The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-03-01 00:00:00

TUESDAY.

The I hike of A tut% li. called the attention Lord
Colclienti•r te tin inconvenience attending the neW
postal arrangements respecting mistalr.peil letters.
Lord I. Ii III:,TER rei.he.i that all new arrangements ,
were attended with inconvenience at lirnt, but he hail
diailit that in time the system tiiiw introduced would
be found to work well and without inconvenience to the
public.
The Duke of IticiluoNii thought the change open to
serious objection, and hoped the l'ontrunsterdieneral •
would reconsiili•r bin decision.
Lord Dut 4% I I.E concurred in this hope, which he
believed expressed a very general wish.
Lord I'ISELI„ as tin receiver of lame anonymous
snit unpaid letters than probably any other person, and
who therefore was more likely to he satisfied with the
change than ally one else, ntill thought it inexpedient
on public grounds, niiil recommended that the new
syntem should be rescinded.
Sr. 1(11,4 drew the attention of the Howie
to the report id the Commisiiimers for !KW on the
Ri•gistration id Title with Reference to the Sale and
Purchase of Land, and proceeded to criticise the ltill
which bail been brought into the Lower House for the
same object.
The j,iinn del,recaksl the anticipation
of MenAllreel which would have to be discussed by the

_
Hon, in due couroe.
After some ohnereations front Loribi and
(liNw.oltrit, the matter dropped, and their LoriLliips
adjouined.

THURNDAY.

- --
Lord Dritht, in reply to Lor.l sahl that it would
be more convenient if the motion on Mr. taadationii'a
'Muskat to the lonian Wands were pieitponeil till the
14th of March, by which day Iv: hoped the Home
would be in posuessien of all tl.e paper* relating to the
vuliject,
Lord COLCHENTER, in reply to Lord Monteagle, stated,
amid the cheers of thu 'louse, that the P,ivt•ollice
regulation with regard to unpaid lett.rt had been
reveinded.
Lord limpet:HAM brought in • Bill, the object of
which was to extend to ilefendantv in criminal action";
the privilege now granted to those in civil suite, of being
examined if they choove.
After mime iliscuasion, in which LOnl Cx•Pur.i.l, and
, the Lord thiaNeEm.iia took part, the Bill was read •
firvt time.
'their Lordships then Adjourned.

Fltil)AV.
Their Lordships met at 5 o'clock
laird tillr.r moved Inc a Select l'iimniittee to inquire
whether the Act 13 awl 14 Victoria, cop. 93, for collect.
ing the Poor-rates mid High way .rates in respect cif
small tenements, and the Act of it Session to amend
the municipol franc Lise, have prishiced any change in
the character of municipal elect role and of town.
councils. Ile expleined the principal object of the
1110t14111 wa.r. to obtain information /14 to the working of
the present system of municipal elections. This object
derived additional importance from the ileclaration of
Mr. Bright, that it WAS desirable to assimilate the
franchiw for Parliament to that .1 the municipal cor•
porations. If much was the CAS,, lie tl ght their Lord.
shipa should luau twine exact information 441 the pies.
tion before they procemled to legislate upon it. Ile
finished by moving for A Select l'iontnittee.
Lord DERBY Wi.llC4l to know what practical result the
committee would arrive at. For himself. lie considered
that such all rnlairy would be vague and inisotisfactory.
laird Git %xi 11.1. E thought the motion was • proper
one, and that the information it would elicit would be
of an to the question of Reform, with which they
would soon have to dial.
Lord E1.1.1.:Nnoltori:11 agreed that the 'notion would
be useful in obtaining much information necessary ut
arriviog at alleelsl.lll lAI the Deform Ihll.
The Duke of .1 Ilr• T LI. thought the inquiry would be
! unpopular.
After a few words froin Lord It REV, Lord DEMIT
Isgrog.4l tll the apisontment IPf A SCII.et I.44lllllittee.
The I tceasional Forms of Prayer Mill was then read a
second time.
The Duke of M ‘ltidiiiitoriat asked whether the time
had not arrived for appointing a iloy of Public Thanks'
giving for the great successes which God. in Ilia mercy
10,,, granted to tho British arms in India in the sup.
pression i 4 the laterrinrhhrrnui
laird Ittotiii. iii pip. 'mid that as the emnplete
peeificati.e. of I mlia ii,el not yet Ivoll accomplished. he
did ii,t think that the time hail arrived fur appointing
a day of tkonksgivitig.
laird 11 an Esint•ity informed the House that the
Government hail received commimications which gave
, them reason to believe that within no distant period of
time the armies Of in Mier and Austria would be witiu.
drawn from the Papal States at the request of the
Pontificia! I iovernment.
, Their Lordships anijniinieul at a quarter to 7 o'clock.

Usli oF CoMMAINS -MoNDAY.

