The Express.
London, England, 1848-07-05 00:00:00

DUBLIN ELECTION COMMITTEE.

On the motion of Lord It. GurreENun, !cave wu given
to the Dublin election committee to adjourn from to-morrow
(this day) to Friday next, on account of the urgent private
business of one of it)) members.
TURNPIKE TRUSTS.
' • - •

Mr. COLVILE inquired whether it was the intention
of the right hon. baronet the Home Secretary to introduce
is the present or the ensuing session of parliament any gene-
ral measure relative to the turnpike trusts throughout the
kingdom, and, if net, whether he would allow a clause to be
inserted 'n the Annual Turnpike Act to bar its operations in
those districts in which local grim ances had been proved to
exist ?
Sir G. GREY replied that it had been his intention this
session to have brought forward a general measure with re-
Bret to turnpike truss. tVith regard to the second ques-
tion, hewn not prepared at present to give an answm,
though he should be sorry to give a decided negative to such
a proposition without knowing the facts on which it rested.
THE KAFFIR WAR.
Mr. V. SMITH asked the hon. gentleman the under-
secretary for the colonies whetber there had been received,
and if en, whether he was prepared to lay upon the table,
any report from the Cape of Good Hope relative to the
expenses of the Kaffir war; and also whether there had been
received a report on the general state of the Cape of Good
Hop-, salt te have been prepared by Sir Henry Pottinger,
the late governor, prior to his proceeding to the seat of his
government at Meares.
Mr. HAWES said, in reply to the first part of the ques-
tion,
he hoped to he able to lay the report on the table in a
very Short time. With regard to the second question, he
hid not received any such report as that stated.
WEST INDIA COLONIES.
Mr. HUME intimated his intention to-morrow (this day)
to ask the undersecretary for the colonies whether any de-
spatches had ben received by the picket of that day relating
to the state of the colonies ; and whether he was prepered
to supply the house with an account oldie number of lab< urea
imported there from the coast of Africa during the past year.
T fIE RAILWAY COMMISSION.
Mr. BANKES rose pursuant to notice, to move for leave
to bring in a bill to repeal the Itsilway Commission Act. Ile
remarked that it had frequently been slid by more than one
of the present ministry, that the Home of Commons was
entirely to blame for all the extravagant expenditure which
might have taken place, and therefore he (Mr. Bankes)
thought it was time for the house to redeem its character,
and if that accusation were true, to exercise a greater degree
of 'ggilarice over the public expenditure. He was not pre-
pared to admit the accusation in the beotti terms in which
it had been made. True it was that suggestions were
often thrown out to the government which were
valuable, hut the mode in which those suggeo.
tions were acted upon was to be charged en-
tirely upon the responsibility of the government.
It might be true that the supervision of railways, as
ally authorised by parliament, might not have worked retie-
(*amity either to the companies or to the public, and it was
perfectly true that the hon. member for Montrone (Mr.
Hume) had recommended some change in that respect, but
still that hon. member, though he made the suggestion, was
not chargeable for the lavish expenditure which had been
consequent upon that recommendation. At all events, sup-
per-nig it lad been right to make the experiment, he (Mr.
Henke.) submitted that it having now been tried for two years
without any benefits arising at all adequate to the enormous
exnereliture to which it had led, he had a right to sub-
mit the proposition it was his intention to make.
The original insitution of a cheek, or a guardan-
ship of railways by the government, was by an
act passed in 1839, and that guardianship continued
from 1812, to August, 1844, and during that time it
was conducted at an annual charge of 1,370/. Afterwards,
when railway interests bad greatly increased, it had been
found necessary to give further powers to the authority
already constituted in the Board of Trade ; and from 1844
there had been established an organised plan at a cost of
3,3021. per annum. This charge so remained until the year
1846, when the new board, to which he had to call attention,
was created by a bill brought in at the very end of the ses-
sion of that 'ear. On a former occasion, the right hon. the
Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that the bill had met with
the full and entire approbation of the house; that it met with
no opposition, but was supported by. all who took part
in the debate upon it. Now, on referring to the records of
parliament, he found that the only discussion on the bill
took place on the 21st of August, 1846, when certainly the
t part of those who spoke objected to the measure ;
greater
uet itc was intimated that at the then late period of the
session there would be no use in going to a division, and
therefore, though a division had been called for, none took
place, the numbers in the house at that moment being 66
members. The bill received the royal assent on the last day
of the session (the 28th of August, 1846) ; and it could not
be fed 1, seeing the mode in which it had been introduced
and carried, that he (Mr. Bankes), in seeking to
repeal the act, was going against the deliberate de-
cision of parliament. He hail already shown that
the cost of previous superintendence had been at
the rate of 1,370/. and 3,302 i. respectively, and yet the
next estimate referring to the matter which had been laid
before the house, shoe-ed • charge of no less a sum than
17,0001. for a period of one year and • quarter, end in the
present estimates, namely, from the bat April, 1848, to 31st
March, 1849, the department was charged at 13,5221. 10s.,
including 2,0001. for the president. It was true the noble
lord at the head of the government had said it was not his
intention now to fill up the Matt office of president, but

