The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-28 00:00:00

[LEFT SITTING.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS—This Evening.
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The following bills were read a third time and passed :
Bedford and Cambridge Railway, Ely, liaddenham, and
Sutton Railway, Greenwich and South Eastern Docks,
North Cheshire Water, Portmadoo and Beaver Pool Bridge
Road, and the Scarborough Valley Bridge.

ROYAL COMMISSION.
Colonel CLIFFORD, the Yeoman Usher of the Black
Rod, summoned the members to the upper house to hear
the Royal assent given by commission to several bills, for
which see Lords report,

MEDICAL OFFICERS IN INDIA.
In reply to Colonel SYKES,
Sir C. WOOD said that he bad received no circular from
head-quarters addressed to British Army Medical °fibers
in Indio., calling for volunteers for the new line corps and
brigades of Royal Artillery, and he was not aware that there
was any such document in existence,
THE STATUE OF RICHARD COEUR DE LION
In reply to Mr. HA.NX.EY, ,
Mr. COWPER said that the sculptor had sent in his
design for the bas-reliefs for the base of the statue, and it
was still under consideration.

STANDARD OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
Mr. LOCKE asked the President of the Board of Trade
whether any communications have been received by her
Majesty's Government from the Astronomer Royal and
Comptroller General of the Exchequer as to the urgent
necessity for an adjustment and reveriflution of
the Exchequer standards of weights and measures;
and, it so, the date thereof : 'Whether any steph have been
taken for effecting such adjustment and reverification; and
if so, when the same will bo completed : 'Whether any
representations have been made with a view of re-
laxing the law against tradesmen for small de-
viations in their weights and measures lutal the
standards have been adjusted and reverified. And,
whether it is the intention of her Majesty's Government to
submit any bill to Parliament this session in reference to
the present state of the law relating to weights and mea-
sures.

Mr. M. GIBSON said that a communication had been
received on the subject from the Astronomer Royal in 1859.
Since then a report had been made by the committee ap-
pointed to inquire into the reverification of the nattonal
standard of weights and measurer, and the subject
was under consideration, but up to the present time
no instructions had been issued on the subject. With
regard to the last question, it was not considered advisable
to introduce any bill imposing pains and penalties for
infringement of the existing law.
ROYAL COURT IN JERSEY.
Mr. SCLATER-BOOTH asked the Secretary of State
for the Home Department whether he had any objection to
produce the correspondence between himself and the Lieu-

tenant Governor of Jersey, relative to proposed alterations
in site consti; ntion of the Royal Court in that islant?.
Sit: G. G IEY replied in the negative,
THE L-lIEFFIELD RESERVOIRS, &c.
Mr. FERRAND asked the Secretary of State for tile
Hume Department whether Mr. Rawlinson had sent in his
report on the state of the Sheffield reservoirs; if so, whether
he would lay it upon the table of the house ; if he haci yet
sent in his report on the Bradford reservoirs; end, if
he
had been engaged in inapectin any other than the Shef-
field and Bradford reservoirs under the authority of the
Home Office.
Sir G. GREY repelled in substance the statement, he
hod made on a previous occasion, to the effect that Mr.
Rawlinson had not yet completed his report en the subject
which he was endeavouring to make as perfect as:p.ossiole.
He (Sir G. Grey) could state, however, that there was no
danger to he apprehended from the reservoirs at Sheffield
and Bradford.

IN .
Mr. LIDDELL askedNEUTRALITY whether theCIIINA attention of the law
officers of the Crown had been directed to the report of a
recent trial before the Consular Court at Shaughae,
at
which a man named George White, charged as an accom-
plice in the capture of the Firefly steamer, was convicted
and sentenced for a breach of the Hong Kong
Neutrality Ordinance, No. 1,
of 1855; and further, to a
statement made on July 1, 1863, by the Duke of Newcastle,
then Colonial Secretary, fur the information of Earl Russell,
to the effect that there is no ordinance now in force enjoin-
ing the observance of neutrality by her Majesty's subj:cts
between the contending parties in China; and, it so, whether
that statement of the Duke of Newcastle was'correct or in-
correct; and, if correct, whether the conviction of the said
George White can be held to have been a legal conviction.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said with regard to the
first question, no authentic information had been received,
and therefore ho was unable to afford any information as to
the circumstances connected with the case referred to; and
that answer would apply to the last part of the question.
There was ample provision made for the preservation of
neutrality on the part of British subjects in the interns'
dissensions in China.

CONFERENCE ON NORTH AMERICAN AFFAIRS.
In reply to Mr. HOPWOOD,
isir G. GREY, in the absence of Lord Palmerston, sa4l
that the Government had no intention of proposing a confe-
rence on the affairs of North America, as there was no
ground for any such proposal, and it was one to m hich he
was quite satisfied the United States Government would
not accede.
THE NEW NATIONAL GAELERY.
Mr. HEYGATE asked the First Commissioner of Works
whether the scheme for erecting a new National Gallery at
the rear of Burlington House, and which was last year
stated by the First Commissioner of Works to "have been
for a considerable time under the consideration of the
Government," has yet been approved ; and, if not,
to what national purposes it is proposed to devote the estate
purchased for the nation in 1854, at a cost of £140,000, and
now occupied by Burlington House and Gardens.
Mr. COWPER said that the Government determined
to propose an estimate for the erection of a gallery on the
site in question.

- THE ARMY ESTIMATES.
In reply to General PEEL,
The Marquis of HARI'INGTON said it would be impos-
sible to say the day on which the army estimates would bo
brought on, but when the navy estimates were gone through
they would then be submitted to the huts!.
THE TUSCALOOSA.
Mr. PEACOCKE called attention to the case of the
Tuscaloosa; and to move the following resolution :—That
the instructions contained in the despatch of the
Duke of Newcastle to Sir P. Wodehouse, dated the 4th day
of November, 1863, and which remain still unrevoked, are
at variance with the principles of international law.
Eyr SPEAKING.)

Bank of England Return,--Tliis Evening.

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An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Sth Viet erg.,
cap. 32. fur the week ending on Wednesday, the 27th day
ct AprOt 16G4:—