The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-10-14 00:00:00

TO THE PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUEN
CIES OE IRELAND.

rTLEMEN

-
b 'tit, v „ .... Two or three months ago, a gentlewoman in the countrf I 1
R rid - -"em. MR. GoRHAm AND HIS PARISHIONERS.—On applied to the nearest apothecary to dispense for her.the) e
ay,
ail i the magistrates at Exeter were engaged in hearing prescription she had received from her medical adviser, for
II information preferred by the Rev. G. C. Gorham, of
atilt() a_a bodily affection. under which she laboured. The culler of
the simples, unprovided with the hydriodic acid to which the
Aeti 1.4 Seek°, against Thomas V.sey, the landlord of.
recipe referred, forwarded. the prescription to another
itele cultural Inn, ter keeping his house open at an unseasonee
apothecary in town with.an order for the necessary medi-
25te "r• The annual revel of the village was held on th cal supply. The prescription—couched, no doubt, in the
altirao
a tat ~,, , and a large room
. attached to the defendant's crabbed terms with 'which doctors darken knowledge—
was in due course !minded to one of the assistants to be
'vele as engaged for dancing and singing.. About eleven
Holmes forwarded. Now. happened that the.proe
etit4ekcit,l!e Rev. Mr. Gorham and the Jlev. Mr., mes made up and it _
latistael'ae house, and ordered it to be cleated by the prietor of the establishment had bought.the services ofiheits
4r Ve,s, which was done. Just before the house closed, assistant in the cheapest market, and transferred an. un. ,-
h his mother, tered man from a mechanical employment to a scientific
I.arriyed'iolker a young farmer,
we ere 'rare Exeter, and not wiswhihnogitiroedslysilutrb his other, ' busigess. to which it was impossibl•
to conceive he. coulp
bring the qualifications which the. public safety imperi-
NvBs ire abed at defendant's, but hearing Mr.•Gluerh.an;
ously demanded. The result, therefore,, was, that the
sad re-lit the house, he went out .to. avoid altercation,
assistant substituted for bydriedic, hydrocyanic, or prus-,
being 0i4,11.ed after the rev, gentleman was gone. The place
sic acid, one of the most deadly poisons in existence. .The
4r gla%er'et, defendant asked Mr. Baker'and a friend to have deadly potion* was forwarded to the country, and reached, j
Ivrt`lrliecd' g!", and had just served them when Mr, Gorham . the hands of the unsuspecting lady. 'The proper dose was
-1-rdlAe With constables, rebbilted defendant, and ordered meted
tylas to hot'
to drink up his 'grog and go. home. He said it draught
ldasral
out according to
.prescription. The
providentially
at the patient's lips when it was most provideniazinh
in.
° ttlrec)h;c't, en which Mr. Gorham directed the constables from her hands in the iromonito
tril, convulsions
toai,-44.„ out, which they were about to do, when a threat stantly ensued, and which were the means of saving
v‘e aeBjai.
