The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-02 00:00:00

YORK,Jwsel.

Shod Rursiouor:—Salts: Bestesn Counties, 81—Great
isurs,wrh, 10i —North British Tigre. Ili—North Staffordshire, 121
Usk and Berwick (14.reemlip Estencion), 13i.

BRISTOL, Aft 1.

BTOCC-Ziowiugos.—The =Art was weaker the peter-
day, and (;recit Wooers Quarter altars. ia w the
ara woe Jean reenled, sag dosed ee kirr me 7 4, his t
principal bad.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF COMMONS—FRIDAY, SUNS 1.
The Sreanza took the chair at 4 o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
THIRD READINGS.—Torquay Market; Transfer of
Sh.filitlel Canal to River Dun Navigation Company ;
PUBLIC BUSINESS.
PETITIONS PRESENTED.
Sxoxi Paonierrion Bili..—The Sheriffs of London and
Middlesex appeared at the bar, and presented a petition in
favour of this bill.
POOLLAW OFFICERS' SCPE/LLENVATION FIIND.—By
Mr. THORNELY. from Wolverhampton; Mr. WAD-
DINGTON, from a place not heard; Mr. W. BROWN,
from the Leigh Union, Lancashire, stand by the relieving
end other officers; Mr. AGLIONBY, (roma place in Hants;
Mr. HENRY, from Lancashire,• in favour of this ororritios.
COPTHOLD ENFRANCIUSIMINT BILL.—By Mr. wODE.
HOUSE, from a play in Norfolk, against this bill.
PARLIAMB TTTTT OATHS BILL.—By Mr. R. PALMER,
from a place In Burks, against this bill.
Tun Pliormi's CREWEL—By Mr. S. CRAWFORD, in
favour of the six points of the Charter, from a place or par-
ties, name or names not heard.
SYTTETIELD MARKET.—By Sir C. DOUGLAS, in favour
of the removal of Stalthfiedd Market.
INCCEBERED ESTATES (IRELAND) BILL. By Col.
THOMPSON, from Dublin, in favour of this bill.
Nam tTIONLAWIL—By Mr. HERRIES, from the Board
of Trade of Quebec, agleam any alteration in the navigation
laws.
r•RLIARRETART Rironx.—By Mr. M'GREGOR, from
Carlton, in favour of vote by ballot, annual parliaments, ff.c.
MERCER= SEAMEN'S Ft:ED.—By Mr. GLADSTONE,
from certain shipmasters, is favour of a more I quitable ad-
justment of the Merchsnt Seamen's end, end fir carrying
oat the reeammendation of the oodaolisiet.en ; Mr. AULI.

ONBY, from die Town Hamlets and other places, to the
same effort.
AoatcllLTum Disaterie.—By Sir C. BURRELL, from
Croydon, in favour of an equalization of the laden of tax-
ation, and for relief to the agriimitural
RETURNS ORDERED. —On the notion of Mr.
SCULLY, return of the total number of preperties vested,
up to the lit day of May 1849, in the Commissoners of Edu-
cation in Ireland, under the act 63 Cleo. 3, specifying the
name of each property, the county in which sane is situated,
the number of plantation scree in each prepay, the rent
paid per acre for each holding on last lettoe, number of
tenants on each property on the let day of May 1846, the
number of tenants on each property on the 1,1 day of May
1849, the nano s of the schools in immediate onnexion with
the commiseioners, sad where situated, with to number of
boys in each, on the lit day of May last ; and he number of
buys taught in each school gratis in each yeir for the last
seven years, ending on the 31st day of December 1848.
On the motion of Mr. BATESON, copies of articles 35 and
36 of the seakil ore.ers of the Irish Poor-law Commiasionets,
dated the 6th day of February 1849; of all eirrerpondence
(if any) between the Irish Poor-law Commisiouers and the
Roman esthetic clergy relative to article 36 ; aid, of any cor-
respondence on the same subject between the Dish Poor-law
Commissioners and their inspector s, and alsobetveen the com-
missioners and the board of guardians of the Belfast union.
THE LATE EARTHQUAKE IN NEW ZEALAND.
Mr. AGLIONBY was induced by certain statements
which had appeared in the money article of tin Time, and
which were calculated to excite great alarm lathe minds of
those who had Irked* in New Zealand, to ad the Under
Secretary of Stat. for the Colonies, whether see further ac-
counts have been received from that colony os the subject
of the earthquake which had been felt there ; and whether
the extent and amount of damage is known ?
Mr. HA WES stated that sines the despatches of the 25th
of April, which were on the table of the house no despatch
from the Governor of New Zealand had comet° hand; the
Colonial-office bad, however, received the otlcial gentle
published in the island—(they had not been Rewarded effi-
daily, but they might be regarded as official posers)—giving
a more correct ace .unt of the damage done. It the papers
on the table the total lea was estimated at 60,000/., and
some details of the injury inflicted on the tows of Welling.
ton were stated. Since then it appeared by be official sa-
dte that a commission had been appointed to inquire into
the extent of the injury. The rate of this ommission was
the 2nd of December, and by its report it smeared that the
actual amount of damage done to the town was net more
than 16,0u01.,including• lose of 3,5001. to the colonial go-
vernment, and 1,0001. worth of farming stock. Subsequently,
on at 28th of December, the govenor, in an address to the
Legislative Council, after retail's; to the earthquake,
added : "Probably no surer proof coed be afforded of the
real prosperity of this portion of tie province of Mui.ster
than the rapidity with which its inlabitente had recovered
from the effects of that calamity." the settlers had exhi-
bited their usual energy and persaveanoe, which had been
second. d by him, end the result had teen that public co, fi-
de= was calmly restored, and commercial and other
operations had, for some time past, bon resumed and carried
on. (lieu.) This being the official statement, he (Mr.
Hawes) trusted it would have the effot of dispelling any
alarm that might be felt by the friend of the colonists in
this country. (Hear, hear.)

