Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-19 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS,

STATUTE Ltaw Cosimissiort.—A. Parliamentary,return,
trtored-for-by-ble-Locke_King, shows how the balance of
£3,029 in the Treasury on the 39th of April, rtria, on
aecount of the Statute Law Commission, together' with
£1 911 since voted by Parliament, has been expendecl.- It
appears that £2,285 was distributed among various
draughtsmen for draughting 24 bills. Mr. BellentlenAer,
the commissioner, received a salary of £l,OOO a year, and '
Mr. Brickdale; the secretary, one of £.300, which with
some minor items made a total expense of X 4,141, leaving
a balance of £BO5 on the 30th of June last. •
SYDNEY GOLD.—The gold coined at the Royal Mint at
Sydney, in 1855, amounted in value to: £514,810; and in
1856 to £1,219,897.
COIIIIISSIONERS.-4 "Blue Book" con'ains the
report of the commissioners appointed to inquire into the
system of purchase and sale of commissions in the army.
The commissioners endeavour to show that, if the pur-
chase system be abolished, it will become indispensable,
for the purpose of maintaining the efficiency •of - the
British army, to adopt a new system, of :retirement 'and
promotion—viz., to.ma.ke retirements after a Axed age or
period of service compulsory, and to give promotions by,
selection. They elide ivour further to show that cornpul-
so y retirement will be:alone an inadequate substitute for
the sale of commissions but they consider that its
partial adoption would facilitate a measure which thter
propose for the selection of lieutenant colonels, while
they do not suggest disturbing the existing system as
regards the purchase and sa e of commissions up to the
rank of major inclusive. Tne commissioners recommend
that hereafter the lieutenant-colonelcy of a regiment
should be an appointmentluade by the selection of t he Com-
mander-la-C(IW from all the majors in that part Of the
service, and that the period of holding this command should
for the future be limited, and that a time should be
fixed—eight, or perhaps ten years,--as the longest dura-
tion of such command. .01licers, however, who relinquish
the command of a regiment, after holding it for the pre-
scribel thee, must uot'suffer any pecuniary loss from the
change; the Government must atso be prepared to pur-
chase the lieutenant coloaelcy from any officer now hold-
ing the command of a regiment whenever any one may, be
desirous of selling his commission The commissioners
are thus cautious in introducing the principle of selection
"from au earnest desire that the application should be
fairly tested by experience." They suggest further, that
" promotion to the staff might be 'made the means of
stimulating military education, rewarding meritorious
officers, and obviating some of the hardships which must
arise under the purchase system." A course of training
in the senior department at Sandhurst might be made an
indispensable condition to the attainment of a staff
appointment, and the limitation of the time during which
officers should hold such SUM/tit:MS would render these
appointments additionally serviceable. " All these
changes," add the commissioners, '• inasmuch as they
introduce the principle of advancement by selection, tend
towards the abolition. of the purchase 53 stem."
SALE OF POISONS BlLL.—This bill, as amended; by the
select committee of the House of Lords, has been printed.
The list of ":poisons," &tined' as such, has been much re-
duced. It now Includes arsenic and its compounds,
corrosive sublimate (the bichloride of mercury) and its
solutions, the poisonous vegetable aikeloids and their
salts. Prussic acid. the cyanide Of potassium, the
essential oil of bitter almon Is, and mixtures containing it,
cantharides, aconite and its preparations. opium (crude or
in tincture, extract, or powder), chloroform, oxalic acid,
and salt of sorrel, nux vumica (whence strychnine is
derived), tartarised antimony and wculus indices. Poison
must only be sold to a person of full age in presence of a
witness of full age, and upon the production of a certifi-
cate; and ate: I'3s no poisons can be sell without
license except by a regularlmedical practitioner. It would
appear however, that poison may be sold to any person
who is not unknown to the vendor.