Therareand bench at once dismissed the summonses, as weeks' since aitmot.ntr ear applied at a druggist's in the out-
mixture of tincture of rhubarb and
'wow,: the case in a second charge against Mr. Baker of
..skir
l'Poti agg a turf at the rev. gentleman, but which was looked essetnsce° otf 8 c ;mint for her sickly child. The shopboY
served her. The drug was administered. That evening
''-ur the ,a_seonnter charge to that expected from Mr. Baker
the child was dead, and a post port on examination estab-_
_ ~ ault committed upon him. nailed clearly that death had ensued' from au over dose of
....,Llne,q _
-ail 4- or Two CHILDREN AND SUICIDE OFIII,E MOTHER. , laudanum. The poison had been given for the medicine
tle4 %our of . ' h reached us ; Similar instances are not unknown both in private life and
~„ Mota most appalling catastrophe as
;','olher -Ihg, involving the death of three individuals-ea , public experience. From returns which have been' recently '
iai;in,.„,!hel two children—at a place situate between collected. by Captain Smart, it appears that the drug shops
~,nave hZue and Hollvmount• From the statements We- -in our eityaiumber 124, and that, in these are employed
1.4`0, L-eard' it appears that the wife of a farmer named 194 assistants. Of these 194 assistants, 32 are between
eolenr--, had been preparing to make butter, and had the age of 'l2 and 15, and 60 between 15 under their 20th
seal •g Water in readiness for the PnrPoSe -of rinsing and Year ; 137 have never attended either a materia medica or,
the ti" the churn. TWo children were in the house at other class where a knowledge of the principlei of their
haul it"' an infant and a child a few years older, whom, professron Might be acquired ; .(;) do not even know Latin,
togett occasion for a short absence, she left playing ' with• which medical pratitioners col:nit:en to garnish their
,hosed 1.4; ,While playing round the churn, as it is sun- prescriptions and druggists to label b_?ttles'andpots,, I
Teed the Younger
to some unfortunate casualty, the elder and " beggarly account of empty boxes ;' while 34 have
a-orti Younger child intnthe churn. The poor mother
oceurr. afterwards returned, and unconscious of what had f
had less than three years practical exporience among
drugs, and 38 cannot boast of )8. months 1 When we
acaldinetl,' Poured the boiling water into the churn, thereby
a.enoung the wretched infant, whose stifling screams only • Captain Smart's returns, and the power for good or evil
agony °ell its horrible death. , Urged to desperation and
taottu..." beholding the- effects "of her act, the frantic iwith which, to a
-s-, not that awkward cases do, occur, but that they are
great extent, it is entrusted,. our wonder
Stool another °u
()agorae implement of destruction—a foot- not more frequent. The absence of any test of conk
othe,: child, to one. account—and hurling it -at the
Potency among druggists and their assistants In Scotland
inao,_ caused its death also who had been the is a sad ueglect in our social economy-, In Glasgow, if
t,, a !lit cause of the shocking casualty, and then rushing we not mistaken the Faculty of Physicians annually
elect among other -,offlce' bearers
end earn...st close at hand, she dung herself into the water
rellentatshe fate she rashly invited. The dreadful occur- drugs ; but for whatever service these .funttienaries raty,
liti7t,.°3,, itnetiansed great excitement in that part of the have behn originally intended, we'are afraid:*that prac.l'
Nersione are given of the affair; but call y their duties now are merely nominal, 40 far. af•tir
'Certain inspectors of
eNvie relaie theincsinrTeumstances as they have been comma- interest of the public is concerned, or- at least inadequate
0.-4.egorte.d to us, on respectable authority.—Galway Vindi- to supply the suPerrision and cheek for whichaweyontend.
, Glasgow Herold.

Immediately before the close of the last Session of Par-
liament, I entered upon the books -of the House of
Commons the following notice of motion for next Session :
" Public Business—Select Committee to enquire into
the means by which the time of the Imperial Parliament
could be best economised, and the interests of the
integral part of these Kingdoms may .he best secured;
and whether these objects 'may not be advantageously
obtained by the appointment of Separate Standing
Committees, consisting of the 'Representatives of
Ireland and Scotland respectively, by whom measures
referring to Ireland and Scotland exclusively should be
discussed and reported upon, before legislation had thereon
in this house."
This notice now remains upon the books of the house.
'As the objects of the intended motion are of equal import-
ance to the several constituencies throughout Ireland, I
feel that it is my privilege, no less than my duty, to state
to you generally- the reasons which have induced me to
bring this motion before the House of Commons.. •
The experience of the four Sessions during'whicht have
had the honour to represent an Irish constituency, his
convinced me that some great modification of the present
arrangement is required, in order .to enable the public
business to be conducted with utility to the nation.
Each successive Session was ushered in with fresh
promises of improved legislation—the close of each Session
found those promises unfulfilled. Ido not now speak of
measures involving serious Constitutional changes, which
Would, of necessity, arouse the active hostility of one of
the great parties of the State. I refer rather to changes
in the law, the utility of which is recognised by a very
large majority of the legislature; and yet even such
changes it is almost impossible to accomplish. Measure
after measure is brought in, is canvassed—some of the
details appear objectionable to some section of the house,
opposition is made, and the bill is infallibly withdrawn.
