The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-25 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS

The SPEAKER took the Chair et five minutes to Four
o'clock.
REDUCTION OF FEES FOR PRINTED DOCU-

lIENTS.

Mr. W. PATTEN moved to reduce the fees payable
at the House of C Inittons for copies of papers and docu-
ments, from five shillings and one shilling to two shillings
and sixpence and sixpence respec!ivtly.—Agrced to.
METROPOLIS WATER BILL.

Lord J. MANNERS moved that it be an instruction
to the Committee of Selection, that they have power to
fix the Committee on the Metropolis Water Bill for
Thursday, the Ist day of April next.
Mr. B. COCHRANE said the House was taken by
surprise when this Bill was read the other day a second
time. Re considered the Bill was very objectionable,
and if he had been in the House at the
time, ho should have opposed the second reading. It
would not remedy a single defect in the present bad sup-
ply of water to the metropolis. The system of taking
supplies of water from the Thames would still be per-
petuated, though the Board of Health had reported that
such a source was very objectionable. He hoped tho
Government would see the necessity of introducing a
more comprehensive tce2sure on the subject.
Lord J. MANNERS said he had merely taken up
the Bill which was proposed by his predecessor in office.
If the House agreed to refer it to a Committee, he
hoped they would be able to devise a practical remedy
for very grave and serious evils in regard to the supply
of water to the inhabitants of London.
Lard EBRLNGTON protested against a public mea-
sure of this kind being referred to a Select Committee
until the House had expressed an opinion upon the prin-
ciple involved in it.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE did not think this question
would be settled as the House was now going on.—
(Hear.) If the Bill were referred to a Committee, before
whom the old companies might appear as opponents, no
man of common sense could suppose it would come
out of the Committee this session—(Hear, hear)—it
was utterly impossible. Therefore it was illusory to
hold out any hope that the metropolis could this year
get a better supply of water. He moved to add to the
resolution an amendment to the effect that the Com-
mittee should confine their inquiry to this Bill only.
Sir J. JOHNSTON treated the Bill as an absolute
confiscation of the property of the London water coin-
vValea- They only paid now 4 per cent. upon their ea-
Pnal, and if the Bill came into operation, the sharehold-
era we not get a dividend of a farthing.
Thet"--
Co
Manure
Patent Approaches.rn
beEARER informed Mr. Duncombe that his
am erns mene
motions could only be proposed as a substantive
Mr. DUNcomßE—Then I give notice that I will
move it to-morrow. •
The motion was then ca •
PRlNrea "led'
E BUSINESS.
read a third time :
EaTs prat,
ofneldloornrivnigaßteirli:owtkerz
Mansfield Gag.
hd
Marketo w a g e
and
SPRING WATER
FF.:lrehnotrSonolgi
Wolverhampton GlEr•
(WATFORD)
LONDONCOMPANY.
the
.second reading of this
Bill, said its object ;vas to
Mr. HOPE, in moving
giVO those parts of the metro-
polis now inadequately .
supplied with waters goad and
perfect supply or that important element by rendering
available the water now concentrated around Watford,
and which, they were asmred by competent authorities,
perforated by a kind of under-ground drainage into the
sir, and was c4pable of yieldingi an enormous quantity.
Mr. HALSEY moved that the Bill be read a second
time this day six months, on the ground t hat it heel already
been rejected by the House; 2d, that
it was opposed by
every individual and landowner in the neighbourhood of
Waif ; anti, lastly, bteense he was opposed to its
prinefc te. That the supply of water to the metropolis
was defective and ought to be improved, he admitted;
but it surely could not be said that the desired object
was to be accomplished by infringing upon the rights of
private iedividuala.—(Hear.) He thought the House
was called upon to reject a Bill when, as in this case, it
committed an injury to property for which no kind of
compensation could be given.
Air. B. COCHRANE said this Bill would to some
extent supply the people with water, and he should sup-
port it.
Mr. ROBERT STEPHENSON said he had been em-
ployed to report upon the subject of the Bill, and with-
out pledging himself to all the allegations of the
promoters, he thought the scheme which the Bill em-
braced was a good one.
Sir R. H. INGLIS wished to have three questions
answered; first, was it proposed to obtain this supply

LONDON,

of water not from the source of a river,
but by digging a well 600 feet deep which
would injure the district where it was sank; secondly,
had not the experiments which had been made failed;
and thirdly, whether this very Bill was not thrown out

last year?
Mr. B. HOPE replied in the affirmative to the first
question, bat the well would not be so deep as 600 feet.
In reply to the second question he denied that the ex-
periment had failed; while with regard to the last ques-
tion the Bill was not referred to a Committee last year,
because the Government took the subject into their own

