The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

THE NEW ZEALAND BISHOPRIC.

The Bishop of LONDON on Monday interrogated
Government as to the circumstances under which
the grant of 6001. heretofore voted for the Bishop of
New Zealand had been this year withdrawn from the
estimates. Hil,hly eulogising the great energy and
disinterestedness of the prelate in question, he ex-
pressed strong hopes that, considering what had
passed in the House of Commons, and the state-
ments there made by Sir J. Pakington, the Govern-
ment would find means of redressing the injustice
done to so excellent a man.

The Duke of NEWCASTLE heartily concurred in ap-
preciating the worth and services of the Bishop of
New Zealand; but he held out no prospect of any
restoration of the omitted vote on his account:—

" The circumstances which led to the withdrawal of the
vote were principally these, and, though unfortunately the
bishop himself was not apprised of the discontinuance of
the vote until a few days ago, still her Majesty's Govern-
ment had not been wanting in that courtesy and respect
so eminently required by the occasion. For many years
the parliamentary estimates on account of the colony were
very large, caused in a great measure by the disastrous cir-
cumstances accompanying the colonisation of the islands
of New Zealand. In the year 1862, Sir John }'akington
being then Secretary of State for the Colonial Department,
an estimate for 10,0001. on account of the islands was pre-
sented, including a salary of 6001. for the bishop. But to
that estimate was appended a note, founded upon informa-
tion contained in despatches forwarded by the colonial au-
thorities, to the effect that in the next year the estimates
would be reduced to 6,0001.; and that in 1e54 all demands
on the home Government would entirely cease. In ac-
cordance, therefore,with that intimation,the vote proposed
in the House of Commons last year was but for 5,0001.;
while no estimate whatever was sent in for the present
year. Such were the circumstances under which the vote
on account of the bishop's salary had disappeared from the
estimates. Now, he was not at all prepared to say that if
circumstances had remained in the position in which they
stood twelve months ago he would have been disinclined
to reconsider the minute of Sir J. Pakingtou, and to !wi-
elder whether it would not be right to ask for a contina•

654

ance of tho grant of OM/. a year. But, unfortunately, cir-
cumstances had altered, and just at the present time it
would neither be expedient to enter upon such review or
to propose to make up this sum, as he should very much
have wished to do, by means of a supplementary estimate.
(Hear, hear.) He could only state, on behalf of her Ma-
jesty's Government, and of himself personally, that, if any
inconvenience were caused to the Bishop of New Zealand
or to the church in that colony, it would be a matter of very
deep regret, but, under the circumstances of the case, it
was difficult to see any means by which it could be avoided.
He should not be doing justice to the Bishop of New Zea-
land while on this subject if he did not mention a fact
which, in his opinion, spoke greatly to the credit of that
right rev. prelate, that, as soon as it was known that the
estimates as to the MU. s year would be stopped, an offi-
cial communication had been made to the bishop, who was
asked whether he would not reconsider a conclusion to
which he had arrived relative to a grant of 6001. a year
from the Church Missionary Society, which he had voluu-
tardy given notice of his intention to resign; but the
bishop at once replied that, whatever might become of the
parliamentary grant of tk)01. a year, he would not deprive
the colonial church of the benefit it would receive in a
pecuniary point of view from the sum of 6001. a year from
the Missionary Society which he had thought it his duty
to resign. (Hear, hear.) As he had said before, it was a
matter much to be regretted, and, if there had been any
means of avoiding it, he should have been most happy to
have availed himself of them."
LAND TENURE IN INDIA.
An address to the Crown praying for the appoint-
ment of a commission to proceed to India to inquire
into the tenure of land in the presidency of Madras
was moved on Tuesday in the House of Commons
by Mr. BLACKETT. His object, he said, was to call
the attention of the house to a system of local
taxation contrary, as he believed, to every principle
of fiscal science. The land tax constituted more
than three-tifths of the whole Indian revenue, and
yet its origin and proper designation were still mat-
ters of dispute, some authorities considering it a tax
and others treating it as a rent which the cultivators
of the soil paid for its use to the Government, who
were the absolute landlords of the whole country. In
either sense, however, he described the operation of
the impost as being excessively injurious. After
describing the different systems of collecting the
land revenue in Bengal, the north-west provinces,
Bombay, and Madras, Mr. Blackett proceeded to
show what lie regarded as the objectionable features
of the ryot-war system under the last-mentioned pre-
sidency, extending over an area of seven thousand
square miles. This system, he said, tended to break
down the cultivators, who were at the mercy of the
Government—in other words, of corrupt native func-
tionaries, cutting them off from the power of accu-
mulating capital, so that such a thing as private
property in laud was practically unknown. Explain-
ing in detail the main defects of this system, he
dwelt upon its effects upon the revenue, the land,
and the cultivating population. The revenue, he
contended, was deteriorated ; the marketable value
of the land was lowered and even extinguished; and
the system was calculated to sweep away all occu-
piers on a large scale, multiplying small holdings,
and to strengthen the Government by weakening
society, which was pressed down to one dead level of
pauperism. As one main object for the inquiries of the
proposed commissioners, he indicated the discovery
of some means whereby a class of native landowners
could be created and maintained.
Mr. Lowe opposed the motion on behalf of the
Government. He contended that a mere statement
of grievances sustained under the ryot-war system
constituted no sufficient ground for a proceeding so
unusual as that of appointing a royal commission of
inquiry. It was necessary besides to point out some
reasonable prospect of improvement and redress.
This, he believed, did not exist in the present case;
and, after examining the alternatives which it was
possible to suggest for the present land tenure, urged
that none of them were better adapted to the condi-
tion and character of the inhabitants of India than
the ryot-war system. Improvements were doubtless
possible in that system, but they should be left to
the Government in India or at home, whose zeal on
that point needed no extraneous stimulus.
The motion for appointing a commission was sup-
ported by Mr. DANBY SEYMOUR, who entered into a
long detail of the grievances and misgovernment suf-
fered by the natives of India. The Indian Govern-
ment, he declared, showed an obstinate determina-
tion to maintain all the existing abuses on the spot,
and to conceal their results from the English public.
The effect of the present tenure was to keep vast
areas of fertile land out of cultivation, while the po-
pulation it should support either emigrated or starved.
Sir J. W. Hoot) declared that Mr. Seymour had
picked up a carpet-bag full of exaggerated statements
during a hurried tour in India, and now retailed them
to the house without authentication.
Mr. BRIGHT dilated upon the atrocities which, he
argued, characterised the British administration of
India. Exorbitant taxes were imposed upon the
ryot in the shape of a land rent, and torture was in
some instances used to enforce pa)ment. The whole
subject required a searching investigation, which

