The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-02-28 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

MONDAY.-Sir G. Grey stated, in reply to Sir C.
O'Loghlen, that • Royal commission would be issued to
inquire into the state of the marriage law in the United
Kingdom.—Mr. Hibbert obtained leave to bring in a
bill to permit capital punishments to be carried out,
under certain regulations, within the interior of prisons;
Sir G. Grey observing that this question was now under
the consideration of the Royal commission on capital
punishmenta, end that it was desirable to have their
opinion before the measure proceeded further.—A
motion by Mr. Augustus Smith, that the office of the
one secretary rendered capable of flitting or voting as
member of the Commons House of Parliament, by the
9th clause of the Poor Law Act, lately vacated by Mr.
Gilpin, ought to be abolished, gave rise to some disillu-
sion as to the necessity of that office, and on • division
the motion was negatived by 193 to 17.—Mr. C. Villiers
moved for leave to bring in a bill to provide for the
better distribution of the charge for the relief of the
poor in unions. The bill provided that the union
fund should hereafter have the maintenance
of all the poor within the union, so that the charge
should be commensurate with the administration. It
would also repeal the clause in the Act et Parliament
that provided for the retention of the parochial system;
transfer the power of removal from overseers to
guardians, and abolish removability from parish to parish
in the same union. Mr. Henley did not object to the
introduction of the bill, but he hoped sufficient time
would be given to members to consult their constituents
before it went to a second reading. After some remarks
from Mr. Locke, who doubted the justice of applying
the measure to the metropolis, leave was given to bring
In the MIL
TUESDAY. —Mr. Doniton moved for a select com-
mittee to inquire into the best means of preserving for
the public use the forests, commons, and open spaces in
and around the metropolis. He desired to respect
private rights, but he also wished that public rights
should be considered, and he believed the committee he
asked for would be able to propose a comprehensive
plan of dealing with the question.—Mr. Rose seconded
the motion. He denounced the conduct of Earl
Spencer in seeking to enclo,e Wimbledon Common. It
was said the noble earl was only actuated by a desire for
the public good, but his motives might be judged by
what he had done to Wandsworth Common. He (Mr.
Rose) did not hesitate to say that in the appropriation
of that common every public right had been sacrificed.
—Lord Bury defended Fart Spencer, and said he
believed his lordship could have done all he proposed to
do for Wimbledon Common without coming to Parlia-
ment. His lordship was, however, desirous that the
Wimbledon Common Bill should be referred to the
select oommittee now moved for—After a lengthy dis-
mission the appointment of a committee was agreed to.
—Mr. O'Reilly called attention to the present mode of
recruiting for the army. The system was very had, and
only touched the idle classes of the towns. There was
little difficulty in recruiting for the militia, and he
would suggest that a plan should be adopted by which
the militia would become the nursery of the line. Ho
would hold out greater indueements to volunteer front
the militia, and he would make twelve years in all
cams the period of enlistment. Men so obtained would
enlist again, and finally become most useful in the
organisation of the militia. He concluded by moving
for a royal commission to Inquire into the subject.—
Colonel North mid the present recruiting system was a
failure. Be thought men should be enlisted for eighteen
years instead of ten, with power to increase their pay
after a certain period of service. Many of the sugges-
tions of Mr. O'Reilly were worthy of attention.—The
Marquis of Harlington denied that recruiting was at a
stand-still, or that the Limited Enlistment Act was a
failure. Both were going on satisfactorily. He opposed
the motion for a commission, but said the Horse Guards
were paying attention to the subject. No doubt the
system of enlistment did sweep out to a great extent
the refuse of the cities; but he asked whether it would
be better that our army should be composed of superior
materials. Our army was as good is any on the Con-
tinent. -Sir J. Fergwoon deprecated the tone in which
the noble lord had spoken of the recruiting system.
Something should be done to keep the good men in the
service—Mr. Scully advised Irishmen not to enlist
until they were better treated.—Mr. Whalley said it
was doubtful how far the Roman Catholics in the army
could be relied upon.
:They had lately largely increased.
—Mr. O'Reilly declined to answer the last speaker.
He withdrew his motion.—Mr. Adderley moved for •
select committee to inquire into the state of the British
establishments on the West Coast of Africa. He re-
viewed the condition of the different settlements, con-
tending that they were in a bad state, and that they !
failed in their object of increasing commerce and ,
Mopping the slave trade. In order to remedy this
state of things he moved for an inquiry.—The motion
was agreed to.—Mr. Baines moved for leave to bring in
a Bill to lower the borough franchise from £lO to £6.
He would not enter upon a discussion then, but would
say that if such a measure as this was carried now it
would save the country the expense of a second general
election. The present session was the best time to pan
such a BilL—Mr. Arlon commented upon the absence
of the members of the Government from their places.
He regarded this as a proof of how little Government
cared about the matter.—Mr. Powell and Mr. Bsines
explained that it bad been arranged there should be no
opposition to the introduction of the Bill, and that this
amounted for the thinness of the Honse.—Leave was
given to introduce the bilL—Sir C. O'Loghlen moved
for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the law of libeL
He proposed that no criminal indictment for libel should
be preferred against a newspaper without the consent of
the Attorney-General, and that in criminal eases of
libel the defendant might be examined as a witness.
He would make reports of speeches at public meetings
privileged, giving the person aggrieved the power of pro-
ceeding against the individual who made the speech
complained of. If he was a man of straw than the
person libelled might proceed criminally against him or
the proprietor of the newspaper with the sanction of
the Attorney-General. He would make bows fide belief
in • statement, provided defamation was not intended,
. good defence, and he would propose that if the party
suing did not recover more than 20ii. damages be
should not he entitled to costs, —Leave was given to
Introduce the Bill.
Pit/WM[BIIAL —Mr. Soourfield moved the second
eg of the Private Bill Costs Bill, which gives powers
committees to allow costa in certain eases where the
proceedings have been vexatious and unwarranted.
The Bill is aimed at • clam of persons who are " in the
habit of getting into other people's ways for the purpose