I need itot'weary you with a catalogue of the measures,
even in last Session, of which that account might be given
—measures in relation to subjects on which fresh legisla-
tion was attempted, either by the Government or by,
independent members. The Press throughout the United
Kingdom has recently dwelt upon and sufficiently shown
the existence of some greet. obstacle to the improvement
of our law, even ea subjects universally admitted to,
require such improvements. Former Sessions 'are liable
to the same-reproach as that.of the last Session; Were ill
otherwise, it might well be supposed that the evil spraug
from some merely temporary cause, such as: that alluded
to in the house when it was attributed to'the weakness of
the present Ministry, This, however, is by no means the
true state of the case. Year by year the amount of busi-
ness attempted increases, and the proportion left unper-
formed at the close of the Session is. greater.
The fact, then, that the more that is attempted the
smaller proportion of it is performed, at once suggests
that the true cause of the abandonment of so many Bills
is the lack of time to conduct to a successful' termination
all the business which coma before the honie—at •least
under the rules for the transaction of business which are
'at present in operation.. This impression is confirmed on
investigating the details of the circumstances under which.
the Government measures were withdrawn. In the great
majority of cases it will appear that they were withdrawp,
not in consequence of any defeat of the Ministry, but
because some opposition being threatened, the time which
would have been consumed in pressing them forward
would have absorbed that which • was more urgently
demanded for other purposes. All through the Session.
whenever the Government exerted pressure upon its
supporters, it was able to obtain majorities; but if an
attempt had been made to force through the house all the
measures which were •introduced even by the Govern-
ment, time sufficient for accomplishing the business
absolutely teceisary for the public service would not have
remained.
On consideration of these facts it must be admitted
that the Times was perfectly accurate in stating in its
review of the last. Session that "there has been no enemy
to legislation at all comparable, in his power of obstruction
to Time."
With respect to private members, of course the diM-
culty respecting time, which presses so heavily upon the
Government ; must be almost insuperable, and that even_
in measures not opposed by the Government, and generally
recognised as useful.
But obstruction to new legislation is not the only evil
produced by the want of time sufficient for satisfactorily
disposing of the legislative business of the country. Mitch
of that which is accomplished is done hurriedly, and, in
consequence, is ill done.
When it is pretty well determined that a measure is to
pass, if no particular section of the house happens to take
much interest in the subject—if it do not afford a fair
battle field for party purposes—the general anxiety is to
get rid of the matter as soon as possible ; if alterations
are made, little or no care. is taken to adapt them to the
other provisions of the measure, and the bill is huddled
through a thin house, either to remain to all time a menu.
ment of crude legislation, and an enigma for those who
have to act upon it, or at best to become the subject of
fresh debate and amendment in a future session, a
remedy in itself imposing fresh demands oulthe time of,
the house.
Now I do not think that the House of Commons can be
accused of idleness: The last session, which was remark
able for its brevity, commenced in January and terminated
at the end of July, and the average duration of each day's
sitting was nearly eight hours. This represents a very
considerable amount of labour, especially whin it hi
remembered that this estimate does not include the time
occupied by select ---ine:44reas •••••. r' `'ate
Pitts ; however, the usual durations of the session is per-
haps a month longer. It may be suggested that by a still
further protraction of the session much valuable time.
would be gained, but there seems to me to be grave objec-
tions to carrying that idea sufficiently far to produce any
very marked results ; 'of these not the least would be the
impossibility of procuring the attendance of any consider-
able body of members after the lapse of the ordinary
duration of e session. I think, then, that we may omit
all consideration of that 4$ 'a probable mode of increasing
the efficiency of the legislature, and admit that such
increased efficiency must be sought rather by improving
the mode of conducting business during the time occupied
by the session than by protracting the session to an inor.
