The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-19 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

TUESDAY.
Mr. Wiaromf took the oaths and his seat for the Unieer•
sity of Cambridge, and Mr. RIDLEY for Newcastle. .•
A new writ was ordered for Leominster, in consequence w
the death of Mr. Arkwright.
CONWAY AND LLANDUDNO ROAD BILL.—On the moth
l
that this bill be read a second time, Colonel lisrost opPo
•
the second reading on the ground that a line of railway abe,
to be completed rendered a new road unnecessary.—Mr. sr:
CARTNEY offered to postpone the second reading until lou,;
day.—Mr.• FITZROY hoped the bill would be allowed tet,..,elr
before a select committee.—On a division, the second raw'
was carried by 181 to 42.
In answer to a question whether it was true that the rep
sentative of the Sardinian government had been exclou..E
from the conferences at Constantinople, and, if so, on Or
account, Lord PALMERSTON said that the conference:
related not to matters connected with the treaty of peace,ll6
to arrangements for the settlement of the, question as to;
rights and privileges of the non-Mussulman subjects of lu
Porte.
Mr. EwART obtained leave to bring in bill to extend the
provisions of the Scottish Municipal Reform Act to cr,:,
tain royal burghs in Scotland now excluded from the benefit
of that act,
LAW REFORM.—Mr. NAPIER moved the following resolir
tion :—" That, as a measure of administrative reform, pror
sion should be made for an efficient and responsible IS
partment of public justice, with a view to seen'
the skilful preparation and proper structure of Pacll:i
liamentary bills, and promote the progressive amendment
the laws of the united kingdom." He first urged the maglaS
tude of the evil, the state of our legislation, which he declar7i
to be disgraceful to a civilized country, three systems ,0
law going on at the same time. He next adverted
the successful attempts at codification by other nation°,
ancient and modern, and to the suggestions andstbe
efforts of English law reformers from the time of Mr,
Bacon, for ridding the statute-book of obsolete peter
for consolidating and simplifying the existing laws, and fw,
improving the current legislation. The confusion and mistake'
attending our sessional legislation he attributed to the manl3`;,
in which bills embodying the views of individual members Were
brought in and carried through the house; and the 011
remedy for these evils, which entailed upon the country.enur;
mous expense, as well as legal perplexities and inconvenience
of various kinds, was, he said, the constitution of a partionsi,„
department, presided over by a wise and enlightened man °
high standing, with a proper staff, whose duty it should be 4.
watch over the course of legislation;and to superintend 0,
framing of measures. He proposed that the department 0'
public justice should occupy itself with all these objects,---tbet
amendment of the old law, the superintendence of the currell;
legislation, and the working of the general law, so as to Ina"
it consistent, uniform, clear, and intelligible.—Mr. BAII,II
said the house and the country were greatly indebted to let:
Napier for having brought forward this important subjec4
He (Mr. Baines) had long observed and lamented the state
the statute law; there was, indeed, a concurrent opinion Ofto
the existence of the evil and the necessity of a speedy reme22l
and the only question was what that remedy should be. -i;
question whether or not it was desirable on public groin.,
that there should.be some authority to assist in the prepsr:i
tion of measures of legislation had occupied the attention
the Statute Law Commissioners, who had prepared a
which would shortly be laid before the Crown and the horn
and he suggested whether it was not desirable that this Pr
—filled up, and not a mere outline—by such high authoritiej
should be seen by the house before it adopted a resolution
an indefinite character, and which pledged the house to nothinij
at all.—Sir G. GREY said he hoped,As the government agree
in the spirit of the motion; Mr. Napier would not, after tis
speech of Mr. Baines, ask the house to express an opinion IN°
a resolution as to the mode in which his object should be cot,
ried out, and which was under the consideration of the au
and learned men who composed the Statute Law CommissieS:
—Lord J. RUSSELL did not think that the resolution was oke''
to the objection of Mr. Baines. It pointed out merely t,u,
principle to be adopted; but, after what had been said /
members of the government, he thought the house could ne"
adopt the resolution.—Lord PALMERSTON said this question,
no doubt, was one otthe deepest importance; at the same tifnei
however plautible the proposition to appoint a Minister et
Justice, he thought many who had adopted the notion had Oa
made themselves acquainted with the functions of such
minister, which were more difficult than might be supposef,
and ought to be well considered before the house assented w
the resolution. One function would be to direct the legislate
of the house. No doubt, laws were passed which contain
errors, but he doubted whether the appointment of a met'
ber of the government would altogether prevent the recw,
rence of such mistakes ; for it could not be expected that ill
vidual members would forego and surrender to the govern:,
ment their right to introduce bills. With respect to anoth%
function—that of reforming existing legislation—it seemed
,Lie
have escaped notice that great progress had been already ma',
of late years in that direction. Mr. Babies had stated tbs'
the Statute Law Commissioners were engaged upon the
sideration of a plan which might go far meet the views `',o
Mr. Napier, and he thought that gentleman would do well ,L,
waive his resolution for the present. After some further di
`j
cussion, Mr. NAPIER proposed to modify the resolution,
"su,
Sir G. GREY having suggested the omission of the words
efficient and responsible department of public justice," there
solution in that shape was agreed to.
CARDIGAN BAY.—Mr. L. DAVIES moved for a select cony
mittee to inquire into the advisability of constructing a Or,
hour of refuge aad defence in Cardigan Bay, and whether 3:
may not be advantageous also to employ convict labour in 00,
said works. He supported his motion in a speech of se,
length and full of statistics.—Sir C. Wools opposed the motio°' _,
on the ground that it would be undesirable to construct a bfwe
hour of refuge in Cardigan Bay, and a misapplication of I),
public money.—Mr. Davies replied, and after s few remarks ;i
Mr. Wynne and Mr. Philipps, the motion was negatived UP°
a division by 118 to 44.
TEE MONETARY SYSTEM.—Mr. MUNTZ said, as his m 0.14,
upon this subject was to be opposed by the government, %
should not bring it on at that late hour, but would postpone '
till Thursday, the 21st inst. Mr
ADULTERATION OF FOOD, &c.—On the motion of
Scholefield, a select committee was ordered to be appointed
on the adulteration of food, drinks, and drugs.
JUSTICES or PEACE.—Mr. Colville obtained leave to bell
in a bill to amend the laws relating to the qualification
justices of the peace, At present justices of the peace must
possessed of £lOO a year in real property, and his object li,
to extend the right to persons possessed of personal propel.'
to the same amount. _ .