he had not understood the noble lord to state that he con-
sidered the office as abolished.
Lord J. RUSSELL (acrosits the table) was understood
to intimate that if filled up, would be without selary.
Mr. BANKES.—That would make a reduction of 2,0001.,
which still would leave the charge at upwards
of 11,0001. Now he called upon the government
to justify this expense, now that the duties
of the railway department had gone hack to the Board of
Trade. He (Mr. Bemires) offered no excuse for again bring-
ing this subject under the consideration of the house. The
question was of importance in an economical point of view.
It had been said that but little bad been done this session by
the House of Commons, and he was afraid that the charge
was eenerallv but too true, but the blame rested not on his
but on the other side of the house. Those on his side bad
not failed in their duty. They had induced the government
to depart from their proposition of a five per cent. income
tax. That was something done—thi y hod also induced
them torevise the expenditure, by which a reduction had been
effected of 500.0001. without infringing 'Ton the efficiency of
the force' the government required, and he should be happy
further to reduce the expenditure by carrying the measure
he new proposed. All that the present board had done bad
been to produce a blue book, containing a mass of valueless
matter, which might have been compressed into 10 or 12
pages; and he defied the government to refer to a single
page which could offer any ratioral opposition to the mo-
tion he had to submit. But the report stated that the com-
missioners had prepared a bill in 1847, but which had been
prevented by the pressure of public business from being taken
into consideration. This was not the fact. The bill had
been considered, but was found to be no injudiciously
framed, so grievous in its operation, not only on railway
companies but upon landowners and the public generally,
that it met with universal opposition and was, alter an
attempt to amend it, withdrawn. Since then nothing
had been done, and no other measure had been
offered as the fruits of the labour of the commiasien. He
therefore called upon the government to make out their ease
for the continuance of a commission to discharge duties
which before had been as well performed at one quarter the
expense. As to the reports of the commissioners, even
when, after a delay of some three or four months, p rhaps,
they were presented, they made the least possible imps ession
upon the house. With reference to the commissioners them-
selves, they might be very clever persons in their way,
able lawyers, and so forth, but they had not that scientific
character which could *lone give weight to their opinions.
The operation of the board, in relation to the enforce-
ment of the various railway acts, had amounted to
very little of practical importance, although this was
one of the objects which government, in urging
the adoption of the measure had mast earnerey
insisted upon. All the real work assigned to these commis-
sioners might very well be transferred to the Board of Trade,
and, therefore, in asking the house to repeal this particular
set he was, in point of fact, only asking them to repeal the
heavy expenditure it occasioned. The hon. member then
moved fur lease to bring in a bill to repeal the Railway C am-
mission Act.
Mr. LA BOUCHERE said that, although the subject was
in itself of a semewhat dry nature, yet as it was also one of
Much notional importance, he must detain the house for a
few minutes while he replied to the hon. gentleman's speech.
The hon. gentleman had applied himself to the question
principally in an economical point of view. He (Mr. La-
houchere) valued, at least equally with the hon. member,
the importance of sound economy, deeming it the duty of
every government to aelreiniste r the affairs of the country
entrusted to its superintendence with the utmost practicab e
economy: hut there was another element in government
of not less importance than economy, and this was efficiency.
(Hear, hear.) Even as to economy, however, the hon.
gentleman had not stated the case quite correctly, the fact
being that the expense of the prment establishment was not
more than 10,7001. Now, although the cost of the depart-
ment of the Board of Trade which used to superintend rail-
ways had not b, en, be believed, more than about 4,0001. per
annum, it could not be suggested that, were the business of
this department transferred to the Board of Trade again as
suggested, the coat would now not be more than 4.0001. a
year. (Hear, hear.) It was to be recollected that since
that time the business of the railway department of the pub-
lic service had most enormously increased. He had, on a
fernier occasion, given the details of this increase under its
various heads la the article, for instance, of inspection of
rail wst s previous to their opening, there had been •large ex•
tendon of business. The number of miles ef railwayaopened
in this country up to the end of 1847, was 3,SIG ; since that
date 603 more had been opened, and before the else of the
present year it was calculated that the number of additional
miles opened would not he under 1,200. (Hear, hen.) The
labours of these inspectors had been most valuable in
another way, for he had reason is know t let the suggest.
Cone made from time to time by the inspectors to the various
c impanies—received, let him add. in a most excellent
spirit by the latter—had been greatly instrumental to the
tact that the number of accidents upon railways had ma-
terially diminished of late, aid that the safety of the lines,
and the consequent security to the community, had in an
equal prop otion bceu increased. (Hear, hear.) Under the
head of bye-laws, of cheap trains, of miscellaneous super-
intendence, the duties of the officers bad also very consider-
ably increased. In the enforcement of the various railway
acts the commission, he begged to say, had been of most
useful operation, having brought to an amicable settlement
many disputes which would have otherwise involved a heavy
expenditure in litigation. The bon. gentleman hail suggested
that lawyers were of no utility in these commissions. In reply
to this proposition he begged to express his conviction that
the services of eminent lawyers had been found most bene-