Viscount EBRINGTON opposed the Bill, and called
upon the House to lay down some settled principle for
the regulation of the water question. Ile
denied that the supply of water in the
metropolis was deficient; the fact was more than
half the supply was wasted, and on the south side of
the Thames the land was completely deluged with water.
—(Hear, hear.) He blamed the late Government
for not being governed in this matter by the report
which Lord Carlisle prepared on the subject, and
called upon the House to negative the motion for the
second reading.
Mr. BAILEY also opposed the Bill, on the ground
that ft would inflict great injury on the locality where
the water was to be drawn from.
Sir R. PRICE and Mr. MACGREGOR supported the

BUJ.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said the Bill was only
opposed by the old water companies, and as there were
68 Members of the House who had a pecuniary interest
in them, they ought at least to abstain from voting on
this occasion.—(Hear, hear.)
After a few words frcm Mr. HUME, the House di
vided, when there appeared—
For the second reading •••
Against it . .
Majority ...
The Bill was then read a second time.
ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE FOR
E ASTER.
Mr. HUME wished to ask the Chancellor of the Ex
chequer whether it was his intention to propose the ad
journment of the Huse on the 7th or the Bth of Apri
next? He also wished to know, in the event of the
House adjourning on the 7th, what would become of the
motions fixed fcr the Bth?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said,
I find that last year—and I wish, of course, to follow
the precedent of last year, if the House has no ob-
jection—that the House adjorurned on Tuesday.
But I find that on Wednesday a motion is to be brought
on by the Right Hon. Gentleman, the member for Devon-
port (Mr. Tuffnell), for the second reading of the Pro-
perty Qualification Bill. I should be sorry to interfere, of
course, with any, vested interest which the Right Hon.
Gentleman has in the notice book—(A laugh)—but if
he has no objection I will follow exactly the precedent
of last year. Should he, however, insist on maintaining
his position, I will not move the adjournment until
Wednesday; otherwise I will move the adjournment of
the House from Tuesday, the 6,1), until Monday, the 19th
of April.
Mr. HUME said the Right Hon. Gentleman had not
mentioned what would become of the notices down for
the Bth. He asked this question because ho had a
notico on the paper for that day.—(A laugh,)
Mr. TUFNpLL said if it were the wish of the House
he would not press his motion for that day.—(Cheers.)
Ho hoped, however, that he would be put in the same
position on the first Wednesday after the House re-
assembled.
Mr. DEEDES said he was in the same predicament
as the Right Hon. Gentleman, and if he got an early
day for his motion, ho hoped the same would not be
refused to him.
INTERNATIONAL PATENT LAW.
In reply to Sir DE LACY EVANS,
Mr. HENLEY stated that the subject cf International
Patent Law would not be lost sight of by the Govern-
ment, and a short Bill would be introduced shortly to
continue the existing law for a period beyond the 25th
of April, when it would otherwiso expire.
ROMAN CATHOLIC PRISONERS.

196
65
-131

Mr. REYNOLDS wished to ask the Secretary of
State for the Home Department, what provision had
been made for the religious instruction of the Roman
Catholic prisoners in the several prisons of Scotland, and
if he was aware that the General Bard of Directors of
Prisons in Scotland had refused permission to the
Roman Catholic clergymen of Perth to assemble the
Roman Catholic prisoners confined in the prison
of that town, at stated times, in the prison
chapel, to receive spiritual instruction from a
Roman Catholic clergyman, and whether the Roman
Catholic prisoners were compelled or required to attend
the prison chapel during the celebration of Protestant
worship.
Mr. WALPOLE said no provision was legally made
fer religious instruction of Roman Catholic prisoners in
Scotland, but ministers of their persuasion were allowed
to see them in their cells. A refusal hail been given
to all religious denominations, excepting those belong•
ing to the Established Church of Scotland. Roman
Catholics were neither compelled nor required to attend
the prison chapel.
THE POST•OFFICE.