NEWFOUNDLAND FISIERIES.
Mr. ROBINSON but understooc the hoe. Under
Secretary for the Colonies on a formes evening that there
would be no objection to produce the retort of the commis-
sion on these fisheries.
Mr. HAWES rrplied that the hon. gentleman must then
have misunderstood him. It would be cost inexpcdient to
pr• duce the repert now, as nrgotiations sere pending on the
subjset with foreign governments.
REGULATIONS FOR IRISH PASSENGER
STEAMERS.

In reply to a question by Mr. Caurownx,
Mr. LABOUCHERE stated that the emit of the inves-
tigation which had bean made by Certain Denham bad
established the necessity of the Board of Trade exercislog its
powcr to limit the cumber of passeuign carried in the
reamers trading between Ireland and Bigland ; but, before
carrying that power into effect, he was duirous that the re-
port should be printed, in order that tilt steam boat pro-
prietors might be made acquainted with chat was proposed
to be done.

CANADIAN INDEMNITY BILL.
Mr. W. MILES inquired whether the Colonial•offiee were
in possession of the votes and proeeedi. ge of the vlonirl le-
gisLture in reference to this bill, and if so whether there
would be any objection to lay them befcre tie house ?
Mr. lIAtVES replied that all the votes end proceedings
government had received had been alreadylaid before par-
liament, and any further pipers of that character on the
same subject which might arrive would also re produced.
Mr. W. MILES was atidetstood to ask whether any of
the votes and primedings of the colonial legtilature had bean
received. _ _