The house adjourned at half-past eleven o'clock•

WEDNESDAY.
Petitions against the opening ofexhibthiteioninshoanbitanSuntel
were presented by Mr. Horsfall, from
St. Andrew's District, Liverpool, and the congregations
Christchurch, St. Saviour's Church, St. Thomas's, ToxtetP,
park, Independent chapel, Christchurch, Waterloo, 1411/
cashire.
THE PAROCHIAL SYSTEM.
The Marquis of BLANDFORD, in moving for leave, t.O 11,
introduce his bill of last session for the formation and end? j
ment of separate and distinct parishes, described the origll?o,
parochial status of this country, the object of which, he Sal
was to create centres of union and of ministerial activity,, of
whole connected and formed into one system by a bone t,
brotherhood. It was of the last importance, he thong ,lie,
that this system should be rendered as perfect as poss0„,(1
Recent subdivisions of parishes by the Church Building
other acts had introduced anomalies and defects ;
were formed under these acts with different incidents ;„,„g tis
this diversity produced confusion in our parochial law,-1'"1$
which much complication and great inconveniences arose., do
was the purport and scope of this bill to remedy these deietpe
and anomalies, by providing, under the authority of to
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, for the constitution of !Jo
parishes, for modifying endowments, for appropriating Ine,
for sites of churches, and for ether incidental arrangeniolof
He explained the leading features and many of the detailsw,
the measure, and invited the house to agree to its principie
since it introduced, lie said, no change inconsistent with '
ecclesiastical law of the country.
Mr. HADFIELD resisted the further progress of the Doi/jrf,
being opposed to its principle. He complained of the 03 jO,
mous powers it conferred upon the ecclesiastical cowl!,
signers, and urged various objections to the measure W/7
Nonconformist point of view. He moved to defer the sec"
reading for six months. • oil
Sir G. GREY said, although the bill had been brought 1100
the responsibility of Lord. Blandford, without the V0;0
sanction of the Crown, its object was of such importatees
the principle (so far as it could be extracted from the detszool
that of providing for a more efficient subdivision of large Of
populous parishes, so well deserved the attention of parlial°

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