The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-02-21 00:00:00

tIMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

In the IfouSE OF LORDS, Feb. 16, Lord Malmesbury asked
What were the intentions of her Majesty's Government as to
the widows or children of purchase officers killed in the late
wars in respect of the money paid by those officers for their
commissions.

Lord Bury answered that previously to the Crimean War
the fambles of officers killed in action hot the value of
the commissions; but in 1856 a warrant was issued
Which gave to the widows of such officers a certain
amount of the purchase money in the shape of payment
down or a pension, provided that the widow was not
In affluent circumstances. There had been no altera-
tion since then. Cases of harchhip had arisen, and the
Secretary for War had been in consultation with some of
his financial colleagues to see whether anything farther
could be done in the matter; but any modification must not
only be prospec,ive, but retrospective, and this would
cause considerable inconvenience.

In reply to Lord Stratheden and Campbell, who expressed
himself in favour of Aldershot and Whitsuntide for a
Vo!unteer Review, Lord Bury said no application had
U yet been received at the War Office for peimission to
hold a Volunteer Review at Brighton on Easter Mon-
day : but there was reason to believe that such an
application would be made, and, after consultation with the
Duke of Cambridge, the authorities at the War Office
thought there was no sufficient reason for refusing it.
Their lordships adjourned at t wenty minutes to six o'clock.

In the HOUsE OF COMMONS, the Chair was taker% by Mr.
Ralkds, the Deputy-Speaker, in Mr. Speaker's absence
through indisposition.

Mr. E. Clarke. the new member for Southwark, took his
seat amid enthuslastU cheering from the Ministerial
Benches.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer informed Mr. Fawcett
that the Government were engaged in carefully considering
the question of affording further facilities for the investment
of small sums in Consols, and futther opportunities of
making deposits in the Post Office Savings Banks.

Mr. Hankey asked the Postmaster General whether he
could state why the new penny postage stamps had been
Inade of a colour so near to that of the foreign postage
stamps as to lead to frequent mistakes.

Lord J. Manners said the colour ln which the new
penny postage stamp was printed was selected with a view
to its being in accord with the colour suggested by the Postal
Congress of Paris for the postage stamps of the value of 10
centimes (id.) of all the countries within the Universal
Postal Union. The colour of the postage stamp of the
value of 2id. had, in consequence also of a suggestion made
ty the Postal Congress, been now changed to blue. There
would, therefore, be no risk of such mistakes as those
referred to.

Mr. Hankey aaked whether he was to understand that in
future the 2d. and the 20. stamps would be both blue.
Lord J. Manners had taken the hon. member's question to
refer to the 20. stamp. That stamp was blue, and he under-
stood it was issued to the public on the sth of this month:
but the hon. gentleman might have found some of the old
stamps then In use. The old stamps were not called in, and
probably some confusion might have arisen in that Way.

On the order for going into Committee on the Relief of
Distress (Ireland) Bill, Mr. Synan moved a resolution de-
claring it inexpedient that any portion of the property
accruing to the Commission of Irish Church Temporalities
Should be applied towards the temporary distress
in Ireland, and that all advances to be made
for the purpose of relieving the distress in Ireland ought
to be made from Imperial resources.
The proposal was seconded by Mr. O'C. rower, and sup-
ported by Mr. Ryland'.

Mr. King-Harman earnestly urged the necessity of
despatch, and expressed a decided opinion that the
national calamity was one to which the Cherub Fund was
applicable.
Mr. Stansfeld and Mr. Lowther having spoken,
Mr. O'Shaughnessy complained that while landlords were
only charged 1 per cent., Boards of Guardians were to pay
Bi per cent., and to this
The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied that the object
Was to tempt the landlords to feed the people instead of
throwing them on the rates; while the Guardians were only
being assisted to discharge a legal obligation. He stated
also that he intended to bring In a Bill dealing with the
Church Fund by turning the interest and instalment; into
terminable annuities.

After a debate in which Mr. Childers, Mr. rFinlgan,
The O'Donoghne, Mr. Biggar, Mr. J. M'Carthy, Mr.
O'Donnell, and other hon. members took part, a division
was taken, and Mr. Synan's motion was negatived by 126 to
34, and the House then went into Committee on the Bill.