ficial upon the commission. (Hear, hear.) The acute mind
and profound acquirements of Sir Edward Ryan had been
applied with assiduous care to the determination of many
points of high importance arising out of the disputed con-
struction of acts of parliament, and which none but a lawyer
could have adequately decided. The character of the
duties entrust .d to the committees was such that only men
of the very highest attainments could properly fulfil them ;
and it ,was precisely to the circumstance that under the
former system gentlemen of a second order of attainments only
were engaged teat be attributed the fact that under that old
system those duties were not fulfilled with satisfac-
tion to the country. The questions referred to the railway
department were not merely questions of the greatest nicety,
of the greatest difficulty, requiring the highest scientific
and legal knowledge for their elucidation, but they were also
questions affecting to an enormous extent the property of
the community, and the community therefore, it was natural
to expect, would, under such circumstances, be satisfied with
the decisions only of men of the highest authority. Even
under the able administration of Lord Dalhousie, the deci-
sions of the railway department of the Board of Trade were
frequently act aide by decisions of committees of that house
—a circumstance clearly attributable, in hi+ opinion, to the
fact that the gentlemen constituting that department under
the noble lord were not of the elevated standing which
could alone give weight to their judgments. In illus-
tration of the important jurisdiction in the hands of
the commission the right hon. gentleman referred to their
settlement of the broad and narrow gauge question, a bottle-
meet which had been distinctly cenfirmed by the legislature.
As to the disregard in which the hon. gentleman stated the
reports of the commission to have been held by the house,
the hon. gentleman was altogether mistaken ; the fact being
simply this, that the hon. gentleman had confounded the
reparts of the tidal harbour commissioners with those
of the railway commissioners. There had been but one in-
stance in which a report of the commissioners had been set
aside by the house. He trusted that the house weuld not
consent to the premature and unadvised preposition before
them.
Mr. GLADSTONE said it ras very manifest, and, in-
deed, admitted, that the whole idea upon which this com-
mission had been founded had melted away into thin air.
(Hear, hear.) It therefore seemed to him that for the house
to sanction the continuance of a heavy outlay upon a com-
mission without duties would be flying in the very
teeth of that economical spirit which was just now so
energetic. (Hear, hear.) As to the cost of the railway
commission, after deducting the salary of the chief com-
missioner it amounted not merely to 10,7001. per annum,
Lut to 12,0001., for the right hon. gentleman had omitted
from his estimate just given that the officers were upon rising
salaries, and that the engineer officers engaged received their
military pay as well as their official salaries, other officers,
meantime, filling their places in the engineer force. The
right hon. gentleman seemed to have an indifferent opinion
of the qualification of the officers who were employed under
Lord Dalhousie, but the fact was that the qualifications of
those gentlemen were every bit es high as those of the gentle.
men now employed • the only difference was that the lattet
received twice as ravels pay as the former, for doirg, in point
of real 'act, much less. (Hear, hear.) General Pules., for
instance—a man, he rather thought, whose qualifica-
tions were tolerably good—(hear, hear) —received only
8001. a year, and Sir F. Smith only 6001. a year,
for the same range of services for which Capt. Alderson
now received 1,2001. (hear); while Capt. Harris—an officer,
let him most fully admit, of very crest merit—would have
readily accepted 4001. with his military pay of 2001. as
an seeistant inspector, and who now for his secretaryship re
ceived 6001. a year, with hes 2001. a year pay. Capt. Mania
was to be congratulated on the fortunate chance which had
carried him beyond the niggard rule of Lord Dalhousie to
the golden harvest of the economical ministry now in office.
(tt Hear, hear," and a laugh.) As to the amount of actual
business to be done, there might perhaps be a few more
letters to write now, but of really difficult end delicate nego-
tiation there was not by any means so meth to be done now
as in the time of Lord Dalhousie. (Hear, hear.) The report
of the Commission itself, though clever, of course, in parts,
affordedsome, in themselves, amusing illust rations of the mode
in which aboard, which had comparati vel y nothing to do, could
manage to put ifl an appearance of work. Ne, one whole page
of the report, for instance, was occupied with the details of a
street case, in which the Caledonian Railway Company had
been brought to account by the immense energy of the com-
missioners, for having attempted to make a private in the
Sappers and Miners corps pay 2d. for an extra quarter cwt.
of luggage, in the shape of professional implements, which
charge of 2d. the commissioners repudiate d as au extortion,
and a detailed case was put to the law officers of the crown
(laughter), whose grave judgment was carefully set forth in
the report, the grand remit being a decree azainst the com-
pany. This great case would have been quietly settled under
the old system, by a couple of letters between the secretary
and the company.
Lord J. RUSSELL said that before the house divided, he
wished to state how far he agreed with the boa. and learned
gentleman who had brought forward this motion, and with
the right hon. gentleman the member for Oxford University.
He agreed that the railway board, as at present constituted,
and with its present amount of business, aria snore numerous
and expensive than it perhaps ought to be ; and, unless some
considerable alteration took place in the extent of its busi-
ness, a material reduction both in its numbers and in its cost '
must be adopted. (Hear, hear.) He did not believe, how-
ever, that the work could ever be done by person at a less
scale of salary ; for the nature of the duties devolving
on Veal board was such as to require the employment
-of gentlemen of the highest etteitmlenta, who CVII.O-