Mr. COWAN wished to ask the Secretary to the
Treasury if there is any intention of instituting a revi-
sion of the scale of salaries in the inland department of
the General Post-office, Edinburgh, or in any of the
money-order offices in the kingdom; and in either case,
if by a Commission to be appointed by the Treasury 0.1
otherwise?
Mr. HAMILTON said no such inquiry bad been
made, nor was it intended to appoint such a Coommission.
THE MAYNOOTH GRANT.
Mr. KEOGH said—Sir, I rise to put a question to the
Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer relating
to the Maynooth grant, of which I have given him
notice. It will be in the recollection of the Right Hon.
Gentleman, that in the year 1845 a Bill was introduced
into this House by the late Sir Robert Peel, con-
ferring upon the Royal College of May nooth an
annual grant of 30,00C1.—(11ear, hear.) It was carried
through this House after it had received great opposi-
tion, conducted by his wonted ability by the Right
Honourable Gentleman himself, and it was sub-
sequently carried through the other House of
Parliament, and after it had been opposed by the Noble
Lord now at the head of the Government it became
law.—(Hear, hear.) Now, some Members of the pre-
sent Administration had lately declared upon
the hustings that they were favourable to the
repeal of the law, and it must be known, that through-
out that country there is a strong opposition to that
Act.—(Order, order.) Well, then, in order that some-
thing certain should be known of the intention of
Government on the subjcet ho begged to put his eyes-
tion, hoping to receive as candid an answer as that
which was given the other night by the Right Honour-
able Secretary of S:ate for the Home Department.
on the subject of Ministers' Money in Ireland. He
wished to ask whether it is the intention of her Majesty's
Government to introduce, either in this or the next ses-
sion of Parliament any measure to repeal the Act con-
ferrieg the Grant upon the Royal College of Maynooth?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—Sir, in
answer to the question which the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman has put to me, I have no hesitation in saying
that it is not the intention of tbo Government in the
present Parliament to propose any 13111 to repeal the
grant to the Royal College of Maynootb.
to which he has referred.—(Opposition cheers.) Gene-
rally speaking, I beg to observe that it appears to me
that specific measures to be brought forward, for any
subjec; whatever, in a Parliament, which bad not yet
been elected are not matters upon which any Govern-
ment ought to be quiatiored.—(\tinieterial cheers.)
CHUR,(2II ESTATE COMMISSIONERS.
Mr. PORTAL asked the Right Hon. Member for the
University of Cambridge, whether be' had any objection
to lay upon the table of the House, the particulars of all
the entranchisements which had been effected by the
Church Estate Commissioners under the Act passed
during the last session "to facilitate the management
and improvement of Episcopal and Capitular Estates in
England," and the terms upon which each enfranchise-
ments had been effected. Also whether he would lay
upon the tibia of the House, the particulars of all the
cases in which any ecclesiastical corporation, whether
episcopal or capitulee, had reported to the Church
Estate Commissioners thut proposals or applications
enfranchisement have been made to them by the lessee,
and the number of the cases in which such proposals or
applications have not been entertained.
Mr. GOULBURN said the annual report of the Com-
missioners to the Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment had been laid on the table, and was now, he
believed, in the hands of the printers. It did not con-
tain accounts of transactions already concluded, as the
short time which bad elapsed since the Bill passed
bad not given the Commissioners an opportunity of bring-
ing any to a termination. The report concluded by stat-
ing that proposals had been submitted by the Archbishop
of Canterbury and tne Bishops of London and Norwich
and that there was reason to believe that similar appli-
cations would shortly come before the Commons from
several other ecclesiasticalCEYLO corporN.ations.
Lord HOTHAM inquired whether the Secretary of
State for the Colonies would have any objection to lay
on the table tho report of the proceedings of the
Finance Committee of the Executive Council of
Ceylon ?
Sir J. PAKINGTON said the report was now in the
Colonial-office, and he had no objection to its being
laid before the House.
PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS presented a petition from Lam-
beth, signed by 1,641 persons, in favour of Mr. Hume's
motion for Parliamentary Reform.
Mr. HUME then rose to ask for leave to bring in
a Bill to amend the national representation, by extend-
ing the elective franchise in England and Wales,
so that every man of full age, and not sub-
ject to any mental or legal disability, who shall
have been the resident occupier of a house, or
pivia.c:taltegeonfethasashlhlou e as a ledger, for 12 months, and shall have
Leon duly rated to the pour of that parish for that time
for
be registered as an elector, and be entitled to vote
tor . representative in Parliament; also by enacting that
teen of reprie;cs;
ablel
nottak eenxcbeydbtahlrleoet,yethaarst,tahneddtuhraatttihon
portoPpeorr--
anitaattiiovuesabned made mere consistent with
Memberthe
said it his intention to divide up. on the motion, for be
considered it was useless having discussions on Par-
liamentary reform if the sense of the House was not
taken on the subject.
(LEFT HERA KING.)

The Duchess Dowager of Cleveland is enter-
taining a select circle at Newton House, near Boroughbridge.
Her Grace comes to her new mansion, late the Earl of
Derby's, in Grosvenor-square, early in the
.ensuing month,
for the season.
PLYMOUTH, Mitgii 24.'"'"WiLd Eu.
photo, Calcutta.