The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-23 00:00:00

ARMY COMMISSIONS.

Mr. HEADIAII on Tuesday moved for a committee
to prepare an address to her Majesty, praying that
the value of the commissions of officers dying in ac-
tive service during the present war should be paid to
their representatives. He protested against the in-
justice of causing men who died in the service of the
country to lose the value of their commissions, when
officers dismissed the army were often allowed to
receive it..
Mr. F. PEEL objected to the motion on the ground
of impossibility of defining the exact case in which
the representatives of the officers so dying should
receive the value of their commissions. Why limit
it to the present war ? Why not extend it to officers
dying in war against the Katfirs? It would give to
officers a direct pecuniary interest in their commie-
sions, and materially interfere with their being placed
on half-pay.
Colonel DUNNE thought that, after the country
had recently realised a large sum by the sale of va-
cant commissions, it could afford to do justice to the
families of those who had died on service.
Lord A. PAOET, after detailing the expenses and
low pay of officers on service, thought that something
more ought to be done for their widows and orphans,
in which view he was supported by Colonel NORTH.
Mr. RICE also supported the motion.
Lord PALKERSTON said that the subject was in-
volved in the great question of the sale of commis-
sions, which was now so much discussed. He
admitted that the representatives of officers killed in
action might be allowed to take their choice between
receiving the value of their commissions and taking
the pension now granted. As to the exact pecuniary
part of the question, he denied that a man invested
his money in the army with the same views with
which he would invest it iii the Three per Cents ;
other motives were involved—reputation, considera-
tion, and condition in life. The principle of the
motion must be extended to peace as well as war, if
it was to be adopted in all cases where officers died
in actual service. Where was the line to be drawn
between officers dying of fever in the Crimea, and
those dying in the same way in the West ladies or
at the Cape? He trusted that, after the admission
be bad made, the matter might be left in the hands
of the Government.
Alter some further conversation, the motion was
withdrawn.
CONSOLIDATION OF THE STATUTE LAW.
Mr. LOCKE Knta en Tuesday moved a resolition
which set forth that a commission had been issued
in 1853 to inquire into such statutes as had been
repealed, had expired, or had become obsolete, with
a view to their removal from the statute-book; that
the commission bad in consequence published a re-
port containing an expurgative list, yet that no bill,
taking such list as its groundwork, had as yet been
prepared ; and that the preparation of a declaratory
bill on the subject ought no longer to be delayed.
He founded his motion on the chaos now existing in
the law, the enormous number of new statutes, and
the consequent necessity fur a revision of the whole.
The ATTORNEY. GENERAL and several other mem-
bers concurred in the principle of these observations,
but said that the report was so hastily drawn up, and
the expurgated list so incomplete, that no bill could
be founded upon The motion was adopted
against the Government, by 43 to 28.


586

IRELAND TENANTS' COMPENSATION BILL.
This bill was carried into committee on Tuesday,
after some strenuous opposition. Mr. PEACOCKE ob-
jected to it as preventing the introduction of capital
into Ireland when capital was most wanted, creating a
class of encumbered proprietors just as we were
getting rid of them, and reinforcing the army of
middlemen, when we had declared those men to be
the curse of the country. Some such experiment, in
the shape of inventories, had been tried in England,
and failed miserably.
Sir J. WALSH likewise opposed the bill, as putting
arms into the tenant's hands wherewith he would at
any time be able to fight his landlord, and as assu-
ming that the landlord himself had neither interest
nor control over the improvers.
The supporters of the bill confined themselves
mainly to the argument that its principle had already
been fully discusssed and adopted, and carried the
committal by 129 to 46.
The committee on the bill occupied several hours
of the Commons sitting on Thursday. The only
noticeable point was a long discussion on the pro-
priety of allowing tenants to demand compensation
for reclaiming waste lands. It was urged that such
a provision was in former Government bills, but
Lord Palmerston resisted its restriction in the pre-
sent, as besides being, in his opinion, impolitic, it
would endanger the passing of the bill. A clause
proposing to enact such a provision was negatived.