quently required high remuneration. He did not deny
that several of the gentlemen formerly engaged under
me
Board of Trade bad received lower salaries ; but the very
fact of their high qualifications, coupled with the tact Of
their being inadequately paid, had caused the public to
lose their services. lie might mention the ease of Captshe
Coddiogton, an officer of the highest efficiency, who, in coo.
sequence of his being inadequately paid by the government,
had transferred his services to a company who had offered
him two thirds more than the goverhment paid him. Mr,
Laing had also found it more advantageous to a‘aume his
professional robe, and transfer his abilities to the committees,
Before the house came to any decision respecting the Red,
way Board, he thought it would be deerabl.—first, to wain
and see what were like'y to be the ultimate duties thrown
upon the department ; and, secondly, to see the evilest"
taken by the committee on the miscellaneous estimates,
Mr. BANKES having briefly replied,
The house divided.—For the motion
Against it
INTERFERENCE IN FOILEIGN AFFAIRS.
Mr. URQUHAItT rose to move:
That in the opinion of this house interf,ence in the internal go,
vernment of othercountrim is detrimental to the intertats and dem
gatory to the honour of this country, IN well as to the altered. me
whonbeouccoLth.L.c.deounTherieft
tibnibe.
practicehlrw
aniehinert:.,rh,fnnute,rmeehr.u.. iinmiatortN:34dr,
coned the increame of the military and nasal seo
thereby of the public expenditure, to the great toppreorion of her
Majesty's subjects, and particularly of the elms which &Teed',
daily labour for daily food.
After referring at some length to the past policy of this
country, the hon. gentleman quoted the opinion of Leed
Aberdeen that interference was unlawful in support of the
succession to the throne in • foreign country. It nu in
consequence of foreign interfei race that the expenditure of
this country had been increased by 42 millions.
An Hon. Maxima here mov,d that the house be counted.
and there being only 30 members present, the house stool
adjourned at a quarter before eight o'clock until noon to
morrow (this day).

