The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-21 00:00:00

COLLECTING AND ASSESSING THE LEGACY

AND SUCCESSION DUTIES, &c.

Mr. L. KING asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer
whether he had directed the Board of Inland Revenue to
take the evidence of professional men and of the public
generally upon any improvements in the present mode of
collecting and assessing the legacy and succession duties,
Sm.

—.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
the Board of Inland Revenue had no such authority as that
alluded to, and the Government had no power to confer it
on that Board. As regarded the means of ascertaining if
any grievances existed, they were possessed by Govern-
ment.
ALLEGED INFRINGEMENT OF A PATENT BY
GOVERNMENT.

Mr. MAGUIRE asked the Secretary to the Admiralty to
lay upon the table the report of William Oarpmael, the
patent agent, on Mr. John Clare, jun.'s patents, which Mr.
Clare alleges to have been made use of by the Admiralty
in the Warrior and. subsequent iron ships for the Royal

navy .
Lord C. PAGET said that the report had been made in
consequence of a request to the Admiralty, who referred
the subject to a professional gentleman. That report was
confidential, and could not therefore be laid on the table.
TES TING THE ARMSTRONG GUNS.
Mr. H. BAILLIE asked thb Under Secretary of State
for War whether any batteries of the present service pat-
tern of 12-pounder Armstrong field guns, as reconstructed
and shortened since May, 1863, had been subjected to the
100 shotted rounds of continuous rapid fire such as disabled
six out of twelve guns of the previous pattern at Shorn-
cliffe in 1862, and caused the above reconstruction; and if
any gun of the present pattern, with an inner tube of steel
or coiled iron, had stood 1,000 shotted rounds of rapid fire,
and if so, whether he.would lay the report of these trials
upon the table of the house ?
The Marquis of HARTINGTON said that the guns had
been shortened but not reconstructed, and they worked
satisfactory. He was not aware that any experiments such
as those alluded to were necessary, or had been made.
FEES PAID TO THE CONSUL AT ROME.
Mr. H. BARING asked whether the fee paid to the Eng-
lish consul at Rome for obtaining his visa to Foreign Office
passports was the perquisite of the English consul ; and if
not, into what fund it was paid?
Mr. LAYARD said these fees were levied under an
Act of Parliament, and were not a perquisite of the consul,
but were paid into the national exchequer, as would be
seen by a reference to the public accounts.
GAMES LICENCES (IRELAND) BILL.
The house went into committee on this bill, and different
clauses were agreed to.
DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION BILL.
This bill went through committee.
ABOLITION OF OFFICE OF POOR-LAW
SECRETARY.
Mr. A. SMITH moved resolution " That the office of
the one Secretary rendered capable of sitting or voting as
a member of the Commons' House of Parliament by the
ninth clause of the Poor-law Act, lately vacated, ought to
be abolished." He assigned reasons for believing that the
office in question was unnecessary, and urged the great ex-
pense of the Poor-law Department as an additional reason
for the abolition of the office.
Mr. VILLIERS justified the retention of the office, the
expediency of which, he observed, had been several times
discussed, and no sufficient reason had been shown why
this office should be abolished any more than that of the
Under-Secretary of any other department. The work of
the Poor-law Board had much increased, additional labours
having been lately cast upon the department, and if the
office in question were abolished it would be necessary to
appoint another Commissioner.
Mr. HIBBERT supported the motion on the ground
that it was not intended, when the Act 1847 was passed,
that there should be both a President of the Poor-law
Board and an Under-Secretary in the House.
Mr. GILPIN observed that Mr. Smith evidently did not
know what the dutias of the Parliamentary Secretary of
the Poor-law Board were. The President of the Board
might be in the House of Lords, and the Board at this
time was by no means over-weighted.
After a few remarks by Mr. LYALL,
Lord PALMERSTON observed that there was no reason
why there should not be an Under-Secretary for the Poor-,
law Board, as in other departments, and he hoped the
house would not assent to the motion.
Sir H. WILL9ITGBI3Y and Mr. NEWDEGATE made a few
observations, and upon a division the motion was nega-
tived by 193 to 17.
POOR RELIEF IN UNIONS.
Mr. VILLIERS moved for leave to bring in a bill to
provide for the better distribution of the charge for the
relief of the poor in unions. After some remarks upon the
law of settlement and removal, and its evils ; upon the
policy of compulsory relief of the poor, and upon the sub-
stitUtion of the union system for the parochial system,
which had been attended with great advantage, he pointed
out the reason of its comparative failure—namely, the con-
tinuance of parochial chargeability. He stated the results
of the Act of 1862 in diminishing the evils of removals—
removals which, in his opinion, justified a further extension
of its principle; and there was no proof that it would create
any unjust or excessive charge upon the common fund.
The bill, therefore, proposed to carry the principle further,
by making the common fund in future bear the mainte-
nance of all the poor within the union. He dwelt upon the
benefits which this change would confer upon the pauper
poor, and the enormous evils connected with settlement
and removal it would tend to cure, and cited testimonies
in favour of the change.
Mr. HENLEY suggested certain points regarding which
he thought information was required.
Mr. LOCKE observed that the bill would be of no ad-
vantage to the metropolitan parishes ; that union rating
would not meet the evils attending the displacements of
population there.
Leave was then given to bring in the bill.
The house adjourned at a quarter past 8 o'clock.

