The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-16 00:00:00

DENMARK

Tin Earl of ELLENBOILOUG it gave notice that on
the motion for the adjournment of the house for the Easter
recess he should call the attention of their lordships to the
ex,i,:t state of affiirs between Germany and Denintak. In
the absence of the noble earl the Secretary of S•at9 for
For?,ign Affairs, he begged to ask the noble duke opposite
whether the terms of the identical note, which appeared in
the newspapers this morning, containing new proposals
from Austria and Prussia t 3 Denmark for an armistice and
congress, were authentic?
_

The Duke of SOMERSET said, in the absence of the
noble earl the Secretary for ForeignAffiirs, it would not be
,esn client for him to say more than that the terms in the
note appearing in the Merni;ll Post on the subject of an
armistice wore substantially correct.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills wero read a third time and passed :--
11Mast and Northern Counties Railway ; Belfast and
Ballymena and Ballycastle Junction Railway; and Trent
and Ancholme and Grimsby Railway.
INSANE PRISONERS ACT AMENDMENT BILL.

On the nr)tion of the LORD CHANCELLOR, the bill was
referred to a select committee.
MALT FOR ANIMALS BILL.

Lord STANLEY of ALDEPLEY moved the second
reading of this bill.

Lord BERNERS gave notice that he should move cer-
tain amendments to various clauses in committee.

Earl GREY regrettel the introduJtion of the bill, be-
cause it appeared to him to endanger a Fevenue of extreme
importance. He considered that nothing more injurious
to the landed interest of the country could occur than the
repeal of the malt tax. It was a tax paid by the con-
Furaer, and in the event of such a source of revenue, amount-
ing to £6,000,000, being swept away, an increase of taxa-
tion must be sought in another direction. That increase
could only be attained by an increase in the income tax,
than which nothing more was to be deprecated by the
landed interest. He thought the malt tax was one that
ought to be retained, and those who were agitating for a re-
peal of it were agitating in favour of an increase in the in-
come tax.

The Duke of ARGYLL said that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer had introduced the measure, being fully assured
the revenue would not suffer.

The Earl of HARD WICKE objected to the bill.

Lord REDESDALE was of opinion that the malt tax
was altogether indefensible.

Lnrd WODEITOUSE thought it ought to be clearly un-
derstood that a repeal of the malt tax would more than
likely lead to an increase of the income tax. This was a
most unadvisable course in time of peace, as it took away
the most fruitful source of raising large sums of money in
time of war.

The bill was then read a second time.
VESTRY CESS (IRELAND) ABOLITION BILL.
The house then went into committee on this bill.
Clauses 1,2, and 3 were agreed to.
The Earl of DOWNSHIRE moved the omission of

clause 4 ;

Upon which their lordships divided, when there ap-
peared—

For the clause
Against it . 3l
Majority against —7
The clause was then struck out.
The bill was then reported with amendments.
IN CLOSURE BILL.
This bill passed through committee.
MARINE MUTINY BILL.
This bill was read a second time.
Their lurdships then adjourned.

ROUSE OF COMMONS—Last Evening.
The Speaker took the chair at four o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills were read a third time and passed :
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (Additional
Powers) ; Swansea Vale Railway; and the Wrexham
Water.

The following bills were considered and ordered for third
reading :—The Aberbrothwick Harbour, Chichester and
Midhurst Railway (No 3), and the Dublin and Belfast
Junction Railway.

THE DU FY ON FIRE INSURANCE, &c.
A very large Lumber of petitions from different parts of
the country was presented in favour of the abolition of the
duty on fire insurances, and the Sale of Liquors Permissive
Bill.