The Press.
London, England, 1858-02-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 27, 1858-

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
NEW WRITS.

On the motion of Sir W. JOLLIFFE the following
new writs were ordered :—For Buckinghamshire, in
the room of Mr. Disraeli, who has accepted the
office of Chancellor of the Exchequer ; for King's
Lynn, in the room of Lord Stanley ; for the Univer-
sity of Cambridge, in the room of Mr. Walpole—who
have been appointed Secretaries of State; for Droit-
wich, in the room of Sir J. Pakington, who has
accepted the office of First Lord of the Admiralty ;
for Huntingdon, in the room of General Peel,
appointed Secretary for War; for the county of
Oxford, in the room of Mr. Henley, appointed Presi-
dent of the Board of Trade ; for the North Division
of the county of Wilts, in the room of Mr. Sotheron
Estcourt, appointed President of the Poor-law Board ;
for the Northern Division of Stafford, in the room of
Mr. Adderley, appointed Vice-President of the Com-
mittee of Education ; for Stamford, in the room of
Sir F. Thesiger, appointed Lord Chancellor ; for the
Eastern Division of Suffolk, in the room of Sir
Fitzroy Kelly, appointed Attorney-General ; for Bel-
fast, in the room of Mr. Cairns, appointed Solicitor-
General ; for the Northern Division of Leicester-
shire, in the room of Lord J. Manners, appointed
First Commissioner of Works ; for the Southern
Division of Salop, in the room of Viscount Newport,
appointed Vice-Chamberlain of her Majesty's House-
hold ; for the county of Dublin, in the room of Cap-
tain T. E. Taylor, appointed one of the Lords of the
Treasury; for Bridgenorth, in the room of Mr.
Whitmore, appointed one of the Lords of the Trea-
sury; for Cockermouth, in the room of Lord Naas,
appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland ; for the
county of Tyrone, in the room of Lord C. Hamilton,
appointed Treasurer of her Majesty's Household ;
and for Wenlock, in the room of Colonel Forester,
appointed Comptroller of her Majesty's Household.

TRANSPORT OF TROOPS TO INDIA.
THE Hon. G. Lumsden, senior member of the
' Council at Bombay, was examined as a witness at
Sir De Lacy Evans' Transport of Troops Committee
on Tuesday last, and gave the following important
evidence in favour of the ease with which troops
could have been despatched to India by the overland
route. He stated that he bad been several times up
the Red Sea. The health of the passengers had not
suffered during the voyages. He was always the
better for the voyage. He met with no difficulty is
the transit through Egypt; the Desert was healthy.
If arrangements were made beforehand, men would
not suffer by stopping at Cairo. A large number of
camels could he procured on a few days' notice. At
Suez some twenty or thirty mercantile craft might be
got for the transport of troops. He did not think
the monsoon was felt on the R^d Sea. There was
no se►ious impediment to the passage of that sea.
With proper precautions there would not be any
inconvenience in sending troops by the Red Sea.
The railway extended about fifty miles above
Bombay in a working condition. He thought the
heat of the Persian Gulf was more distressing than
that of the Red Sea. The wind was fair from Aden
to Bombay durinct the monsoon, and he had come
in a steamer from Bombay in the very teeth of the
monsoon. The coasting craft, which might perhaps
be available to the number or thirty, would have
carried, the smallest, fifty men each, and with
proper care they would not have Buffeted on the way.
Troops landed at Bombay could have easily marched
on Central India. He himself, as a member of
council, had advocated the employment of means for
bringing out troops overland, and thought there
were no obstacles of a serious nature in the way.