TILE «COUNT Our " L.tsT NIGIIT.—The follow.
ing member were present when th 3 House IVLIA counted oat
last night, ten of the twenty nine present twine memben
the government :—Russell, J.; Heine., M. ; l'al era.
ton, Lord ; Hill, Lord M.; Smith, J. H. ; 13;irlo;r, Sir F. 1.•
Deni,on, J. E. ; Then; eon, Colonel; It H,l
Somerville, Sir W. ; Ithh, H.; Brotherton, J.; 1.,e,,*
G. C. ; Hudson, G. ;PI Arden, W. H. C. ; FrewenC. H• •
Shell, Hight Hon. It. L ; Galway. Lad; Herbert, R.
Humphrey, Alderman ; Stuart, Lord 1).; Cowper, Hon. W,•
Keogh, NV. ; IL. M.; Sir J.; Dune:
Colonel ; Grey, ft. AV. ; Hume, J. ; Lrquhart, D.

DCIILIN ELECTION COMMITTEE, YESTERDAY,-
The committee atruek off two votes, and adjourned to Friday.

Vie Orprtin.

MAILS.
The mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cali; and Gagaltu
will be made up on the morning of the 7th July.
The t 1141,4 for British North America, and the United btats,
will be matte up on the evening of the 7th July.
The overland closed mails, vat Marseilles, to the Mediterranean,
Egypt, Aden, (Wylow, India, Hong-hong, me., wi:l be mode up on the
swum' al the 7th J uiy.
Tue West India Mail, excluding Bermuda, Nastau, Havana,
Honduras, New Orleans, Vera Cruz, Tanpico, and Porto /lico, and
inclu ling thus° for Madeira, Janne!, Cart:lawn Wants Martha,
Glares, Panama, West Coast of Routh Americ., and St. Jusndes
Nicaragua, will be made up on the evening of the 171:1July.
The overland mails lot Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, the Intone Mande,
Egypt, Aden, Ce)lon, Bunn, Hong-Long, and Chin:, rig Southoraps
ton, will be made upon the liorniug of the 24th July.
The mails for New Booth ales, Van Ditiman's Land, anal New
Zealand will be made up ou the evening of Otte 314 July.
The :nails for the 'Waal Can tt of Africa and Hialeira will be made
wp on the eveninr of the 3lat July.
The mails for the Brazils, the laver Plate, Monte Video, Penal.
burns Bahia, Madeira, and Buenos Ayres, will en matte up on the
evening of the 4th August.

NOTICE TO ADV:a.:.TISE.RS.
The number of STAMPS issued by the authorities oldie
Stamp-office, during Dill, to the
DAILY NEWS was 3.447.009
This, we believe, is within eight per cent of the number
issued to the Morning Herald, Morning Chronicle, eel
Morning Port, ALL PVT TOOETlitat.
In addition to the above, issued to the DAILY NEWS,
Moran,' Paper, there were issued for the hyena's? Edition,
THE EXPRESS 778.714
Which was mere, we believe, than were hated (Abr. to
'ha Globe or Standard, Evening Paper..

111100 WATEIi LW.,DON 6g1106.
Tile 1)44-114.i5i64. 66 ov. paa 4. After.e66. .6 rale. par 1.
SO-8101.101,MOMAIL 67 di la Mk Aftersoor. ert .pau I.