in •
at go

Viral
jog of
too

read- I

of being paid to get out of it." After some diacussion
the Bid was read a second time. The report on the
Courts of Justice Bill was agreed to, and one or two
important matters being dispoiod of, the sitting termi-
nated.

THURSDAY. —The House was chiefly occupied in dis-
cussing the Bank Notes Issne Bill. Mr. Buchanan
moved an amendment declaring that it was exoedient to
institute an inquiry into the working of the Bank Acts
generally, and that until this was done the proposed
measure should be postponed. Mr. Baxter, Mr. White,
and other members, expressed their strong objection to
piecemeal legislation, and thought the time had arrived
for a thorough investigation into the operation of the
Bankiog Acts of the United Kingdom. Mr. Gladstone
declined to accede to the suggestion for a committee of
inquiry, as the last ses.ion of an expiring parliament
was not the right time for such an investigation. Ho
then explained the nature of the Bank Notes Issue Bill,
and vindicated its provisions and object. A. discussion
followed, in which several of the leading banking and
mercantile authorities of the House took part, and the
amendment having been withdrawn the was read a
second time. In order to allow an opportunity for
full consideration of the details of the measure the com-
mittee WAR fixed for the 16th of March. Some other
busineli of a routine character was tranaacted.
Ifethar.—Mr. Schneider took his seat for Lancas'er.
On the order for the seoond reading of the Liverpool
Licensing Bill, hlr. Lswbon moved as an amendment,
That the granting of licences for the sale of intoxi-
cating liquors was a subject which ought not at pees. nt
to be dealt with by any private Bill." The hon. lnsm.
ber contended that the Bill was not to all intents and
purposes a public Bill, and oupht to be dealt with in
that character. After a long discussion, a division was
called but none took place, and the amendment of Mr.
Lawson was agreed to. The Bill wait therefore loot.
Mr. Ward-Hunt gave notice of a Bill to amend the law
relating to the registration of county voters. On the
order for supply, Mr. Hennessy, in moving as a resolu-
tion that the House observed with :egret the decline of
the population of Ireland, and would readily support
Her Majesty's Government in any well-devised
measure to stimulate the profitable employment of the I
people, said that the time bad now arrived when it, I
behoved Parliament to inquire how far Ireland was
really an intregral part of the United Kingdom. He
coinplained that the sister country was governed and
the laws administered there upon principles totally
different from those which were applied to England and
Scotland, and suggested an improved system of land
tenure, the reclamation of waste lands, the execution
upon a large sole of a system of arterial drainage and
other measures, as the best means of checking the
enormous emigration that was now going on, and stimu-
lating the productive power of its fertile but neglected
soil. A long discussion ensued.

