The Express.
London, England, 1863-03-25 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 25, 1863.

noble lord's reply, namely, that there was neither law nor
coastitutional usage to make the went of parliament eir
ceseery to theeasion_ of territories of the
into
tut:oriel the
Ln of this country had bees introduced
amines
peel iiunent had legislated conceraing them.
Yr. GRIFFITH did sot quite understaud the answer of
the learned gentleman. What be wished to know was
whether the crown could cede a colony like Gibraltar or
Canada by forged its own preragetive.
The SOLIOITOR.GENERAL could Dot argue these
questions with the hon. gentleman. When WW& subPicts
settled in a new territory not conquered or ceded by treaty,
they carried with them the laws of this realm, and the
comma of that territory could take place without the consent
of parliament. With regard to a conquered country, if
tliao:iteonitigtirt legtelatednoo concert" aiojeit, the consent of par

HORSES FOR THE POLICE.
Mr. HUNT asked the Secretary to the Tresaury whether,
in consequence of the small number of horses kept for hire
in some parts of the country, and the difficulty experienced
by the county constabulary in obtaining horns on hire
from licensed persons, the government would consider the
propriety of recommending to parliament to exempt from
duty horses hired for police eemoe, on the same principle on
which an exemption in now allowed by law in the cue of
bones hired to convey prisoners to gaol?
Mr. PEEL thought it would not he desirable to extend
the exception, for, except in a very few districts, no inconve-
nience was experienced.
ARTERIAL DRAINAGE (IRELAND).

Mr. BAQWELL asked the Secretary to the Treasury
if it was the intention of the goveroment to authorise the
Board of Works to proceed as formerl► with works of
arterial drainage in Irelsed, sad to place at the disport
of the said board for that purpose sufficient funds re-
payable by instalments by the owners of the lend improved
by such works of draiaage.
Mr. PEEL was sorry to say that the government bad no
intention of the kind suggested by the hon. member.

TOBACCO DUTIES BILL.
This bill vu read • tblzd time and pasted.
REUNION.

Mr. CAVE moved an address for copy of any com-
munications from her Majesty's Consul at Reunion respect-
ing the condition of natives of British India held to labour
in that island. lie prefaced the motion by observations
upon the system of Coolie emigration to foreign colonies,
and upon the difficulty of obtaining satisfactory offitial
information as to the condition of ludian labourer' in the
island of Reunion. Fact; the keowledge of which he bad
derived from private sources, bad, be said, tended to con-
firm the reports he had heard, that their condition was •
kind of modified slavery. .

-
Mr. LAYARD admitted that the information received
by the government upon the subject wee not quite satisfac-
tory, observing that the consul found much difficulty in ob-
taining trustworthy information in the island, owing partly
to the extreme ignorance of the coolies themselves. Every-
thing had been and would be done that could he dons to
cause these poor people, who were British subjects, to be
properly cared for. He did not think it advisable to lay all
the papers upon the table.
After a few remarks by Sir H. Farquhar, Sir d. Blphin-
atone, and Mr. H. Seymour, the motion was withdrawn.

DICOME TAX.
Mr. HIBBARD rose, pursuant to notice, to move, as
affirming the principle of an income tax, that the incidence
at an iIbSOMO tax touching the products of invested property
should fall open net income, and that the net amounts of
industrial earnings should, previous to enurement, be sub-
ject to such an abatement as may equitably adjust the bar-
then thrown upon intelligence and skill as compared with
property. The boo. member contended that the unpopu-
larity of the tax arose from its not being founded upon any
principle; that, whether it was to become a permanent
source of revenue, or to be reserved for exigencies, it was
equally the duty of the house to belie the tax upon a defi-
nite and acknowledged principle. After adverting to the
objections which bad been made to the practicability and
the soundness of the theory embodied in his resolu-
tion, he entered minutely into details as to the mode in
which, under his theory, the tax would operate upon
various speedos of property,urplzing she watt on to the
b.Ge arguments which had n against it by the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer, especially that it was hostile to the
leaded interest, and he fortified the proposition contained
in the latter part of his resolution by authority and ex-
swim In conclusion, he maintained the practicability of
his theory ; he denied that it would create, se alleged, new
inequalities and grievances, and he repudiated the charge of
aiming at clams legislation, meaning, be said, nothing more
than to pat before the house a simple principle as a koala
for the tax.

