Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-16 00:00:00

ADULTERATION OF FOOD OR DRINK SILL.

Mr. SCHOLEFIELD moved the second reading of the
Adulteration of Food or Drink Bill.
Sir G. GREY would not oppose the setcnd reading,
but did not pledge himself as to the details of the bill.
The motion was agreed to.
THE TRAMWAYS (IRELAND). RILL.

The Tramways (Ireland) Bill was referred to a select
committee without any discussion.

THE CHARITABLE USES BIM.
The Chaiitable Uses 'Bill was read a second time.
.COMMITTEE OP SUPPLY.

The House went into committee of Ways and Means,
when

Mr. Liamo moved •a•resolution, that-towards making
good the -supply granted to her Majesty for the defi-
ciency in the grant for the service of the year ending
the 31st'March, 1850, the sum of £107,649 be granted
out of the• consolidated fund. •
Agreed to.
COMMISSION FOE ENQUIRY.-ME. BALFE.

Colonel DUNNE moved for a copy of the com-
mission for enquiry into the conduct of a
Mr. Balfe, a magistrate -of the county of Roscommon,
accused of thaving committed a criminal offence, toge-
ther with the report of the commissioners appointed to
make•the enquiry, and the correspondence connected
therewith. He alleged the impolicy and injustice of
issuing such enquiries.

Mr.,GARDWELL adduced several instances when
similar ,commissions had been issued. He stated the
facts of the case, vindicating the conduct, of the commis-
sion. He bad no objection to the production of the
papers. _ .

Mr. WiIaTESIDE denounced the commission as illegal
in conception and conduct. The accusation against Mr.
Balfe wasthat Mr. Balfe had stood by while a man who
bad no vote had voted ; he had denied this, and they
bad no right to question his declaration.
Mr. B. 438801 u E also 'denounced the proceeding,
which was founded upon a secret accusation. Mr.
Balfe had,•in =sequence of this accusation, been erased,
from 'the list of high sheriffs, where he stood at the head
of his county. The inferencewas that.the present system
of government in Ireland was unsatisfactory. Men's
characters were whispered away, and back-stairs
influence has indiscriminately used. The whole system
of the Lord. Lieutenancy ought to .be 'reformed. If
they were to have a pageant let it not be a paltry
one.

Mr. LONQPIELD deprecated these cammissions as
unconstitutional, and founded on •precedents which
ought not to have been followed; paying, at the same
time, a high tribute to the personal merits of the
commissioners.

Mr. GBOROE look a similar view; declaring that
trial of Mr. Balfe to have been inquisitorial and
unfair, and blaming the conduct of the Government
and the Lord Chancellor. The character of no man
was safe, if such precedents were followed. They had
no right to d6part from the ordinary plan of prosecution
by the Attorney-General, if the circumstances warranted
it. The letter acquitting Mr. Balfe was likewise un-
satisfactory and unfair. He thought that, when the
papers were produced, a most searching enquiry should
be instituted.

Sir G. GREY reprobated such strictures until the
papers were produced. He admitted the objections
to the mode of trial by commission, though there were
precedents for it in Ireland sufficient to justify the Lord-
Lieutenant and the Lord Chancello-, who had selected
a commissioner whose character was above all suspicion.
Colonel DUNNE said that he blamed no one, but only
the system.
The motion was then agreed to.
The other business was disposed of, and the House
adjourned at a quarter-past five o'clock.