We undertand that the Admiralty are about to
remove all distiaations between the officers for general
service and these on whom hitherto have especially
devolved the navigation of Her Majesty's ships. With
this view they will abolish the ranks of staff commander,
master, second master, master's assistant, and naval
cadet of the second class; and for the future Her
Majesay's ships will be navigated by lieutenants an
commander* An increase of pay will most likely be
granted to those officers who perform this duty. In
addition to this all staff oommanders of above twenty
years' service will become captains while all other staff
commanders and wastes will become commanders and
lieutenants, and second masters second lieutenants;
but all these officers will have tolearn gunnery. Mastei
assistants above sixteen years of age are to become
midshipmen.—The Owl.

TERRIBLE PETROLEUM Fin.—On the Bth of January
about 2,000 barrels of petroleum took fire in Phila-
delphia. The blazing oil poured over into Ninth-
street and down to Federall filling the entire street
with a lake of fire, and igniting tha houses on both
sides. Fully five squares of houses, had they been
plaoed in a row, were on fire at once, and the scene
was one to make the stoutest heart quail. People
escaping from their blazing homes with no covering,
but their night clothes, parents seeking for their
children, and terrified little ones looking for safety in
the horrid turmoil, were all dreadful enough, but there
were still more terrible scenes witnessed. Men,
women, and children, were literally roasted alive in the
streets. Nearly every house from Washington-street
to Federal, a distance of two squarel, was burnt, with all
their contents, nothing but the bare walls remaining.
The same scene of ruin is presented at Washington,
Ellsworth, and Federal-streets, both above and below
Ninth-street.