MI 1110t1011 was seconded by X. LEMMA*, who reviewed
mid replied to the arguments with which the Chancellor of
the Exchequer bad met Kr. Hubbard's propositions last
session.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said there
were certain acts, the repetition of which enabled one every
year to mat amide whatever degree of bashfuloces or Arens
he mightkave previously exhibited in performing them, but he
was sorrytosay that the repetition of the sameannual speech
on the Name annual motion, was not one of thou acts ; and
he must sincerely state that it was with some degree of bash-
fames that he felt himself compelled by the motion of his
has. fried to revert to the discussion of this subject. His
bees. friend appeared here not only as a reformer of the
teems tax, bat likewise as the advocate and champion of
psrhicrilar plan. The plan of the hon. member was after
all to relieve one class of tax payers at the expease
of another. In fact, precisely those descriptions of
property which wen most uncertain, most fluctuating, most
unattractive, the hoe. member would select to smite with
the weight of his right head, and to impose upon them the
highest tax. He would place the heaviest burdens upon
railway or canal property, and upon property of that kind.
Canal property I Surely they would all allow that that, in
consequence of the competition of the railways, bad under-
go°e severe depreciation ; and yet the hon. gentleman se-
lected it for this diengresabie preeminence in taxation in
order that he might take off one-third from the tax on the
most flourishing 6oriaemr in the City of Leedom Railwey
property I He would only ask if there were any railway
proprietors in that house ; and if the scheme gave say putt-
, ruder 'ablution to them? (Hear, hear.) Was this
really so admirable an income that they were reedy to
=Omit to extra Onetime for the tomtit of the richest
traders in this metropolis? He (the Chancellor of the Riche-
, quer) trusted there were no shareholders in the Great West-
era Company present, because that had lately made a great
jump ; but they would remember that not long ago their
ie dfses beam was at the rah, of 3 per cent., while the
very next wee only at the rate of lie, and yet that we. the
property on which the bosourable 'estimate proposed
to levy a sur-tax of El per cent. (Hear, hear.)
It was quite clear that the honourable gentleman
meld not give relief to every one unless he had somewhere a
hedonism poise, the existesse of which woe unknown to
every cue else, end of which be alone was the possessor.
His propmel wee, after all, merely the old homely—he
might even say
.the vulgar —plan of putting your hand into
as. males pocket Is order that you might Stye the pocket
et smother. (Hest, hear.) That wee (the Chancellor
of the Exchequer's) simple translation of the hon. gentle.
mods scheme, and he humbly thought that that tranalatioa
won
ported by the figures which the boo. gentlemsa had
placed upon the table. There was far more to be
mid in favour of a law of 'graduated taxation than for the
6:6111910 of the boo. member. By a law of graduated
taxation they would lighten the burden on poverty and
they would Moreau it oa overflowing wealth. There was
something vary plaunible in that principle ; but what the
hon. gentleman said was, " I will tax the widow more with
SO& a year in the fuada to educate half-a-deem children
aced to fit them out for the world, is order that I may re-
lieve the peat merchant who is making 20,000 i. • year. In
order to relieve that rich merchant I will add live-Rod
twenty per cent. to the heretics of that poor widow."
'At this point he would not further trouble the house. He
did not deny that • feeling always did and always would exist
tending in a directiou towards which the =Aim of his hon.
friend would lead the boas He did not may that the
feeling was act very natural and most intelligible ;
bat tins be did say, that when the real merits of the case
were examined, wbn the were brought to a practical re-
sult and realised—a result which was much more sharply
beagle oat before the committee—thee the home would
see the classic of following the principle of his boo. friend,
that it would really he to substitute vague expectations on
the part of certain alarm of the community tor those
rational bops, which the country could never see realised
by the plan of taking from commie to give to =other. These
hopes they could never see roiliest by the scheme of his boo.
friends, bet osly by the exorcise of a jadicious economy,
sled the application of rightpriociplas to the reduction of the
*die bunko% (Cheers, and cries of " Divide.")
The house this divided, arid the numbers were :
For the seeks
Against it
The motion was consequently lost.
APPROPRIATION BILL