On Clause 2, an amendment, moved by Mr. O'Donnell, to
permit out-door relief to be given in money as well as
In food and fuel, was disguised for some time, and
was strongly opposed by Mr. Lowther on the part of the
Government. Mr. Shaw, while dissentiug from it, sug-
gested that Boards of Guardians should be empowered to
employ distressed persons and to give relief in the way of
Wages, and this suggestion was recommended to the fkvour-
able consideration of the Government by Mr. Childers and
the Marquis of Hartington. On a division Mr. O'Donuell's
amendment was negatived by 193 to 20.
Another amendment moved by Mr. O'Donnell to pf unit
relief to be given for labour performed in agricultural opez a-
Mous was also negatived, and the consideration of the Clauses
Was continued, when

The House was counted out at twenty minutes to three
o'clock.

In the HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 17, the Lord ChancAlor
Rave notice that on lionday he will introduce and explain
certain Bills having reference to so Wed estates and c invey-
ancing.

In reply to Earl Granville, who had inquired whether the
Tripartite Treaty of 1856. by which Great Britain, Austria,
and, France guaranteed jointly and separately the integrity
and independence of the Ottoman Empire is still in force,
the Earl of Beaconsfield remarked if this country were
appealed to by the co-signatories of the treaty to act under
it, he should consider first the changes which had taken
Place in the Empire which was the principal subject of the
treaty, and secondly, the nature of the circumstances which
the Government would have to consider and comprehend.

After some further discussion, in which Lord Kimberley,
Lord Stratheden and Campbell, and Lord Selborne took part,
the subject dropped, and their Lordships adjourned at a
quarter before six o'clock.
In the HOUSE OF COMMONS, in answer to Sir C Dilke, Mr.
E. Stanhope said her Majesty's Government had no informa-
tion of the subject of The rules for the guidance of editors ef
newspapers and of correspondents with an army in the field
which were communicated through the Press Commissioners
to the Indian Press in October last, but he underatond that
those rules had been withdrawn.
-

Mr. Hardca;tie—h-av-ii;;;;t. his question relative to the
"huge barrack" being erected in Midlothian for the sup-
posed manuftcture of faggot votes, the Lord Advocate,
amid much laughter, cheering, and counter•cheering, gave
a long explanation of the state of the case, from
Which it appears that the buildings will not be occupied
before May, thtt they will confer votes, not on the tenants
but on the owners, and that he has heard no complaints of
their sanitary condition.

Mr. Noel stated, in reply to Mr. John Holms, that the
South Kensington Natural History Museum will be opened
hi course of the summer.

Sir C. Russell cailed attention to a placard signed "S
Plimsoll," which has been posted on the walls of West-
minster, appealing to his constituents against his conduct
In giving notice of opposition to the Grain Cargoes Bill,
and characterizing it as " inhuman " it he had acted 011
his own motion, and " degrading " if be were put in mo-
tion by others. In answer to a direct question as to its
authenticity,
Mr. Plimsoll said it was written with his own hand, and
distributed by hiporders ; and he believed the language em-
ployed in it to be strictly within the lining of free criticism
On public men.
Sir C. Russell thereupon moved that the publication of
Knell a placard, injuriously reflecting on the conduct of a
member, is an attempt to coerce and intimidate him in the
discharge of his duty and constitutes a breach of the privi-
leges of Parliament.
kr. Mowbray, in seconding the motion, disclaimed all
personal feeling in the matter, and expressed a decided
opinion that the placard was a grave interference with the
ttreedom of debate.
Mr. Onslow informed the House that a similar placard.
had been published with regard to him and circulated '
among his constituentr.
Mr. Sullivan, who undertook the defence of Mr. Plimsoll,
said he accepted the full responsibility of his act and justi-
fied the placard on the ground that Sir C. Russell, by his
obetructive notice, had endangered the passing of a Bill
Which would save human life. At the same time he
expressed his own regret that the epithet "degrading " had
been used.
'

-- ---
The Marquis of Hartington moved the adjournment of the
debate on the ground that the House had not had sufficient
°DPortunity to make itself acquainted with the character of
the placard, and also that no precedents had been quoted to
ellide it in its decision. At the same time he condemned
the language which Mr. Plimsoll had used, and regretted
that he had not taken the earliest opportunity of withdrawin
it. Thls expression of opinion was very generally cheered,
stud

