The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-19 00:00:00

THE HABEAS CORPUS WRIT.

The Duke of NEWCASTLE introduced a bill respecting
the issuing of writs of habeas corpus in her Majesty's pos-
sessions abroad.

Their lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—YESTERDAY.
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
NEW MEMBER.

Ur. P. A. TAYLOR took the oaths and his seat as mem.
bor for Leicester.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills were read a second time :—Aberdeen
Police, Water, &c., Barnsley Coal Railway Extension,
Hull and Hornsea Railway, Lostwithiel and Fowey Rail-
way, Merionethshire Railway, Mersey Docks and Harbour
Board, Moretonbampstead and South Devon Railway,
North Devon Railway and Dock, South Yorkshire Rail-
way (Hull Extension), Trent, Ancholme, and Grimsby
Railway, and West Riding, Hull, and Grimsby Railway.
GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY (No. 2.) BILL.
On the motion for the second reading of this bill,
Mr. J. BROWN moved that the bill be read a second
time that day six months. He referred to the fact that
whenever this bill came before the houso it was defeated
either in committee or in the second reading, and contended
that it was monstrous that a company like the Great
Northern should be permitted session after session to re-
introduce it.
Mr. G. H. PACK defended the bill, and said that there
were only two or three landowners under the law who dis-
approved of it. He asserted also that the lino would not
interfere materially with the country through which it
would pass, and that it would be a great advantage to the
public.
Lord GALWAY thought it was a very bad return to
make to the hon. member for Malton (Mr. J. Brown), after
the manner in which he had previously acted in reference
to the Great Northern, to intersect his land with this line,
without any corresponding advantage to the public. He
concluded by expressing a hope that the bill would be
rejected.
Mr ROEBUCK said that this house was not the proper
tribunal to decide this question, apd he thought it right
that it should be referred to a committee up stairs.
Mr. M. MILNES opposed the bill, and called on the
house, by its rejection of it, to show that they could not
allow the interests of landowners to be overridden by a
powerful company like the Great Northern.
Mr. M ASSEY considered that the house should read the
bill a second time, and its details could be discussed fully
before a select committee. (Hear, hear.) The Great
Northern Company merely desired to make a loup line of
five or six miles, in order to relieve the main line from the
pressure of its goods traffic. He thought; under all cir-
cumstances, that the bill should receive the sanction of the
house, and that it would be of much use to the public.
The amendment was agreed to without a division, and
the bill was accordingly rejected.
TOLL GATES 1N THE METROPOLIS.

Mr. 'WHITE gave notice that on Friday next he would
ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he
had received any information from the commissioner ap-
pointed to consider the subject, and whether any measure
would be adopted for the removal of the toll-gate obstruc-
tion in the metropolis.
PATENT LAWS.
Mr. RICARDO gave notice that he would draw the at-
tention of the house to the propriety of an alteration in the
patent laws.

