The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-28 00:00:00

PETITIONS.

Several petitions were presented in favour of the bill for
superannuation allowance to poor law officers ; in favour of
the bill for the prevention of fires ; for a reform of the
Irish Poor-law, in favour of the Irish Fisheries Bill, in
favour of an alteration of the present mode of licensing
Public Houses, &c.
THE PRESIDENCY OF MADRAS.
Mr. H. BAILLIE presented a petition signed by 15,000
inhabitants of the presidency of Madras, complaining that
the promises held out when her Majesty assumed the ducal
Government of the Empire of India had not been fulfilled.
The petition drew attention particularly to the injustice
which it was alleged the Nawab of the Carnatic had been
treated,

EDUCATION IN IRELAND.
Mr. HENNESSY gave notice that on that day month ho
would submit a resolution to the house on the subject of
education in Ireland.
MAYNOOTH COLLEGE.
Mr. WHALLEY asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland
whether he was prepared to give effect to the recommenda-
tion in that part of the report of the commissioners ap-
pointed, in the year 1853, to inquire into the manage-
ment and government of the College of Maynooth, that
" a calendar be annually published by the college,
stating the names of the several students who have left
the college after the completion of the course, and their
respective destinations ; its alumni at the time alive, and
the places in which they were severally performing their
functions."

Sir R. PEEL said that he was not then prepared to state
whether he would give effect to the recommendations in
question, but he did not sea why the College of Maynooth
should not publish a calendar similar to that of the univer-
sities of Oxford and Cambridge.
E saidN C
tEh a
tC
iOn Mt
the
absenceSS I O NEo
fR S.
Lord CT.HPEAGDEEIF•
In reply to Mr. GREGORY,
the Secre-
tary
of War, he could not state when the evidence taken
by those commissioners would be laid on the table.
PATENTS FOR INVENTIONS.
Sir H. CAIRNS moved that an humble address bo pr e.
sented to her Majesty, praying that she would be graciously
pleased to issue a commission to inquire into the working of
the law relative to letters patent for inventions. He said
that this was a subject of more importanee than might at
first be considered, and there was no less than 14,000 patents
in existence. It was most desirable that every encourage
ment should be extended to inventors by the Government
of this country, in order to promote discoveries in science
and arts. He considered that the mode of encouragement
should be as analogous as possible to the plan of giving an
interest to inventors for a certain number of years in
their inventions. Having adverted to the alteration
in the patent laws of 1812, he said there were three
grounds of objection to the present state of the law in
reference to patents. It was alleged first that too great
facilities were offered for taking out letters patent, which
led to the multiplication of worthless and trivial patents
which operated injuriously in a commercial point of view.
The second objection was, that the cost of patents was too
large, and the third complaint was that the tribunal before
which patent cases were tried was very expensive and un-
satisfactory from the want of knowledge of such tribunals.
He referred to France and the United States of America,
which he contended exhibited a more healthy state in regard
to patents than this country. The patents granted in this
country annually were about 3,000, while in France they
were from 4,000 to 5,000, and in the United States about
5,000. He argued that there should be considerable
facilities afforded to inventors, notwithstanding the ob-
jections that were urged against the adoption of such a
course of policy. He alluded to the different inventions
which bad been made in science and art within the last
century, which to some extent was attributable to the en-
couragement afforded to patents. In his opinion, what was
required was a short and inexpensive mode of investigating
the merits of any invention, and calling in and cancelling
those patents which had been granted without just ground.
He contended that the point to be discussed was the
amount of the sum that should be fixed for the price of a
patent, which would be sufficiently large to deter worthless in-
ventions, but not so large as to operate in restricting bonafidc
and valuable inventions. Having called some cases to show
the expenses that were incident to the litigation arising out
of patent cases, which in the instance of proceedings arising
out of an invention for capsuling bottles cost the parties
£24,870. There could be no doubt that ordinary
juries were very often incompetent to arrive at a
correct conclusion in respect to disputed patent cases. In
order to remedy this defect it had been suggested that a
jury formed of experts should be constituted to try cases of
this character, but he confessed that he was not satisfied as
to such a solution of the difficulty. Again, it had
been suggested that a jury of three or four persons
of scientific attainments, and with minds sufficiently trained
to enable them to direct their intelligence to considering
questions that might arise, should be appointed with the
assistance of a judge, to determine any questions arising
out of patents. He thought that the subject was one that
required very grave consideration, and he contended that
beneficial results would necessarily follow from the appoint-
ment of the commission for which he moved.
Lord STANLEY seconded the motion, and argued that
the object proposed would be effected best by allowing
patents to be obtained at an inexpensive cost.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL considered that a fair
else for in •
clturY had been made out, and he hoped the re-
sult would be the
adoption of such emendations of the
patent law as would render it in future more satisfactory.
After some observations from Mr. M. SMITH, Mr.
GOWER, and other hon. members,
to.

PUBLIC WORKS.
Mr. DILLWYN moved. a declaratory resolution, to the
effect that it was desirable in :all cases where Government
proposed to comtruct works, or erect lortificatiows or public