrust every-
thing proceeding from the Indian government, which had
always been merciless in its administration whenever its reve-
nue was concerned. The English government was also partly
responsible, but rather in theory than reality, for the division.
of powers in the present system practically reduced the re-
sponsibility of both to a fiction ; otherwise torture could not
have boen continually used for half a century among
20,000,000 of people, without the public in England being
aware of it.—Earl GRANVILLE said the returns would cause
much trouble, expense, and delay, as it would be necessary,
for certain information, to refer to India ; but the government
was so anxious no information should be withheld, that he
should make no objection to the production of the papers
asked for.—After a brief discussion the motion was agreed to.
The Commons Enclosure Bill was read a second time.

The Joint-Stock Banks (Scotland) Bill was read a third time
and passed ; and the House adjourned at twenty minutes past
six o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

TUESDAY.

Petitions against opening the British Museum, the National
Galleries, the Crystal Palace, &c., on Sunday, were presented
by Mr. Horsfall, from Farnworth, Lancashire, and from the
Mariner's Church congregation of Liverpool; against the
Counties and Boroughs Police Bill, by Mr. Parker, from
the mayor and corporation of Preston ; and by Mr. Horsfall,
from the Law Society of Liverpool (signed by the president),
praying the house not to pass the Qualification of Justices
Bill, with the clause prohibiting attorneys, solicitors, proctors,
acting as justices.
LOCAL DUES ON SHIPPING.--In answer to Mr. LINDSAY,
Mr. LowE said, it had never been intended to confer any
power on the Board of Trade by this bill to apply taxes raised
at one port for the benefit of another port. Neither had it
been contemplated to apply the moneys raised at any port to
any other purpose than the payment of debts or to shipping
purposes at the port where they were levied, and if they were
to be applied to shipping purposes they would be administered
by the harbour authorities, and not by the Board of Trade.
All that the Board of Trade required would be an estimate of
the manner in which any particular sum was to be expended,
in order to guard against any of those dues being applied to
purely municipal purposes.

THB CRIMEAN COMMISSION.—In reply to a question,
Lord PALMERSTON said, he then held in his hand a copy of
the Royal warrant constituting the commission, which he
was just about to lay on the table. The names of the com-
missioners were Lord Seaton, General M`Mahon, Lord
Beauchamp, General Rowan, Sir John Bell, General Peel,
and General Knollys.
In reply to a question put by Mr. EWABT, Lord PALMER-
STON said, the endeavours of her Majesty's government had
been directed for some years past, and very recently most
urgently, to induce the Turkish government to construct a
serviceable road from Trebizonde to Erzeroum.
LOCAL DUES ON SHIPPING.

I On the order for resuming the debate upon the second
reading of the Local Dues on Shipping, &c., Bill,
Lord PLIAIRRSTOR said, he was anxious to state to the
house the course which her Majesty's government, on full con-
sideration, had deemed it their duty to take with regard to
this measure. They had felt that these burdens upon the
shipping and industry of the country were matters which de-
served the interference of Parliament, and, with the view of
liberating those interests from such burdens under which it
was not fitting that they should labour, this measure had been
proposed to Parliament. In the discussion. upon the bill,
nothing, he observed, had been said by its opponents to shake
the confidence of the government in the justice and policy of
the course they had pursued. But in that discussion it became
manifest that, in the case of some of the towns affected by the
bill, there were circumstances of far greater complication than
the government were at first led to suppose, and which could
be very imperfectly and inconveniently dealt with in a com-
mittee of the whole house, so as to arrive at a conclusion satis-
factory to the government or just to the parties concerned.
The bill consisted of two parts,—one relating to the passing
tolls, and the other to the differential and town dues. With
reference to the last, it was evident that a great variety of
representations was entitled to be made by the towns, and
these special cases it would be difficult to deal with in a com-
mittee on the bill. Considerable difference of opinion prevailed
on the subject of these dues, and the government bad come
to the conclusion that it would be more consistent with public
convenience, and more likely to lead to a clear understanding 1
and a satisfactory arrangement of the complicated details
relating to the differential and town dues, to refer that por-
tion of the measure to the consideration of a select committee.
The government, therefore, thought that the course most re-
spectful to the house was to withdraw the bill, for the pur-
pose of taking the' whole matter into consideration, and,
while the complicated details were referred to a select com-
mittee, seeing whether the other simpler matters might not
be made the subject of a separate bill. He proposed, there-
fore, to withdraw the present bill.
Mr. DISRAELI said, he had heard the proposition of Lord
Palmerston with satisfaction. When lie had considered the
alarming character of the bill, supported by a speech more
calculated than any speech he had ever listened to in that
house to disturb and alarm the public mind, and to unsettle
all confidence in prescription, he had felt it to be his duty, the
previous evening, to impress upon the house the expediency
of coming to a quick decision upon the question. The noble
lord, he observed, had spoken of the consideration bestowed
upon the subject; but he (Mr. Disareli) wished to know what
part of it could have received any consideration by the govern.
ment. The house was now told that a select committee was
to investigate the subject; but if it had already been
thoroughly investigated by the government, where was
the necessity of a select committee ? What was the use of
a cabinet and of a responsible ministry, if they could
bring forward crude measures, then recoil from them and de-
volve their duty upon a select committee ? Mr. Disraeli con-
cluded with some caustic remarks upon the general conduct of
the Government business this session in that and the other
House of Parliament, which had witnessed, he said, the defeat
and discomfiture of Ministers by their own followers.
Mr. LADOVCRERB animadverted upon the tone adopted by