dinate length,
• The question then Wirs, can the mode of conducting
the business of the house be improved, and if so, in what
way ? I think the answer to that question is suggested
not only by the terms of the motion of which I have given
notice, but also by the following passage from the same
authority (the Times) to which I have already alluded :
" Parliament has done so little of what it has attempted
for lack of the leisure necessary to carry out its designs
Never was so complete an exemplification of strenuous,
idleness. This seems to us mainly to arise from two
causes—first, that the House of Commons insists tome
carrying every measure through all its stages in the full
house, by which means it entirely foregoes the advantage
of division of labour, and overwhelms itself with the
business which a part of it could discharge much better
14an the whole ; and secondly, that so small a portion of
its time is devoted to the despatch of the real business of.
the house.
Now, assuming that the two causes above suggested are
mainly responsible for the waste of time in the House of
Commons—and-that they are so, no one, who has watched
the working of the legislature can doubt—we must come
at once to the conclusion that the first mentioned cause
may be altogether, or, at least, in great part, removed;
but I fear it is difficult to hope for any direct remedy to
the second, because no rules could be framed which would
prevent• perverse and unreasonable members from bringing
improper subjects before the house, •which might not
frequently be applied to prevent the exposure of abuses or
the redress .of grievances. If,. however, an enlarged
system of transacting business through the medium of
committees be adopted, an indirect remedy to the second
cause would be arrived at, ee by this means not only
would the effective power of the house be multiplied by
the number of separate committees which may be sitting
at once,
.but the amount of time lost by fruitless and
profitless discussions would he materially diminished.
So far as my notice of motion suggests the principle of
entrusting to committees of less than the whola house, a
large proportion of the business which the entire house
now transacts, there can be no doubt of its proposing a
remedy which mint of neeessity strongly tend to diminish
the obstructive power of TiMe. • ' '
If two, three, four or five bodies are sitting at the
same time, they can accomplish at least two, three; four,
Or five times as much business as one body governed by„
the same rules. In point of fact, they could accomplish
much more, for the obstructive powers of each Individual
member would be divided or limited in about the same
ratio that the working power of the house was increased.
Now I may here remark that this veer improvement
will probably be dwelt on by one portion of the community
a$ .an objection to my proposition. _ .
We know that many minds are so constituted that, to
them all change appears objectionable. We know also that
many persons may have strong personal 'motives for
wishing that messures, even though they may seem likely
to produce much general benefit, should not become law
at all ; or at least should be delayed as long as possible ;
adherence to the traditionary tenets of a party may inflo-
ence others, and on the whole I may assume that to net
a few, increased facilities for legislation do not seem at all
desirable. However lam fully justified in assuming it to
be desirable to premote beneficial changes in the law, a
proposition which will riot be disputed even by these who
most desire to retain all present forms as engines ' of
obstruction. . •
To return then to the idea of delegating to committees
a portion of the power of the house, we must remember
that to a certain extent select committees are employed at
present ; such committees are' usually chosen for enquiry
into matters not the subject of immediate legislation, for
the consideration of the details of measures which require
peculiar technical knowledge, or for discussing Bills when
the 'general principle is conceded but the details require
much alteration.
During the last session there were 42 select cernmittees
on which 270 members served, while 380 served on no
select committee relating to public business. I think
that this may be taken as an admission of the utility of
the principle of such committees, but it is liable to the
objection that the house has neglected to utilise the
services of nearly 400 members, and that the principle was
applied in such a very small number of cases.
However, as it seems to me, the real objection to, the
Present system of select committees is, that the reference
to the committee comes too late; for, if the matter sub-
mitted to the consideration of the committee be a bill, it
is not referred until after all the discussion up to and
including the second reading has taken place. If the
committee be appointed for the purpose of any other
species•of enquiry, a preliminary order of the house is
rc quired, which often can only be obtained•after 1014 Pro-
tracted
discussion, often • too after long discussion, the
enquiry is altogether refused. This error I would pro-
pose to remedy by submitting almost all
_businessplin the