118 -48

Lard R. 1102frAGU moved the !allowing reaolatioar

1. That every bill hereafter introduced foi. the appropria-
gon of supplies be printed end dixtributed in time for eon.
sideratton Ware ft pause through committee of the house.
2. That it is inexpedient that any bill for the approprir
tin of supplies 'ball contain the power of transfer which
wee first introduced into the Appropriation Act of 1846.
end which unsettles the appropriation of all the grants of
the year for the naval and toihtary services. Ia support of
the first resolution, hie lordship wu understood to may that
various cheeps had biro on different occasions introduced
without the authority of parlament into the Appropriation
Acts, in comeisqueoes of the arta not having bees printed.
Thin fist was aecertaised by the committee which bed sat
on this subject, and his GM resolution was nothing else
than a copy of part of the report of that onnuaittos.
With regard to the mond resolution, he argned that the
obiset for which the dense wee framed bad not been
attained, that it was injurious in ita awes to the public
interacts, mid that so incouvenance would result from ex.
Pouring it.
The CHANCYLLOIt of the EXCIREQUIOI, in reply to
the money, showed that in raped to tanagers the objeo.
dons urged by Lord Robert hod
la of the tiooasse.tairst 4=o to the
present practice under the clause of Ant.
the evils having bees oared. The regulation was
abandon noodina ; sad, with toptit to an Irak bad no
objosiks to At nioptian, with a alien antondastat.

After some remarks by Sir F. Bering, Mr. Hadfield, and
Mr. Newdegate, the bet resolution was areal te. with the
sinendrint proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchreer,
and with a further amendment suggested by Mr. Hadfield.
The second resolutloo was not put.
PROCESSION AND ILLUMINATION AICCIDETS.
Mr. H. LEWIS moved an address for Terns of the
names of the persons killed or injured daring the proosesion
on the 7th day of this instant March, sad on the occasion of
the illuminator in the Oily on the 10th d ay of this instant
March, and of
.persons who afterwards died in consequence
of injuries received on either of those dap ; and of the pa-
✓r
injured on either of those days, whose seem were co.
ported to the City and Metropolitan pokes, distuguishir
the localities in which the deaths sad injuries occurred. He
said the difllordtise which arose in the City upon the occa-
sion of the procession of his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales and the Princess Alexandra were nuhappily matter
of public notoriety. He thought the time bad come when
there ought to be one system of police under one
manage-
meat,
and he trusted the government would tothe
matter into their serious consideration. (Hear, hear.)

Yea. NORRIS then moved, as an addition to Mr. Harvey
Leiria's motion for a return of the number of persons killed
and wounded on the occasions of the lying in dote and
funeral of the late Duke of Wellington ; and a copy at any
order issued by the Metropolitan police authorities, with a
view to prevent a recurrence of such accidents. It appeared
to bim that information of this kind, to be of any value,
should be full and complete.
The LORD MAYOR thought it would be inoonvenient to
enter into the matter at present, and that it would be better
to defer any discussion until the report which had been
presented to the house should be hams the public. He
must be allowed to repeat what he had stated before, that
the moment the offer of troops was made to him it was ac-
cepted verbally ; and that within two hours a written ac-
ceptance was sent to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cam-
bridge, thanking him for she offer which had been made.
When the offer was made to bin,, he not only expressed his
gratitude for the offer of 200 troops, but mid he should be
I much obliged if 100 or 200 more could be sent. ;Hear.)
Colonel NORTH wished to know whether the Lord
Mayor did not distinctly refuse to aoospt the offer of the
tr7e4LORD MAYOR said his reply was that he was per
smelly obliged to his royal bighorns for his great dodders-
tics, but as he bulbous the occupant of the adios for only four
months he did not. feel justified in accepting the offer.
Personally be accepted it, and a written communication
was mut by a special messenger within an hour of the time
of the interview—between four and five o'clock—at the
Mansion-house,

Sir G. GREY conourred in the remarks which had been
made, but this wan not the proper time to discus' the
matter fully, particularly as he had not yet seen the report.
elle bad no objection whatever to the production of the
returns which had been moved for.
The returns were then ordered.
PARTNERSHIP LAW AMENDMENT BILL.