THE SOUTHAMPTON BURGLARIES.—On Thursday the
three men, Bellows, Stubbington, and Legg, were
brought before Joseph Bernard, Esq. county magis-
trate, charged with burglary. Superintendent Stannard
of the Hants Constabulary has the case in the hand,
and brought evidence agairkt them of four distinct
burglaries committed within a day or two of each other.
They were—breaking into St. Matthew's Church,
Netley-marsh, and stealing the whole of the Communion
service, valued at £3O, ditto, Pear Tree Church,
Woolston, where they stole the clergyman's surplice,
three bottles of Sacramental wine, and other articles ;
ditto, Mr. Adams's house at Wooleton, which led to
their capture ; and Mr. Kernon's house, at Shorley,
carrying off a variety of articles. Almost everything
stolen was found at their lodgings, including the
communion serviee, which had been broken into
fragments ready for the melting-pot. A mass of
evidence was brought against them, clearly establish-
ing their guilt—in short, the whole of the prisoners
frankly admitted it, and seemed perfectly indifferent
about the matter. They are all quite young men, and
well-known in the town. The batch were fully com-
mitted to Winchester Gaol to take their trial at the
ensuing Lent assizes.
LORD WESTBURY AND HIS RELATIVES. The
following remarks of Mr. Tidmas on Lord Westbury's
patronage are worthy of general circulation :—" It
might be said of the Bankruptcy Act that it has been
• gigantic ayatem of out-door relief to Lord Westbury's
relation& I hold in my hand a list of some of the
appointments which the noble lord has made under that
bia First, • Regiatrarahip to the Hon. Slingsby
Bethell, son of the Lord Chancellor, to the Court of
Bankruptcy at Exeter, and afterwards at London •
second, a Registrarship of Deeds to the Hon. It:
Bethell, son of the Lord Chancellor, under the New
Bankruptcy Act ; third, Crown Solicitor to the Court
of Bankruptoy, Walter William Aldridge, Esq., who
married a niece of the Lord Chancellor' appointment
created under the New Bankruptcy Act; fourth,
architect to the Court of Bankruptcy, Augustus B.
Abrahams, brother-in-law to the Lord Chancellor,
appointment found necessary under the New Bank-
ruptcy Act. In addition to these there was a secretary-
ship of presentations given to A. B. Abrahams, Esq.,
and • Mr. R. J. Abrahams was appointed second clerk
is the Land Registry Office. There is another little job
in my own immediate neighbourhood, where the Lord
Chancellor has been induced to appropriate an appoint-
ment for the benefit of his own aon-in-law, the Official
Assigneeship to the Exeter District. Now I say that
gentleman knew no more of the duties of the official
asaigneeship than I know of the duties of the Lord
Chief Justice of England. His lordship has recently
removed his son-in-law from that district to the London
Official Assigneeship, at a salary of £BOO a-year. If •
Conservative Govern merit had jobbed away these valuable
and responsible appointments, the Liberal press of the
country would have created • perfect hurricane, some-
what similar in the political world to what a cyclone is
in the physical world, during the pressure of which the
Government would have been swept away. Poor Sir
Charles Napier, now dead and gone, used to say that
Lord John Russell's mission would never cease so long
as there was an Elliott to be provided for, and no doubt,
as the writer of the letter to which I have referred says,
Lord Westbury'a law reforms will go on until every
member of the house of Bethel is handsomely provided
for." A fit appendix to this series is the announcement
by the Lord Chancellor that he has appointed his son,
the Hon. Slingsby Bethell, to the office of writer to the
House of Lords, worth £1,200 per annum.
THE " TIMILS" AND CANADIAN AFFAIRS.—Few other
journals have done as much to injure Canada as the
London Times. At one time it plays the tyrant, and
threatens us with the withdrawal of English protection
—tells us plainly that if we don't do impossibilities
honest John Bull will let us fall into the vortex
boiling and raging around no. Again it tacks about and
pats Canada on the back for doing what we always
intended to do, and what the Tants should have known
we should do, had it a reliable oorrespondent on the
spot; but no, the red-haired gentleman that controls
Its thunder throws himself back in his arm-chair,
remembers the story of his correspondent during the
Prince's visit, describing Ottawa as infested with
Indians and wild cafe, and writes about Canada much
after the same fashion. The former policy has not
been without its effect on this aide of the Atlantis.
Again and again it has been cast in our teeth by
Americans that England is anxious to be rid of us' •
that we are a set of poltroons too helpless to defend
ourselves, and too mean to pay others to do it for us.
We care little just now for the badinage of the Yankees
in comparison to a had feeling in the mother country
against no. We wish to stand we 1 with England;
the Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle are as true to her
to-day in this land as ever they were when victorious
on many a bard-fought field.—Quebec Daily Chronicle.
HOW JOINT-STOOK COMPANIES ARE GOT UP.—
Another insight into the manner in whioh some joint-
stock companies have been got no was afforded by a
case tried in the Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday.
Capt. Antrobus and • Mr. flughson sued • solieitor,
named Wiokena, and a gentleman, named Folch, for
£lO,OOO. It seems that the defendants, and some other
pers,ns, had made an agreement to purchase Mr.
Crawahay Bailey's ironworks for £253,000, and they
were seeking to get up a company to be called the
Aberaman Iron Works Company, which was to pay
them £350,000 for the works, thus leaving them a profit
of nearly £lOO,OOO. They had difficulty, however, in
getting together the deposit money for the purchase,
and in getting a sufficient number of shares taken to
give the company a good appearance before the public.
The plaintiffe say that they agreed to get both for a com-
mission of £lO,OO0—namely, £5,000 for the advance of
£lO,OOO, and £5,000 for the placing of 8,000 shares.
They induced the London Bank of Scotland to advance
the money and take the shares on a heavy premium,
and thus claimed the commission. The Lord Chief.
Justice, who tried the case, repeatedly interrupted the
evidence with exclamations of astonishment et the
revelations made. The defence was a denial that any
engagement had been made with the plaintiffs.
FIRE AT NET'LEI' NOSPITAL.—On Tuesday morning,
at an early hour, a fire was discovered in the Royal
Victoria Hospital, Netley, which was fortunately extin-
guished before it had extended beyond the room where
it originated, although a number of important public
documents have been destroyed. It is alleged that the
fire was the work of an incendiary, the miscreant having
broken a window, and thrown sonie oombuetible matter
into the room. Considering the number of helpless
patients that occupy the wards of the hospital theconse-
quences of the spread of the fire must have been awful.
lies NEW IRISH AGITATION.—The first meeting of
the National Association of Ireland was held on on-
day at the Rotunda, in Dublin. There were not more
than about 150 persons present, and nearly one-third of
this number were Roman Catholic clergymen. Alderman
M'Swiney presided, and delivered a brief address, in the
course of whit& he stated that he bad been threatened
with assassination for taking part in the formation of
the association. Mr. Dillon, Mr. Deese, of Cavan, and
several priests delivered long speeches, and petitions to
Parliament were adopted, asking for an arrangement of
the land tenure question, and the withdrawal of all
ecclesiastical endowments in that country. The pro-
oeedings lasted more than four hours, for the last two
of which (says the Dublin Express) the audience
numbered scarcely a dozen persons.