The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-12-25 00:00:00

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HOME or COMMONS, this.
Lord HOWICK, pursuant to his notice of yid
Wiley, rose for the porpose of moving, " That the
Deputy Clerk of the Crown should appear at the
Zar, with the return made by the Sheriff of Gal
.way;, but,inconsequeoceof a second return having
been made, whereby the Right Hon. D. B. Daly,
and Richard Martin, Esq. were returned duly
eleded, he felt inclined to desist from further pro.
ceedings.
Mr. CORRY observed, he should be happy
that Gentlemen *ho were conversant in the busi.
nets of Eleflions in Ireland, would take an oppor-
tunity of stating, not only upon this, but upon
others, any regulations which might appear to
them to be useful for the adoption of the House.
CHAIRMAN OF WA'S AND MEANS.
Mr. BIDDULPH, in consequence of the notice
which he gave yesterday, rose for the purpose of
moving " not there should be a Resolution of the
Mouse,stating, that it was highly inexpedient that the
Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means
should enjoy a salary." This he proposed as a first
attempt to forward that beneficent objeft in Hie
Majosty'sSpeech, on open ng Parliament, to diminish
the public expenditure, and to thew that the public
good should not suffer by any unnecessary extrava.
Rance. He was anxious in taking up this duty, that
it should not appear that be was standing up in point
of hostility ag.unst those with whom he had had the
honour of aging in the former Parliament. He
was fully sensible •of their honourable motives in
regard to the pledges given by them ; and was per-
suaded, that if such had not been their inten:ion, the
House should not have received such an intimation
from His Majesty. He had a high idea of the
ties of those at the head of Administration, but
so personal motives should prey, tit him from doii g
his ditty. To the individual against whom his mo-
tion would operate, he preftaszd a personal attach.
went, as a Gentleman whom lie had known in-
timately. The early period at which he took the
liberty ofelaiming the attention of the house, he con-
sidered as being proper, on account of the adv An.
lege likely to arise from such a motion being
made previous to the appointment of a Gen-
tleman to that office. Ile had been panicu-
lady induced to tike up this hu.iness, on ac-
ermot of the paternal expressions contained in
His Majesty's Speech, which, he trusted, would
snake a deep impression in the country. These seri.
laments, if not a.lrd upon, would be alluded to in
the most unfavourable light, as containing every
thing favourable on the part of the country, but
nugatory on the pan of Parliament. ( Here the
Hon. Member read the passoge in 'His Majesty's
Speech, relative to the necessity of adding to the
public burdens, and ratrenchiilgo as much as pos-
sible, from unnecessary expenditure, and observing
the utmost economy.) The Chairman of the Corn-
taittee of Ways and Moans held an office most im-
portant, but not such as not to be attained by any
Member of the House, possessed of common abili-
ties, dilig.ince, and industry ; and there was no ne-
cessity fur attaching a salary to such an office. He
should put it to the House, whether that appoint-
ment could not, with great propriety, be wholly
dispensed with. He never understood that the Junior
Los ds of the Treasury were so overloaded with bu-
Incas as not to be competent to that office themselves.
An appointment to such an office was, in former
times, wholly unusual ; and he might add, that the
times in which we lived were also unusual, and
would, at all events, justify a departure from ordi-
nary ways of proceeding. . While the country were
rendered sensible of the public burdens being heavy,
it would be attended with treat advantage that they
should perceive that the necessary pressures upon
them were rendered es light as possible, by the ado's.
tion of the most rigid principlesolf economy. In the
minds of all rational and discreet p...nons, he found,
Cat a radical change of measutes was thought ab-
solutely necessary for the salvation of the country.
The Hon. Member then concluded, with moving,
That there be a resolution of the House, that the
assignment of a salary to any Member of this House,
ifor the purpose.of serving as Chairman of the Corn-
inittee at Ways and Means, is pettedly unneces-
• sary, under tin present circumstances of the
country."
Lord HOWICK then rose, and said, that he
regretted exceedingly that the Motion of his Hon .
Friend was of such a sort as placed him (Lord
Howick) under the necessity of appearing to resist
thatdispositsen, which had been manifested by His
Majesty, with regard to public economy. He felt
as strongly as any man, upon that cccasion, the
necessity of applying all predicable means to aired
such a desirable objet. k was undoubtedly the
duty of the House of Commons to endeavour to
confine the public expenditure to the narrowest pos-
sible amount; but still he could not think that it
was His Majesty's intention to recommend to the
Hunse to agree with such a proposal, or to limit.
the remuneration attached to a most useful and
laborious service.—Such were not the points of
rigid economy which were in the view of His
Majesty. —lt appeared, however, that he, the
Hon. Gentleman, had fallen into some mistakes.
He bad supposed that there was a regular appoint-
ment of a salary to the office. In point of fact, no
ouch appointment ever took place ; the person so
employed being only brought into office by a call of
the House, and no stated salary affixed. A remu-
neration used to be paid for it out of the Civil List ;
but some years ago, it was deemed unbecoming that
any person, counts:led with the business of the
House of Commons, should receive a salary from
such a fund. At the end of the Session, therefore,
it had been tonal to vote a certain sum to the pet son
filling such a s tuation, in proportion to the labour
it was thought he had undergone. He could not
help thinking that the proper time to state such
09..elions, would be at the end of the Session,
when the report be alluded to would be pro-
posed. He wished the House to consider what
were the *dual duties wl.ich the person so
sashed to the Chair of such Committees was bound
to perform ; he was not only to be prepared with a
knowledge of all the business that came before the
House, but to preside over all Committees of
other .'esertpttests that were appointed ; and, in
short, to pettorm all the duties of the Speaker,
when he was out of the way ; to explain the
Orders, guilts, and Proceedings; and to be in at.