THE PRESS.

should be prosecuted by persons unconnected with
the Indian Government.
Sir C. WOOD remarked that the alleged instances
of abuse formed proper subjects for inquiry and
redress upon the spot, but presented no case for
breaking up the existing system of land tenure.
He had never denied the existence of evils con-
nected with that system in the Madras presidency,
but believed that they were attributable to the over-
assessment of amount, and not to the nature of the
tax itself. He then enumerated the comparative
advantages of the ryot-war system, in the absence of
any middlemen, and in the greater certainty of
tenure, the tenant holding the land by the inde-
feasible title. Some of the most experienced officers
in India declared that this system was the best that
could exist, and the most favourable to the people.
So long as the tenant paid a certain assessment he
could not be disturbed in his possession of the land;
if the assessment was too high, that did not affect
the tenure, which was better suited to the habits and
prejudices of the natives than English systems.
The evils of over-assessment were remediable by
the local Government, and he had pressed Lord
Harris to take prompt measures to put the revenue
system of Madras on a better foundation. Changes
must, however, be effected cautiously and with dis.
cretion, much injury having followed in different
parts of India from inconsiderate attempts to intro-
duce European forms and modes of holding land.
Mr. J. PHILLIMORE said, the question was not
whether the ryotwarry or' the zemindarry system was
the hest, but whether, under the system, whatever it
might be, it was true, as had been alleged, that only
one-fifth of the country was under cultivation; that
torture was constantly practised to extort rent; that
farming was a wild speculation, which no reasonable
man would undertake; and that land was unsaleable
in the market.
Mr. R. MANGLES enforced the argument that the
evils of the ryot-war tenure were occasioned not by
its system but its assessment.
Mr. HENLEY, accepting that explanation, inquired
why those evils were nevertheless permitted to con-
tinue? He reminded the Government also that a
charge of resorting to the practice of torture bad been
brought against the Indian officials, and never an•
swered.
Sir C. WOOD did not believe the torture-stories, but
was unable on the moment to prove the negative.
He promised an inquiry. Mr. R. MANGLES, briefly
" explaining " on the same point, said that during
twenty years' residence in India he never heard of
torture being applied to extort revenue.
Mr. V. Scumx thought that whether the question
related to tenure or to assessment the necessity for in-
quiry was equally urgent. The prosperity of every
country depended upon its system of land tenure, as
was shown by the different conditions of Ireland, the
Channel Islands, Belgium, Palestine, and India.
Mr. OTWAY adduced evidence to prove that torture
was used in India to extort confession or money.
Mr. R. MANGLES, renewing his explanation, de-
clared that if such a practice existed at all it was em-
ployed for police purposes, and never to collect revenue.
Mr. ELLIOTT corroborated this representation of the
Me.
A division was then taken, when there appeared—
For appointing the commission, 59 ; against, 64 :
majority, 5. This narrow escape of Government was
hailed with much cheering.
THE CENSUS RETURNS.
A motion was made in the House of Lords on
Tuesday by the Bishop of OXFORD for the production
of returns connected with the census, lately published
under the authority of the Registrar-General, the
accuracy of which there was strong reason to doubt.
In proof of this fact, the rev. prelate instanced his own
diocese, in which he had tested the number of wor-
shippers in the Established Church by the number of
stated in the returns, these being respectively
117,421 and 98,410. le also read extracts from
letters he had received from various parts of the
country, charging the members of dissenting denomi-
nations with intentional exaggeration. He urged
that the returns, from the way in which they were
taken, were not to be relied upon, though he admitted
that the fault did not lie with the Registrar-General,
but with those whom he had to refer to. The result,
i he believed, was that the number of members of the
Established Church, as compared with dissenters,
was stated very much below the truth.
Earl GRANVILLE said it was impossible to give an
official opinion as to the accuracy of the returns,
though it was most probable that they were, as regards
members of the Church, below what ought to have
been given. He could not, however, accede to the
motion, as the Census-office was shut up, and the
clerks dismissed.
The motion was then withdrawn.
MEDICAL GRADUATES OF LONDON
UNIVERSITY.