r r

money, which had been supplemented in different ways by
colonial votes and subscriptions, but until the present occa-
sion that continent had never been successfully crossed.
On this occasion the act was performed entirely at the ex-
pense of a colony which would appear to have no interest in
the matter whatever, but to have been actuated purely by
public spirit; and it was a curious fact that this expedition
should have been the first that had been entirely success-
ful. He thought an act of such public spirit on the part of
one of our youngest colonies justified him in bringing this
matter under the notice of the house. (Hear, hear.) He
hoped he might say one word as a tribute to the very re-
markable man who was the leader of.the expedition, and to
whose energy and ability it mainly owed its success.
(Hear, hear.) Mr. Burke, with whose name the successful
discovery of large tracts of country in the Australian colo-
nies was connected, was a brother of the gallant colonel
whose gallant deeds in the early part of the Crimean war
were so famous. After the death of his brother Mr. Burke
threw up a lucrative position in the colony to take pail in
the Crimean war, and he again threw up a good position to
lead this expedition, in the course of which he and two of
his partners, Wills and Becker, had lost their lives. The
circumstances attending the death of Wills and Burke, and
as to the statement that they should have been met by those
whose business it was to supply them with necessaries, were
undergoing most careful investigation by the colony, and it
would be unjust and unfair to prejudge the result of that
inquiry. The crossing of the Australian continent had been
very nearly effected in other directions before, fram the east
to the west along the northern coast, and from the south to
the north along the south, and great results had attended
those expeditions, and those results had greatly facilitated
the work of Mr. Burke. But it had been now for the first
time established that in addition to the colonies on the eastern
and southern coasts of Australia there was ample territory
favourable to the establishment of noble colonies on the
northern coast. There was good water, the country was
well suited for agricultural purposes, and the river at the
mouth of which the expedition terminated, as it was now
well known, ran for miles through the country, and the
water was of a similar character to that of the rivers of the
south. At the present time, when they were everywhere
seeking for new territory suitable for the growth of cotton,
it was of the greatest importance that it should be estab-
lished that such had been discovered ready at once for the
occupation of the white man, and that the Government
should come forward in the matter and add one if not more
to the many rich dependencies of which the country boasted.
The dreams of 15 or 20 years ago, those dreams which were
shared in by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in which
the house and the country for a long time joined, but which
were thrown back by previous failures, were now estab-
Wished facts, and nothing was more easy with the co-
operation of enterprising settlers and the Crown than to
establish a colony on the northern coast of Australia,
which would add as much credit, he hoped, to the English
name as the great settlements in the south. Upon the
subject of this expedition the noble duke at the head of the
Colonial-office had said that when the results were known
it would be time to see whether further steps ought to
be taken by the English Government. He (Mr. Chil-
ders) thought that time had now come, and they would
have to consider very soon the propriety of giving a proper
establishment to the settlements which would grow in the
newly discovered districts. (Hear.) When that matter was
dealt with theymight expect the greatest advantages to ac-
crue to this country,and therefore, while placing the greatest
confidence in the action of the Colonial-office, so far he hoped
they would continue in the same course, and that the time
would come when the new colony to be established would
become one of the most flourishing of the British depen-
dencies. (Hear.)
Mr. KINNAIRD hoped, after the statement of his hon.
friend, that Government would take into their consideration
whether some measure might not be taken to perpetuate the
memory of the leader of this expedition. We who had de-
rived great advantage from the extension of our empire in
that part of the world, must appreciate the services of Mr.
Burke and others who had devoted themselves to this great
work, and he hoped that some steps would be taken by the
Government to do honour to the memory of these men.

Mr. C. FO RTESCUE would be glad to lay upon the
table of the house without delay the papers for which his
hon. friend had called, and he thought it was only right
that the Parliament of England should have in its possession
an authentic account of the heroism and devotion which
had added to the vast territories of the British Crown, and
provided space for new and flourishing colonies. He was
glad that the attention of the house had been called to the
gallant enterprise which would be found detailed in the
papers moved for, and he was glad also to have the oppor-
tunity on the part of the Colonial-office and the Government
of expressing their sense of the public spirit and liberality
of Victoria, and of the gallant devotion, and he was sorry
to say self-sacrifice, of those who took part in the expedi-
tion. The papers he should have to lay on the table would
not be complete, because the circumstances connected wtih
the sad fatalities which constituted the most tragic part of
this tale, and which led to the death of Mr. Burke, were
now under investigation at Melbourne. The Government
would have at a future time to give farther papers in con-
tinuation of those now in their possession to the house,
containing the results of those expeditions, which his hon.
friend knew had been fitted out in a spirit quite equal to
that which fitted out the original expedition of Burke and
Wills, and which had for their object to discover the fate
of those brave men who had taken part in it. The interest
felt in the colonies upon this matter had been so great, that
not only had a fresh expedition been sent from Victoria,
but it had been accompanied by separate expeditions from
Southern Australia, from Queensland, and from the Gulf
of Carpentaria itself, where a steam sloop had been provided
to aid the search. These papers, which he should have to
lay upon the table, would bo found extremely interesting,
and hon. members would find in them a touching account,
from the pen of Sir H. Barkly, of the labours, sufferings,
and deaths of the brave leaders of the late expedition. He
thought the time was not far off when populations would
rise upon the newly discovered territory, and the names of
Burke and Wills will be held in grateful remembrance by
the colony of Australia.
The motion was then agreed to.
Upon the motion of Mr. BRADY, a select committee
was ordered to be appointed to inquire into the best means
of utilising the sewage of the cities and towns of England,
with a view to the reduction of local taxation and the benefit
of agriculture.
BLOCKADE OF THE SOUTHERN PORTS.