Mr. W.D.rote willed attention to certain papers eels.
tive to church-rater, Ishl the table by Her Majesty's
command, stating that he was about to prnpose, on the
part of the Government, what lie considered a just,
moderate, and reasonable settlement of this question,
which lie believed to he the only practicable mode if
settling it. The law, uit stood, he observed, WA!, plain
awl clear ; it imposed an obligation main the parishith
hers of every parish to maintain the fabric of the parish
church. thi the other hand, lie ilid not deny that the
law had it inconveniences, arising from the changes
wrought by time and circimotancesi. Preinising that
these rates were a charge upon property, or 01,051 per-
sons in respect to property, (son time Moue ~,,, rial, lie
proceeded to examine the results obtained by the returns
of KW and for the present, year, whence it appeared
that, while in 10,000 parialies the A 11111 l ints contributed
towards church fabrics by rate and by voluntary ail
were nearly equal, the greater proportion of the landed
proprielore liable to churchwates were churchmen ;
showing, he remarked, that the plea Of cerwiance was
not a strong plea. Ile than reviewed the Mille*
scheming which hail been proposed from time to thee to
remedy the grievance complained of ttinkr the twisting
law, including the proposition of Sir (h Grey and that
of Mr. Puller,. pointing out the objections to which thy
were all, in his opinion, more or leas liable. The result
we* lie observed, that Parliament should reject all
plans which would trader the charge from the property
now liable to It to property not at present liable ; or
which attempted to throw the obligation upon the
public taxation of the country or upon the revenuee of
the Church ; AH4I that it should set its face against all
phois which, like that of Sir VV. Clay, attempted to
substitute for a legal obligation payments by means of
pew-rents. The Government pri,mwed to make the rate
a landlord's rate; to enable the owner's of land to
charge it with a chisrch•rate, extending the power to
tenants for life as well as owners iii fee ; to make in•
ruoilsisti anal churchwardens corpiwations ; and to
make proviaimis (which he explained) fur aihilisig this
rent•charge hy voluntary assistance. By this promisel
the legal obligation which rested upon property to
answer a debt to which it was justly liable was nut
shimilosivil. In order to relieve conscientious empire,
provisions would he nook to exempt M.:of:Mere from the
rate, but persona claiming exemption upon such a
ground would not he permitted to take part in vestry
niectinga for imposing A church rate. In taincluslon, he
moil, lie proposed this plan, believing from his soul that
it wax a just, fair, and reasonable settlement of Mile
complicated question, and, haring dime so, lie left to
the Wow' the merit of silopting or the reopotiaillilty of
rejecting it. Ile inured fur leave to bring in a Dill ein•
bodying the plan.
Sir J. Titei..twsY acknowledged the conciliatory tune
adopted by Mr. Walpole, uism whoop statement.' his
ordered some cursory remarks, asking fur thou to consider
the leeeielre.
Sir 41. I len lue• espies.' an opinion upon Diu
plan until lie saw the Dill in print, to which lie was pre•
pared to give a fair and candid admilloration. Ile drew
conclusions from the return,, somewliet different from
Mr. Walpolu's and did not quite accord with him i on the
Allilfret or 11CW•IV111.A.
Mr. RAM. considered the proposal of the Government
A very fair one i it tame in 1111011 • shape that he warn
very much •limposed to wept it.
Sir A. Evros regretted that Mr. Walpole hail not
boldly at once put an end to elturch•rstes, wlikh, in his
opinion, would hare quickened voluntary contributions
and benefactions eV.•II ill the lower striae a 111001 Cly.
He approved the exclusion id Dissenters from vestry
meeting* upon Church matters
SAi(fteirLail,exww
In full Ismael.' of the plan of the Gove 1111 l lent Isidore
reed that the Mousse 411°0416e
Mr. Near,
discussion, and lie therefore asked whether it was in-
tended that the present vestries lemisistind ut otsoldond
cease. soil the vestries in future should consist of
landowners ; and what would he dime wheel the pro-
perty was held by more than one landlutd.
Mr. IioPE 11111,111 g mails e,,iuie observations
Lord J. Remind, said he thought the measure was
framed in • most conciliatory spirit ; but, with respect
to that part of it which relieved frum the payment of
church-ratea thou who hail conecientious scruples, it
seemed to him that it changed the character of the
Chord' of England, mid did not 1113111t/lillit ass national
Church. It had always appeared to him that the whole
case of the list blinheil Church was Diet it was for the
general advantage of the o.,imiiuiunity at large ; that the
placing a minister of the Oupel iii a parish MArn a benefit,
not only to l'hurchnien, but to thou who dissented from
the Church ; and the practical effect of making
a dist incti between the two would be to keep alive
blood in the parishes.
Mr. M aunt asked what would be done with regard to
thoee towns where church-rates were not levied.
The discussion, which turned thirdv inisin the general
I subject of church-rates, was continued by Mr. GRIFFITH,
Mr. Ablerman Centrr, Mr HADYIELD, Sir B. Itnitmen,
and Mr. KVA.
Mr. WALroLE replied to questions and objections.
it was the intention of the Government. lie said, not to
interfere with the existing law unnecessarily, and there-
fore to leave the law unaltered in respect to the places
referred to by Mr. Mellor. In cases where the landlord
I paid the rate the teuant's vote in the vestry would be
I transferred to him.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.