The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-11-22 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

THE FRANCHISE BILL: TERMS OF COMPROMISE. ,

lathe Housn or LORDS, Nov. 17, Lord Granville
rose in an attentive House to make a proposal on the
part of the Government with the view of solving the
difficulty in connection with the Reform question.
Having observed that the action to be taken by their
lordship? House this week would be of great import
ance in its general bearings, and having briefly stated
the points of difference between the majority of their
lordships and the Ministry, he said he was authorised by
her Majesty's Government to state that they thought it
possible to meet the objections raised to their Mode of
procedure by some of the members of their lordships'
!Rouse. Without sacrificing their object, the Government
could not come to any understanding unless they received
an assurance that the Franchise Bill should pass at an
early date, that was this autumn; but, if they received
that assurance, they would be prepared to make the
main provisions of a Redistribution Bill, or evetia draft
of a bill drawn in accordance with the plan sketched by
Mr. Gladstone on the 7th inst., the subject of friendly
communication. They would undertake to move in the
House of Commons the second reading of the Redistri-
bution Bill simultaneously with the Franchise Bill
going into committee, or reaching any further stage, in
their lordships' House; and they would further under-
take to proceed with the Redistribution Bill at all
possible speed so that it might pass through the House
of Commons at an early period of next year.
Lord Salisbury, without at the moment expressing
any opinion on the proposal itself, asked whether the
passing of the Franchise Bill before Christmas was to
be a condition precedent, and whether an agreement
between the Government and the Opposition on the
principles of redistribution was to be a condition pre-
cedent.
Lord Granville answered the first question in the
affirmative, and the second in the negative.
The Lord Chancellor added that an agreement to
pass the Franchise Bill must precede everything. If
there were to be communications between the Govern-
ment and the Opposition, time must be allowed for
them; but, on an assurance that the Franchise Bill
would be passed without delay, the Government
would be prepared to at once produce their Redistribu-
tion Bill.

ALLEGED TURKISH OUTRAGES,
The Duke of Argyll, having made some observations
to justify his inquiry, asked whether the Secretary for
Foreign Affairs had any recent information as to the
fulfilment by the Turkish Government of the Treaty
of Berlin, and as to the alleged outrages by the Turkish
authorities in Macedonia.
Lord Granville stated that her Majesty's Government
had succeeded in procuring the fulfilment by Turkey
of some of the provisions ef the treaty. As to others
they had been unsuccessful. Our own Consuls had not
confirmed the accounts of the atrocities in Macedonia,
and the Turkish Ambassador denied the veracity of
those accounts.
Lord Salisbury had no doubt that Lord Dufferin had
done all that diplomatic action could do. He suggested
that there might be occurrences in portions of the
Turkish dominions for which the Turkish Government
could not fairly be neld answerable.
Their lordships rose at ten minutes to six o'clock.