Hr. SCHOLEFIELD, in moving the second reading of I
this bill, said that its object was to limit the liability of
sleeping partners, to introduce a system of arbitration, to
provide for the registration of the names of the putters
who were members of a firm who were not disclosed in the
title of the firm. The principle of the bill was that part of
it which related to the limited liability of partners, and
that was the part of the bill by which he meant to stand or
fall. He contended that partnerships ought to be mire-
drieted, except where they were contrary to public policy, "
or where there was reason to suspect fraud. The principle
of limited liability had been aanctiooed by parliament. and
what he now proposed to do was to apply that principle to
private partnerships. The remit of the present evident
was that a great deal of private capital that otherwise
would be inverted in trade in this country was now vested
in speculations in other countries. He wished to obviate
the difficulty which now existed, and to enable say capital-
ist to advance a fixed sum to a Print* Port•ergie, being •
limited partner in the concern, and liable only for the
amount of money placed in it, subject to certain stringent
regulations. He hoped that these considerations would in-
duce the house to paas the second reading of the bill, ape-
eially as he was about to propse that it should be oat to a
select committee. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. BUCHANAN, in rising to move that the bill be read
a second time that day six months, observed that
ander this bill there might be only two partnere—
at present there moat be at least seven and it would be
far seder to get two persona to anent to's fraud than the
larger number. The original amount of stock of the com-
panies must be registered under the precept acts, but by this
bill nothing of the kind was required • in short, there was
no guarantee against fraud whatever, and the accounts were
not required to be examined by neutral parties, who should
be called is to assist is that duty, and in seeing what had
been honestly earned before there was any division of profita.
Many of the most eminent men, great authorities in
commercial questions, were opposed to the principle of
limited liability. Every provision which it had been consi-
dered neceseary to insert in the present acts as rafeguards
against fraud had been kept out of this bill, and there were
no securities to protect the public against designing men.
It was said that the employment of capital would be stimu-
lated, but that was not required, for it was generally over-
abundant. He feared if the bill tamed into law that the
position of British maroluints for high character and mo-
rality in their dealings would break down. (" Hear, hear,"
and cries of " Divide.") They should rensseabs• that parlia-
ment had abolished imprisonment for debt, and though he
would not advocate a return to the barbarous preeeedinp
against debtors of the pest age, yet there was no reason
why they 'bona se to the opposite extreme. He hoped
that the bows would not give its sanction to such • mea-
sure.

GRIP:MON seconded the amendment.
Mr. IL GIBSON observed that. as the general principle
of limited liability had been deliberately adopted by the
legislature, it was unnecessary to argue the general ques-
tion • what the hone had to consider wee, how it was pro-
posal to apply the general principle in this Funicular mea-
mire, and with what safeguards. Although he was of
opinion that there were many details in the bill which must
he materially altered, its principle was consistent with the
general pimple adopted by parliament, and, as it war pro-
posed to refer the bill to a siet committee. he should vote
for the ascend rending.
Mr. MALINS supported the wood reading of the bill,
ezgu in favour of its principle. What was good for
partnership was, in his opinion, pod far prints part-
nership.
Mr. T. BARING said the proposed change we a very
serious one, if in every commercial transaction, large or
small, a man was to be told be must look to see the extent
to which the person he dealt with was liable before he
entered into any commercial transaction with him. The
change would alter the whole system of trade and credit of
the country, and might introduce the greatest calamities.
Mr. HAZLET supported the amendment, believing that
the measure would be productive of peat evil.
Sir H. CAIRNS pointed out various defects in the bill.
observing that a measure of this kind ought to have been
introduced oa the responsibility of the government.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL remarked that the defects
in the bill indicated by Sir H. Cairns were matters of de-
tail which could be remedied in the committee or by a be-
ton committee. and he thought it was • teak not unworthy
of the hone* to correct these faults' of detail, the general
principle having been adopted by it.
Mr. WHIT :WIDE thought this house should refer the
bill to the Board of Trade.