The Medical Graduates (University of London)
13111 stood for committal on Wednesday, when the
motion for its progress through that stage was
opposed by Mr. Bouvraua, on the ground that it

SATURDAY,

would exclude gentlemen holding diplomas from
Edinburgh and Dublin from the right to practise in
London. The measure did no more than extend a
monopoly which ought to be abolished altogether.
The graduates of the London University were to be
admitted to privileges from which Scotch and Irish
practitioners remained excluded. He moved that
the bill be committed that day three months.
Mr. Cowie supported this amendment, urging the
claims of the Edinburgh University to an equal share
of privilege, and exhorting the Government to intro-
duce a general bill on the subject.
Lord PALMERSTON defended the bill. When the
London University was founded there was, he ar-
gued, an understanding that the degrees granted
there should convey the similar professional ad.
vantages to those acquired at Oxford or Cambridge.
This was the case with respect to all degrees, except
those in medicine, although the medical examination
in the London University was confessedly excellent.
The present measure was designed to remove this
anomaly, and if passed would not stand in the way of
a general bill, which he admitted to be desirable, and
hoped to introduce in another session.
Mr. WALPOLE urged that the existing law with
respect to medical practitioners wasin a most anoma-
lous state, and this bill would make it worse. He
recommended the noble lord to introduce a general
bill on this subject next session, and meanwhile to
make the present bill merely one to relieve the
parties affected.
After much debating the house divided, and the
motion for going into committee was affirmed by a
majority of 90 to 26.
In committee, an amendment proposed by Mr.
MOWBRAY for extending the privileges conferred by
the bill to Durham University was, after much dis-
cussion, adopted. A provis) was also passed to the
effect that nothing contained in the bill should be
construed to enable graduates of the University
of London to practise in Scotland and Ireland. The
bill then passed through committee.
DEALINGS IN RUSSIAN SECURITIES.
Lord D. STUART has obtained leave to bring in a
bill rendering the purchase or dealing with securities
issued by the Russian Government during the present
war between England and Russia a misdemeanour,
if committed by a British subject.
IRISH CONSTABULARY.
Mr. J. FITZGERALD, on Tuesday, moved for certain
returns respecting the constabulary force in Ireland,
and accompanied his motion with various statistical
statements to support his complaint that while the
rank and file of the force presented a proportion of
eight Roman Catholics to one Protestant, in the
upper ranks of the service that proportion was
reversed.
Sir J. YOUNG opposed the motion, contending that
the returns asked for must contain figures which, if
taken without detailed explanatory statements, would
lead to false conclusions. In practice he was assured
that no injustice and no partiality had been exhibited
towards the members of any sect in Ireland with
regard to the promotions in the constabulary force.
After some remarks from Mr. J. O'CONNELL and
Lord NAAS, and a reply from Mr. FITZGERALD, the
house divided on the motion for producing the re-
turns :—Ayes, 21 ; noes, 62-41.
IRISH NUNS AND JURIES BILL.
The (Nuns) Property Disposal Bill and the Jurors
and Juries (Ireland) Bill, which stood for progress
on Wednesday, were on that day abandoned for the
session.
Mr. WHITESIDE, in announcing his intention not
to proceed with the former measure, stated that he
gave it up most reluctantly and from sheer necessity,
finding that the minority in that house could so
overrule the majority as to render all legislation im-
possible.
For the abandonment of the latter bill Mr. Wurre -
sine made the Government responsible, observing
that the Ministry never allowed the bills brought in
by independent members to proceed until the publio
took up the subject, so as to compel them to attend
to it. And when that happened the independent
members were unfairly treated in another way, as
Government then took the bills out of their hands
altogether.

As an indication of the altered state of feeling with
respect to the Emperor of Russia, in the mind of his
quondam friends, it has been noticed that at Chats-
worth, the ducal owner of which was the personal
friend and host of the Czar during his residence in
this country, the full-length portrait of the Emperor
hanging at the foot of the grand staircase, and other
remembrances of the imperial house, have been
turned with their front to the wall. The fountain,
too, which was once named after his Russian Majesty
has repudiated his relationship, and now bears the
more worthy appellation of Victoria.
A LARGE DEMAND FOR UNDERCLOTHING for the
army and navy has given an impulse to employment
this week at Leicester and the neighbourhood. It is
reported that more than fifty tons of yarn will be re•
(Inked to complete the orders.