Mr. HAWES believed thatstme of them were to be found
in the papers which Lad already been laid en the table. At
all events, there could be no objection to produce any such
documents which might be in the hands of the Colonial-
office ; but to the best of h's lumeledge and belief, ell the
votes and proceedings of the Canadian legislature as to the
Canadian Lamm Bill which had come to band had been
ready laid before parliament.
Mr. lIERRIES, having sal sequentey entered the house,
rose to put a question on the same subject. He hod, he said,
several times asked the noble lord (Lord J. Russell), and
other members of the government, for the production of the
votes and proceedings of the legislative boils of Caoada,
showirg the progress of the bill for granting compensation
fir looses sustained by reason of the Canadian rebellion,
more especially for inch extracts from those votes and pro-
etedingo as would lead to elucidate the intention of the colo-
nial le quieter. in paring the bill in question. He wished
now to know whether there was any difficulty in the matter,
or whether there was any objection, and what, to hying
such papers before parliament. In other words, he desired
to be informed if:the question, whether or no persons who
hod contributed to and aided in the rebellion were to be in-
demnified for the losses thereby incurred by them, had been
mooted in the course of the proceedings on the bill, and if so,
what had been the result
Mr. HAWES had already stated, in answer to the question
of the hon. member for Somersetehire, that all the votes and
procee legs of the legislative assembly of Canada, received
by the Colonial-office, had already been printed and
laid before parliament, and that the government had
no others to produce.
ALLEGED CANNIBALISM IN BALLINROBE.
Lard J. RUSSELL said : I am anxious to take this oppor-
tunity of answering a question which was put to me some
short time before the holidays by the hon. gentleman the
member for Kerry (Mr. H. Herbert) in regard to an occur-
rence of a shocking and revoltieg nature said to have taken
piece in Ireland, and which had been mentioned in a letter
*damped to me. I stated when the question was pat to me
that I had received no official account of the circumstance,
but I would make inquiry, end inform the hon. gentleman
of the result. Now the statement as contained in a letter
which has been published by the gentleman who wrote to
me, and who signs himself 'J. Anderson, reotor and vicar
of Ballinrobe, and protestant chaplain of the Bal inrobe
workhouse "—this gentleman, I observe, prefaces his state-
ment by remarking " that he knows how serious a thing it
is to be instrumental in exciting the public mind; there-
fore, it is with great reluctance that I make these state-
ments." Well, after thus stating his extreme reluctance to
say anything calculated to excite the public mind. he pro-
ceeds to state the following facts amongst others. He says
"But, my lord, I have yet other woes to mention, the re-
cital of which may in future put an extinguisher on that
niggardly policy which has produced such results. The
tali I have now to tell is so horrifying as to render all that
has yet occurred nothing in comparison." Then he pea
on to say : "In a neighbouring union a shipwrecked
human body was cast on shore; a starving man ex-
tracted the heart and liver, and that was the maddening
feast on which he regaled himself and perishing family."
On referring to the authorities in Ireland, my right bon.
Mend the Secretary for Ireland (Sir W. Somerville) ob.
tabled the depositions made at the time, and reported to the
poor-law commissioners. The circumstance to which refs.
renal is thus made, I should state, occurred in November
last, the date of the letter being May 19, 1849 ; and the
house will observe what the circumstance really was, and
that it was of a character totally different from what was re-
presented by this person who is so fearful of unnecessarily
exciting the public mind. (Hear.) It appears that it °c-
entred in the Clifden Union, and that a labourer who was at
the time in constant employment, being employed by •
farmer in the neighbourhood, found • dead bony rest upon
the shore. This person, I should say, is represented to
have been a man of • final:laxly voracious appe-
tite, but not at the time suffering from distress himself,
being, as I have said, in the receipt of regular wages. It is
true that two of his sisters were receiving relief, but he was
not, but was regularly employed at regular wages. When
he toned the body, he did not appear to know that it was a
human body, and he proceeded to cut out a part of it, and
was about to eat it, when some of the neighbours remarked
that it was the trunk of • human being. He said he was not
aware of that, and it does not appear that he ate any portion
et the flesh, whatever his original intentionnrght have been.
The inspector, Mr. Briscoe, made inquiry into the circum-
stance, and the result has been reported as I have stated.
((War, hear.) But it does not appear that the man was in
distress at all, and it was not at the time considered
' • ease that demanded further inquiry. Such being
the circumstance, and the nature of it being go totally diffe-
rent from that which Mr. Anderson represented it, and
which naturally induced inquiries on the past of the him
member for Kerry, I felt it my duty to give this explana-
tion as soon as 1 possibly could after the meeting of the
house—(uar, hear)—and I only wish further to Oren.,
that stateme nes of this nature made not only with much
exaggeration, but with a total distortion of the facts—
(cheese)—are calculated to produce a wet unfortunate
effect, and to make peruses disbelieve stories accurately
founded on what has really occurred, many of which, I em
sorry to say, are but too uu-, and to weaken public
sympathy for the very severe privations to which a great
part of the population of Ireland are unhappily subjected.
(Cheers )
THE MORTALITY IN BALLINASLOE.

Sir G. GREY said, with regard to a q'. sti "t which had
been put to him berm* the recess by the bon, member for
Limerick (Mr. J. O'Connell) rehtive to the BalLossloe
union, be had received • letti r from Lard Clstearty, the
chairman of the board of guardians, whic:i it +es due Lim
to refer to in order to correct a statement that he (str 0.
Gre) had made as to the mortality In that union. He lid
stated, on that noble lord's authority, that the mortality in
the Rallinaslo• workhouse was rapidly decreasing, and th t
on the haft day to which he had rteeired any iu!urcostion it
had been seduced to six. Vllun Lord Clanearty r. -
turned turned homs ho found that that atattatent was incur-

reet, and that the cumber of deaths had not been
so low as six in any one day, though in tiro days taken to-
gether it had bean 11, so that substantially, alter all, the
Oakmont was borne out. (Hear) With regard to another
question put by the hon. member for Dublin, with regard
to the employmeat of the organist of the parish church to
assist in cempounding medicines for the poor, Lord Van-
earty informed bin that it was true the services of Mr.
Norton, the organist—who bad been a medical eseistant—
had been accepted to meet a temporary emergency, no other
militant being at the time available, but that there were
other medical oMosrs under whom he had to act.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL said that in the statement he bad
made with reference to the actual number of deaths in the
Billinasloe workhouses, he was misled by English as well
as Irish newspapers. The deaths from cholera in these
workhouses had, however, been very large, and that epi-
demic had been superinduced by want of food. (Hear.)