Mr. JACKSON opposed the bill, which, if paned, would,
in his opinion, put a atop to credit in the country.
The debate wan continued by Mr. SLILY and Alderman
Eimszy.

The home then divided, when the embers were—
For the wood readies 56
Against it 39-17
The bill wee thew reed a woad time.
CORRUPT PRACTICES AT ELECTIONS BILL.

Various amendment; were confirmed, and the bill was
ordered for third reading on Thursday.
SUPPLY.

The report of the committee of supply was brought up
and agreed to.
MARINE MUTINY BILL.
This bill was read a third time and penal.
INCLOBURZ BILL.
This bill pained through committee.
1 The house adjourned at 1 o'clock.

/WISH or LONDOW.—From the weekly return
of the Registrar-General it appears that the mortality is
Landau was high in the mooed week of the current month ;
it rose still higher in the third week (that ended last Satur-
day), whew the deaths numbered 1,624. The average number
of deaths is the weeks of tea years 186342, eerrespondiag
with last week is, with a correction far inenaing popula-
tion, 1,416. The public health bag been eo watavourably
affected, that the deaths were =I TO numerous by 200 than
they would have been if the average rate of mortality had
ruled. In the last three weeks the deaths were successively
1,370, 1,561, and 1,624. The mean temperature of the air
in the same periods was 47.3 deg., 38.1 deg., sad 41.0 deg.
The return of the previous week exhibited an increase in the
deaths of young persona (under 20 years), and also of the old
(GO yearn and upwards). The return of last week shows no
further increase in the deaths of the young, but • further
increase of considerable amount to the deaths of the old.
In the last three weeks the deaths of young persons ware
702, 806, 793 ; those of the old were 275, 306, and 351.1
The increase has arisen chiefly from pulmonary complaints.
The deaths at all ages from phthuis were, in the three
weeks, 149, 191, and 180; those from bemthitia 144, 170,
201 ; those from pneumonia 88, 114, 102; those from heart
disease 56, 60, and 72. The deaths frees pulmonary com-
plaints last walk were 385 against a corrected average of
315. There were 45 deaths from emall.par. Seven noes-
wariest died in the week, the oldest of whom was a
widow. aged 97 yearn. Six women are returned as hay*
died as the 10th instant, four at Ludgate-hill, and two
at the Poultry, frees stdfocatioa in the crowds attracted to
witness the illuminatioa, or from heart dimes accelerated
by the great pressure and excitement on that cuession. A
woman died oa the 13th instant, front disease of the heart
aonsbarated by the pressure in the crowd en the 7th instant.
Last week the births of 1,129 bops and 1,102 girls, in all
2,231 &gazes, were rwieered is Lades. 1i the to
earreepeedieg weeks of the yaw Ises43 the average
mother (corrected) was 1,980.

ilato iinullfgenct.

VACATION NOTICE
Nutria; the Neater vacation the Chambers of VlaeChanoeilar
Kr J. Stuart will he open as March 111, and April 1,2, mad 8,
tram 11 to 1

PROM' LASS' NIGHT'S GAZETTE.

NAM or soucrroas AND FURST= PARTICULARS TO BR
OBTAIN= AT TRI OWNS Or Till CBI/
COURT OR liu[urnOT, Bainfaaa.L-enual..]
BANKRUPTS.
Onolos Buzurr, hie of Thanet and Broadstatrs. Kent, butcher,
to sorreuder noel IL at 1.
r.1)111:ND LIMB and WILLIAM BEMs, Nobleotreet, City, carpet
warehousemen, April 8, at 1
JAR= JULIUR NOONIKIL Wr-

BipwM. watch-