THE COMPROMISE.
In the HOUSE or Com-mows Mr. Gladstone made a
statement identical with that of Lord Granville in the
House of Lords, to the effect that on receiving
adequate assurance that the Franchise Bill would be
passed in the course of this autumnal session the Go-
vernment would be ready to make the main provisions
of their Redistribution Bill the subject of friendly com-
munication, and would undertake to move the second
reading simultaneously with the Committee or some
subsequent stage of the Franchise Bill. They would
also engage to make the passing of the Redistribution
Bill next year a vital question.
Sir S. Northeote reserved his opinion on the state-
ment, and subsequently, in answer to Mr. J. Morley and
Sir W. Lawson,
Mr. Gladstone said that his pledge to make the Re-
distribution Bill a vital question referred to both
Houses, and that the Government might be trusted to
see that the security which they took was adequate.
GENERAL GORDON'S LETTERS.
In answer to Colonel Stanley, Lord Hartington said
that the abstract of the letter received from General
Gordon had been substantially stated in the newspapers
as far as the public interest permitted publication. But
General Gordon, he said, had stated "the M.andi knows
everything, so that care should be taken as to what is
published,' and he appealed, therefore, to the news-
papers to exercise discretion as to the news which they
published.
SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES: INCREASED INCOME TAX.
The House having gone into Committee of Supply,
The Chancellor of the Exchequer explained his
financial proposals for meeting the supplementary
estimates for the Nile and Bechuanaland expeditions.
At the outset he reminded the House that by the
Budget estimate of last session he had provided for a
revenue of £85,.533 000 and an expendittaro of
£85427,000, leaving a surplus of £106,000. The ex-
pencliture had gone on as much as was anticipated, and
there had been a slight increase in the receipts. The
usual supplementary estimates of the year would be
provided for by savings on other votes. But the
supplementary estimates in connection with Egypt and
South Africa, including the vote of credit of £300,000
of last session, amounted to £2,349,000, which, if not
provided for by additional taxation, would leave a
deficit at the end of the financial year of about
£2,000,000. Having carefully considered the various
modes by which this might be met, and giving due
weight to the consideration that an increase of indirect
taxation' at this period of the year would cause great
disturbance of trade, he announced that he would pro-
pose to raise the income-tax from sd. to 6d. The total
sum thus to be obtained he calculated at £1,920,000, of
which only £1,200,000 would be received in the current
financial year, leaving £720,000 to be collected after
March next. The balances,he added, would be sufficient
to make good the differences until they were recouped
by the incoming of the arrears.
Lord G. Hamilton maintained that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer ought to have foreseen this expenditure
when he framed the Budget, and that the meagre Esti-
mate now proposed was ridiculously insufficient. The
expenditure to which the Government was now com-
mitted amounted for this year to £89,600,000, and he
showed that during its five years of office, making
allowances for reduction of debt, Afghan war, Sze., they
had spent twenty millions more than their predecessors
in the same time. He hoped that the present increase
of taxation would draw the attention of the country to
the consequences of the vacillating policy which had
been pursued in Egypt and South Africa which he con-
tended had involved us, not merely in humiliation and
loss of prestige, but in unnecessary sacrifice of life and
largely increased expenditure.
In the discursive conversation which followed, Mr.
Rylands and Mr. H. Fowler went into the controversy
as to the comparative expenditure of Conservative and
Liberal Governments. Mr. Gorst dwelt on the fact
that the proposals did not provide for the expenditure,
and Mr.W. H. Smith, on the same point, remarked that
they left, in fact, one million to be provided next year,
and that the arrangement would deduct at the least
three-quarters of a million from the sum which would
rightly be applicable to the reduction of the debt.
Mr. Gladstone, replying to Lord G. Hamilton, vindi-
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to support the Khedive in conjunction with France and
the ill-omened and dishonourable annexation of the
Trantvaal. At this there was some laughter and ironical
cheering from the Opposition, and Mr. Gladstone went
on to dilate with much energy on the inheritance which
the Government had received from its predecessors,
and the terrible difficulties which they had encoun
tered in carrying out a policy for which they were not
responsible.
Sir S. Northcote ridiculed as an insult to common
sense the Prime Minister's contention that his Govern-
ment was not responsible for the expenditure which the
House was now providing. If the Government had
pursued a firm and straightforward policy in Egypt and
the Transvaal, the evil consequences which had ensued
might have been prevented.
Sir John Lubbock traced the growth of the national
expenditure and after a few observations from Mr.
Onslow and Mr. Waddy the Chancellor of the Exchequer
replied in detail to the various questions which had
been raised during the debate, and assured the Com-
mittee that he was asking quite endugh, as he believed,
for the services.
The resolutions were then agreed to, and the House
adjourned at twenty.five minutes past eicht o'clock
until Wednesday.

In FRO JIOUSR OF' LORDS, Nov. 17, the Lord
Chancellor took his seat on the woolsack at
twenty minutes past four, when a tolerably large
number of peers were present. Upon the Opposition
side of the House there was a strong muster of leaders,
Lord Salisbury having for his immediate neighbours
Lords Carnarvon and Cairns. Upon the Government
bench, in addition to Lord Kimberley, whose task it
was to move the second reading of the Franchise Bill,
the ministers present included Lords Spencer, Carling
-
ford, and Derby, Lord Granville not having arrived.
At the bar in front of the Throne quite a crowd of ex-
ministers had assembled, among them being Sir S.
Northcote, Mr. W. H. Smith, and Sir R. A. Cross.