The Army Estimates.

The army estimates for the year 1865-66 were issued yes-
terday. They set forth a prospective diminution of charge
for the coining year of £874,639. Last year the total
amount voted was £14,844,088, from which a sum of
£1,324,442 for extra receipts being deducted, the expendi-
ture appeared as £13,519,646. This year the sum to be
asked for amounts to £14,348,447 ; while the estimated
amount of extra receipts is £1,703,440, reducing the pros-
pective expenditure to £12,645,007. The saving is to be
made with the effective services, for which £12,241,647
will be asked, as against £12,737,931 last year. For the
non-effective services £2,106,157 were voted last year ;
this year the sum estimated for this division is £2,106,800,
a slight increase which appears to have resulted from the
greater number of reduced and retired officers and out-pen-
sioners who have become chargeable on the lists, as well as
from a small amount more than last year estimated as re-
wards for military service ; in other categories of this class
a saving is set forth, viz., pay of general officers, widows'
pensions, &c., pensions to wounded officers, superannuation
allowances, disembodied militia. In the effective service
there will be a decrease, for the general staff and regimental
pay of £274, 416 ; commissariat and movement of troops,
£113,247; clothing and supplies, £22,438; barrack estab-
lishment, £1,265 ; divine service, £1,098 ; martial law,
£14,249 ; medical establishment, £15,672 ; enrolled pen-
sioners and army reserve, £3,580 ; manufacturing depart-
ment, £131; warlike stores, £87,519 ; military education,
£10,383 ; miscellaneous services, £15,403 ; and adminis-
tration of the army, £10,584 ; while on the following there
will be an increase: disembodied militia, £2,617:; yeomanry,
£3,914 ; volunteers, £6,640; and for superintending estab-
lishment and expenditure for works, buildings, and re-
pairs at home and abroad, £60,530. The several sums to
be asked for in both classes are as follow : general staff and
regimental pay, £5,434,567 ; commissariat and movement
of troops, £1,205,800; clothing establishments, £574,256 ;
barrack establishment, £609,900 ; divine service, £44,335 ;
martial law, £26,300 ; medical establishment, £246,544 ;
disembodied militia, £786,400; yeomanry, £91,000 ; volun-
teers, £334,900 ; enrolled pensioners and army reserve,
£46,000 ; manufacturing departments, £972,900 ; warlike
stores, £485,000 ; superintending establishment of, and ex-
penditure for, works, buildings, repairs, £811,400 : mili-
tary education, £163,500 ; surveys of the United King-
dom, £88,345 ; miscellaneous, £107,700: administration of
the army, £212,800 ; rewards for military service, £26,100;
pay of general officers, £74,200 ; reduced and retired offi-
cers, £455,000; widows' pensions, &c., £162,100; wounded
officers, £28,200 ; in-pension, £33,200 ; out-pension,
£1,168,000 ; superannuation, £131,000 ; and disembodied
militia, £29,000. The general staff, regimental, and mili-
tary educational establishments will number this year
142,477 men, as against 146,766 last year, a decrease of
4,289; while the native Indian troops employed on the
British establishment will be reduced from 1,582 men
last year to 178 men.

BREAKFAST BEVERAGE.—Homceopathio practitioners,
and the medical profession generally, recommend cocoa
as being the most healthful of all beverages. When the doe
trine of homeopathy was first introduced into this country
there were to ba obt fined no preparations of cocoa either at•
tractive to the taste or acceptable to the stomach ; the nu
was either supplied to the crude state, or so unskilfully
manufactured as to obtain little notice. J. Ep ps, of London,
Homoeopathic Chemist, was induced in the year 1839 to turn
his attention to this subject, and at len,4th succeeded, with
the assistance of elaborate machinery, in being the first
to produce an article pure in its composition, and so refined
by the perfect ttituration it receives in the process it passes
through, as to be most acceptable to the delicate stomach.
For general use Epps's Cocoa is distinguished as an invigo-
rating, grateful breakfast beverage, possessing a most deli-
cious hroma. Dr. Hassail, in his work„ "Food and its
Adulterations," says -"Cocoa contains a great variety of im-
portant nutritive principles—every ingredient necessary to
the growth aad sustenance of the body." &gain: "As a
nutritive, cocoa stands very much higher than either coffee
or tea." Directions—Two teaspoonfuls of the powder in a
breakfast cup, filled up with boiling water or milk. Secured
in tin-lined }lb., ilb., and llb. labelled packets, and sold by
all grocers, Confectioners, and chemists.- [LETT.]