The O'DONOG.H.UE said that at the request of the Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade he would postpone his motion
on this subject until Thursday next.

SUPPLY.

The report was brought up and agreed to.
EAST INDIA STOCK TRANSFER (REMUNERA-
TION) BILL.

The report was brought up and agreed to.
The house adjourned at 25 minutes to 8 o'clock.

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

Yesterday, at 1 o'clock, a Court of Aldermen
was held at Guildhall, the Lord Mayor presid-
ing. Mr. Sheriff Cockerell reported that the number
of prisoners now in the gaol of Newgate is 100 ; in
the Debtors' Prison in Whitecross-street, 89 ; and
in the City Prison at Holloway, 380; in all 569. of
whom 14 are in the infirmaries. The return in each
case was accompanied by the certificate of the sur-
geon as to the fit condition of the prison. Mr.
Alderman Humphery, on being re-elected to the
governorship of the Irish Society, took the oath in-
cident to the office. Messrs. Arnold Jacomb, Thos.
Jacomb, and Henry Jenner Holder Hogg were
sworn in as brokers. Mr. Woodthorpe, the Town
Clerk, read a fetter from Sir George Grey, the Home
Secretary, addressed to the Lord Mayor, suggesting
certain new arrangements with respect to the
Queen's Bench and Wbitecross-street Prisons. The
right hon. gentleman stated that it is probable,
owing to the operation of the Bankruptcy Act of last
Session, that the number of prisoners confined in the
Queen's Prison will be so permanently reduced as to
render that establishment unnecessary, except upon
a very reduced scale, and that, as the same result
has been, no doubt, produced in the prison of
Whitecross-street by the same change in the
law, be would be glad to be informed whether
in the opinion of the city authorities ono debtors'
prison would not be amply sufficient for London
and Middlesex, and whether, if so, Whitecross-
street Prison would not of itself be large and
commodious enough for the purpose. It appeared
to him (Sir George Grey) in that ease that the
Queen's Prison might be altogether abolished, and
he would be obliged by an early intimation of the
views of the city magistrates on the subject. Alder-
man Challis moved that the letter be referred to the
Gaol Committee, with power to communicate with
the Government, reporting the result to the Court.
He took occasion to say that, whereas Whitecross-
street Prison was built to accommodate about 380
debtors, the whole number of debtors now incar-
cerated in it and the rest of the prisons of the metro-
polis was, owing to the recent change in the law,
not more than 140. Considering that the Queen's
Prison and that of Whitecross-street were main-
tained at an annual cost to the Government and the
Corporation of London of more than £lO,OOO, he
highly approved the Home Secretary's suggestion.
Colonel Wilson submitted that the magistrates of
the city of London had acted regardless of a sense
of duty in allowing for some nine months past the
prison of Whiteaross-street to remain without either
a governor or deputy-governor; and lie urged
on the Court the appointment of a governor, pro
tempore, during the present transition state of the
law, with whom the responsibility of its care and
conduct might rest. Alderman Sidney, M.P., was

rr‘

,T

SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, PMFIRUATIY 19, 1862,