THE BUDGET.
Lord I. RUSSELL announced that his right hon. friend,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, would make Lis financial
statement to the house on Friday, the 16th inst. (Hear.)

SEIZURE OF BRITISH SHIPS BY THE HANES.
Mr. G. BANDAR'S asked the noble lord, the Secretary for
Foreign affairs, it he had heard of the fain of several British
skips with British property, sailing from the port of Barth,
basing been seized by the Danish ships of war, and taken
into C, penhagen, though the mid port of Berth is not one
of the ports which haa been declared under blockade, or any
steps taken to render it so ?
Lord PALMERSTON said that all he knew about the
circumstance was, that an application bad been made to him
on the subject some few days ago, and that he had directed
inquiries to be made at Copenhagen relative to the cue.
Mr. SANDARS asked whether it was true that vessels
from Hull had entered the Scheldt, notwithstanding the
blockade, and that their cargoes had been taken possession of,
and Danish lieutenants put on board.

MERCHANT SEAMEN'S FUND.
Mr. GLADSTONE asked whether the right hos. gen-
tleman the president of the Board of Trade was able to
state when the bill would be introduced for the better ma-
nagement of the Merchant Seamen's Fund ?
Mr. LABOUCHERE said, that he would be unable to
answer the question until the bill for the modification of the
navigation laws received the sanction of the other house of
parliament.
REDUCTION OF THE COAST-GUARD SERVICE.
Sr J. TYRELL raked whether, in conwquence of the
' great redaction which had taken place in the price of provi-
sion. generally, and also in articles of import of French
manufacture, her Majesty's government contemplated, or
were carrying into execution a great reduction in the coast-
guard service of this country ? He was led to put the ques
Lion because he believed the horses and cavalry belonging to
that service throughout England had already been sold by
auction. He wished to ask further, whether on the south
coast of England the French had not contracted to supply
some poor.law unions with provisions.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, in an-
swer to the first question, that it was considered possible to
reduce the Coast Guard Service. With regard to the second
qu stion, the government were not in possession of any
information to the effeet that the French had contracted for
the supply of any poor law union. (Hear.)
Sir J. TYRELL—Are not the horses belonging to the
Coast Guard selling at the present moment at the reposito-
ries in the City ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—Not that I
know of Not by law. (A laugh.)
Sir J. TYRELL—I beg to usurp you that they are.
(Laughter.)
THE EVICTIONS AT TOOMEVARA:

Mr. SCULLY begged to call the attention of the house to
the demolition of the lugs valise of Toomevera, in the
county of Tipperary, and to the eviction of no fewer than
600 of the i.uhabitanta of that place, which took place upon
Thursday last. He wished sto ask the right honourable
gentleman, the chief secretary for Ireland (Sir
W. Somerville), whether the tenet& of guardians in
the different districts, and particularly in the Ne.nagh union,
were not bound to make provision for this numerous body
of wretched individual', or whether the poor law commis-
sioners were prepared to take immediate steps to provide for
their stray ? He had been informed that some hundreds of
them, sine. their eviction, were dying, and takiug shelter
ender the trees by the roadside. The scene was disgrace-
ful to a Curistian country. He rgretted to say that the
landlld in the cue was a clergyman of the established
church. His name was the Rev. Massy Dawson. He was
not a clergyman in the cure of any parish in Ireland, but he
bad a pariah in England, and he resided partly in England
and partly in the county of Tipperary.
Mr. H. DRUMMOND said that before the question was
answered it wax necessary for the house to recollect that a
very strong attack, upon mere newspaper authority, had
been made by the hon. member for Tipperary upon a rev.
gentleman, with whom he (Mr ;Drummond) was acquainted.
Mr. SCULLY observed that hi had received a written
communication upon the subject.
Mr. DRUMMOND said that such attacks ought not to be
made without notice having been given, because bon.
members must know, particularly after what had fallen
suortly before from the noble lord at the head of the go.
yernment, that statements coming from Ireland could not
be taken exactly u they were written. (Hear, hear.)
Sir W. SOMERVILLE agreed with the hon, member
for Surrey, that attacks of this nature ought not to be made
without notice. He had not received any official informs-
titan of the transaction to which allusion hid been made ;
but he bad no hesitation in raying that if the board of guar-
dians of the Nensgh union had tailed to snake provision for
those entitled to relief under the Poor-law Act, the parties
to apply to were the poor-law commissioners.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL said the question was well worthy
of consideration, whether the house would not interfere and
adopt some measures for putting a stop to the fearful system
of evictions now going on in Ireland.
ADJOURNMENT Oh THE HOUSE.
It was agreed that the house at its rising should adjourn
to Monday neat.