LONDON,IVEDNESDAY, JULY 5.
THE Proteus of the newspaper pres', the Times, is
undergoing a new transformation. Tee inability of
the combined ministerial and PEEL forces to get the
new sugar duties carried into committee by a larger
majority than fifteen—the inabili y of Mr. hRIGHT to
get more than thirty-eight votes for his motion to
leave the sugar duties as they are—have had their
effect upon that versatile journal. Whiggery, Peeliam,
free trade—all have been unceremoniously cast off,
and yesterday the Vette came forth in the character
of the protectionist organ. Tais metamorphosis—
like that which betel the serpent Laniia in kEATES'S
poem—is accompanied by strange coruscations and
Delphic wailing'. The article in which the assump-
tion of the new character is prologuised, writhes,
flashes and rumbles, like tke musical crash and blue
or red flames amid which demons appear in melo-
dramas.
The Times disdains to see in the aims of the protee-
tionists so miserable an object as the gain of a penny
a pound in the price of sugar. It assumes the bus4in,
and rants in prophetic strain about the death-
day of empires. The question at issue is not whether
Lord JOHN ItUSSELL'd old or Lord JOHN Russene's
new rates of duty on sugars, or Sir JOHN PANINO-
TON'S, or Mr. BAILLIE.S, or Mr. BARK.Lirtil rates are to
be preferred, but whether we are to keep ear colonies
or not—whether Great Britain is to remain the im-
perial centre of rule for its present dependencies, or
subside into a second or third rate power.
The Times has discovered a plot to denude Great
Britain of her colonies. Those narrow-minded
money-grubs, the free-traders, are at the bottom
of it. "If it were our object;' says the
Times, "to raise a feeling against these people,
we believe it would be the easiest thing in
the world ; " and accordingly the Times resolves to
try. It appeals to the "heart and intelligence of the
country," which it declares "are on the aide of honour
against expediency." It denounces a class of poli-
ticians with whom it says " National power—
national greatness—well-merited gratitude—recipro-
city of kindness--identity of blood, religion, and lan-
guage—community of danger, glory, successes, and
losses—all these considerations go for nothing, com-
pared to the achievement of knocking 0a..1 few pounds
from the estimates, and a few fence from a ton of
sugar." Finally, the Times apostrophises " the blood
of Woi FE and the conceptions of CHATHAM,' and
paints a melancholy picture of Great Britain with its
tropical colonies "wrenched from our unresisting or
deserted by our protecting hands," and Montreal or
Cape Town " in the hands of a French, a Russian, or
American commander."
The simple and satisfactory reply to this tirade is,
that in the first place it proceeds upon a false assump-
tion ; and in the second place, it has nothing to do
with the question really at issue.
The free-traders do not deny the importance of
colonies, or wish to see the mother country stripped of
these graceful accessories to empire and ileum's of in-
creased strength. Bat they deny that a monopoly of
the home market for the products of the colonies, or of
the colonial market for the manufactures of the
mother country, is beneficial to either or a trust-
worthy bond of connexion between them. Though
the writer in the Times speaks of colonies in
general, his argument can only relate to the
West Indies. The official value of the ex-
ports to all the British colonies in 1842 was
17,318,670/.; of this total, the value of the exports
to the West Indies was only 3,376,521 L, or
less than a third. Tho tonnage employed in the
trade to all the colonies, in 1812, was 1,171,762 tons :
of this the proportion engaged in the West India
trade was only 453,032 ; or not much more than one-
fourth. Yet, with the exception of the West Indies,
all our colonies are insisting upon the concession of
free trade as a boon. Ou this point British North
America and Australia are agreed. We may add that
our East Indian territories (the trade and tonnage of
which are not included in the above estimate) are
also in favour of free trade. Lastly, it was the
mother country's denial of free trade that mainly con-
tributed to alienate the affections of the old North
American colonies, and occasioned that revolution
which for ever severed their connexion with the

empire.
The free-traders do not undervalue the importance
of our colonies. They arc fully aware of the conse-
quence of colonies. They sec in the extra-tropical
colonies cities of refuge for all who in the over-
crowded mother country fail to find sufficiently pro,
fitable investments for their capital, or sufficier-t de-
mand and adequate remuneration for their labour.
They know that in the colonies beads and hands
which here are 'unavailing to earn subsistence for
their owners can acquire rapid fortunes with mode-
rate exfoctin. They know that Ile markets of these
'Lev( letiemettts are the mast. rapidly eztending, and