The Chancellor ef the Exchequer expressed his entire con-
currence in it. There could be no doubt, he thougat, that
an appeal to any member's constituents in such language
While Parliament was sitting and in relation to current
business was an intimidation and a breach of privilev. But,
agreeing with Lord Hartington that the House should pro-
ceed In the enforcement of its privileges with the utmost
caution, he supported the motion for adjournment.
Major O'Gorman (exhorted Mr. Plimsoll to withdraw his
Objeztionable language, and Mr. C. H. Palmer read a tele-
gram he had received showing that some of the facts men-
tioned in the placard were entirely inaccurate, after which
the motion for adjourning the debate until Friday was
agreed to.

_
Mr. Meldon called attention to the restricted nature of
the Irish franchise, and moved a resolution declaring that
the subject deserves the immediate attention of Parliament.
Arguing the question as one of equal treatment of the three
kingdoms, he repeated the familiar statistics illustrating
'the anomalous disproportion of voters to population in Ire-
land as compared with the other two kingdoms, and con-
tended that in effect the present Irish franchise was equal
to a £8 rating in England.
The motion having been seconded by Mr. Gray, it was
Moved, as an amendment, by Mr. C. Lewis, that it was in-
expedient to deal with the question of lowering the Iraut,nbe
in Ireland. Reminding the House that it had rejected ete pro.
*osal by a majority of 89 in the last session, and that up to the
'Year 1887 the Irish borough franchise was lower than that of
angland, the-hon. member contended that at this moment,
taking the character of the people and the nature of their
freddings into account, there was a real equality between
the boroughs of the two countries, and that to carry en-
franchisement farther would be to include those chutes
WX° were the poorest, the most disloyal and ignorant, and
Who were the easiest misled by designing demagogues. •
The resolution was supported by Mr. Justin M'Carthy,
Mr. M. Brooks, Mr. O'Ciery, Mr. Digby, Mr. Waddy, Itlr,
073haughne55y, Mr. T. A. Dickson, and Mr. Blennerhassett ;
And opposed by Mr. Giles.
Sir W. Harcourt remarked that no Irishman bad dissented
bone the motion, and strongly condemned Mr. Lewis's attack
on the Irish people. The motion, he contended, was in
aceordance with the principles of the Union, that equal
rights should he Riven to the English and Irish peoples, and
that thia was violated by the present arrangement he
ahowed by a atatietical comparison of borough 30n511tuenc1es
in the two kingdoms. Animadverting further on the speech
'of Me. Lewis, be asserted that they did moat to encourage
the Home Rule movement who convinced the Irish people
that Parliament would refuse their just demands.
The Atteerney•General for Ireland dented that there was
the slightest eagerness of while opinion in Ireland on this
.clUestion, and objected to the resolution that it ignored all
the difficulties of the case. For inetance.' it took no
account of the fact that in the great majority of boroughs
he entire power would be thrown into the hands
cf the very lowest class of householders. The sup
Posed difference between the two fiancbises, he insisted, was
nornical only, and where the rating franchise was worked
out under equal conditions, as at Belfast, for lestauee, it
Produced much the same results. Morocver, it was im-
Possible to disturb :.her Irish Franchise without raising the
-question of reenetribatiol of seats, and, on the whole, there
'Was no urgency.
Mr. Bright remarked that those were the arguments by
Which household suffrage had been ecsisted in this country,
and ii there were no special agitation in Ireland on this
question, it was one•of a bundle of grievances which cle.
Inandede•edrese. But tee real reason why the party cpnoslte
t °listed kills extension of the franchise was that they leered
the opinjews which would be represented, although those
°Pinions as he showed, were the mauled result of long years
Of conservative government.

_
A.tter some fher discuasion the House divided, and the
3:notion was negatived by 242 to 188.
Some other bush:was was disposed of, and the IlAise ad
10nrned at a quarter to two o'clock.

• AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The follow-
• &e the average prices of British corn for the week
ending Feb. 14, as received from the inspectors and
'lna of Excise :—Wheat, 438.7 d, ; barley, 365. 10d.;
21s. 2d. per imperial qr. Corresponding week
Year :—Wheat, 33g. ; barley, 354 5d.; oats,