IMARcII 4, 1856.

Mr. Disraeli, which he contrasted with the temperate gPiri4
in which the debate of the preceding day had been conducted]
He defended the course taken by the Government with refer:
ence to this bill, which,
.having been founded upon the rePorb,
of a commission, was not open, he said, to the reproach 01
crudeness, and he thought, when the circumstances of the cat
were duly considered, the song of triumph which Mr. Disriell
had thought proper to sing upon that occasion would be
moderated.

After a few remarks from Mr. HEADLAM and Mr. HIP.
FIELD, the order was discharged, and the bill was withdrawi•
The Charitable Uses Bill was read a third time and paste'
after a short discussion of the amendments proposed.
The Select Committee on the Court of Chancery (Ireland)
Bill, and that on St. James's Park, were nominated, n'Yt-
without some opposition.
The house adjourned at five minutes after seven o'clock.

WEDNESDAY.
Petitions were presented by Mr. BAINES, from Mr. Jonathan
Peel and other magistrates, residing on the borders of Lan-
cashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, in favour of the
Police (Counties and Boroughs) Bill.
On the order for the second reading of the Contractors Dia'
qualification Removal Bill, Mr. MITCHELL, after stating the
reasons which had induced him to introduce the bill—that the
present law was evaded, that the proper constitutional check
should be the responsibility of the Ministers of the Crowoi
and that the exclusion of contractors from the House narrowed
the field of competition, and to that extent operated to the
detriment of the public service—said that, as he found there
was a strong prejudice against the measure, and as Mr. Bs'
CA.RDO had announced a motion for a committee to inquire;
into the whole subject, he moved that the order be discharged.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he was gI
that the bill was withdrawn. He thought it was not desirable
to alter the law as to contracts with different departments
which were not submitted to Parliament, those department°
it
having power to vary the terms of the contract and to gr
indulgences, thereby influencing the contractor. The obj oe'
tions to the present law, that it was not difficult to be evade-cif
and that sometimes persons inadvertently entered into con'
tracts while members of the House, and thereby incurred Pe"
nalties, applied to almost all penal statutes. As to loan al"
tracts, the committee of last session had come to the conel_ll-
- that they were of a totally different nature from tr
other. Loan contractors were mere go-betweens, the parties
being the Executive Government and the public; the negaa..r
Hans with the loan contractors were preliminary only; the,.
were not completed until sanctioned by Parliament, and unto
the engagements, bindin gon both parties, were carried into effect
by an act ; and the Executive Government could not vary the
terms of the contract. In his opinion, the decision of the
committee was well founded, and he was disposed for the pre'
sent to let the question rest upon that decision.—After woe
further remarks, the order was discharged, so that the bill is
withdrawn.

Mr. COLVILLE, in moving the second reading of the Justices
of the Peace Qualification Bill, stated that its object was t°
enlarge the qualification and to extend it to personal property
—Sir G. GREY said, although objections might be taken t°
some parts of the bill, they might be removed in committee,
and he did not object to its principle, that landed property
should not be the sole qualification for the office. After a short
discussion, the bill was read a second time.
On the order for the second reading of the Annuities 13111'
the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, adverting to the debate
upon the first order of the day, repeated that he had no doubt
of the rectitude of the decision of the committee of last year;
nevertheless, he could not shut his eyes to the fact that per:
sons of great weight did entertain doubts upon the point, and
it was necessary to clear up those doubts one way or the other.
He proposed, therefore, to introduce into this bill, when is
committee, a clause of indemnity for subscribers to the existiuc.
loan, which would not throw any doubt upon the decision e!.
the committee of last year, The bill was then read a second
time, as were the Consolidated Fund Bill and thr Exchequer
Bills Funding Bill; and the house then adjourned at tell
minutes to 2 o'clock.

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