The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-29 00:00:00

MILITARY ORGANISATION.

On the motion for going into Committee of Supply,
Gen. PEEL asked the Secretary of State for War if any
decision had been arrived at in regard to the " reserved
fund," to which the attention of Parliament is especially
oallod in tho =putt of the committee on militaij oiganioa
tion The hon. and gallant member urged some objections
to the crest on of the fund on constitutional grounds,
but at the same time he did not go to the
extent of wishing for an abolition of the
system of purchase of commissions in the army. He wished
to draw the attention of the house to the subject, but would
not make any motion in reference to it.
Sir G. LEWIS said that no doubt a great constitutional
objection might be raised to the existence of a fund not
voted by Parliament, and at the disposal of the War-office,
arising out of the sale of commissions, lie believed
however, that no one objected to the mode of its applica-
tion. A lull return in reference to the subject had been
laid on the table last year, and another would be ready for
presentation to the house, as he believed, on Thursday next.
He believed that on investigation it would be found that this
fund was generally advantageous to the public service, and
it was established for the purpose of removing restrictions
in the purchase of commissions in the army. Ile assured
the hon. and gallant member (General Peel) that his
observations should receive the attentive consideration of
the Government,

Sir DE LACY EVANS thanked the lion. and gallant
member (General Peel) for bringing this subject forward,
and expressed his concurrence in the opinions which he
expressed.

Lord HOTHAM considered that the explanation of the
Secretary of War was unsatisfactory, and condemned the
reticency displayed by War Ministers generally in affording
information as to the application of this fund.
The subject then dropped.
OFFICERS OF LOCAL ARMIES IN INDIA.

Colonel SYKES called the attention of the house to
certain hardships connected with the position of officers Of
the local armies of India who were liable to be re-
moved, against their consent, from the regiments
to which they belong, and to be sent to any station
for the performance of general duty. He wished to be in-
formed whether any compensation would be granted to
officers so taken from their regiments and sent to general
duty, for the loss of regimental, troop, or company
command allowances : and, whether compensation
would be given to officers who have subscribed to regi-
mental retiring funds, in the full confidence of their sub-
scriptions being returned to them on their own retirement;
and, whether the East India Company's late European Ar-
tillery and Engineers had become integral portions of the
Royal regiments of Artillery and Engineers respectively,
with the advantages of seniority, succession, augmenta-
tion, &c.

Sir C. WOOD said that it was necessary that the Indian
army sh uld be reduced, and expressed substantially his
previous statements on this question. Compensation would
not be given to those officers who ceased to perform those
duties for which allowances were made. Promotion would
go on precisely upon the same footing as in the English
army.
The house then went into committee of supply.
Amongst the votes proposed was £5,000 for Highlani
roads and bridges.

Mr. WILLIAMS moved that this vote should be rejected
on the ground that the expense attending the repairs of
these roads and bridges ought to be defrayed by the parti-
cular counties concerned, as was the practice in other parts
of the United Kingdom. Last session, when an objection
was raised to the principle of this vote, the Government
gave an undertaking that the question should be looked into
with a view to the removal of this vote from the estimates.

Sir M, Peto, Mr. Cave, Mr. J. Locke, and other hon.
members expressed opinions condemnatory of the vote.
Mr. COWPER urged that the vote should be continued
until 1865, when the commission under which the roads and
bridges in question were managed would die out.

On a division the vote was rejected, and the Government
defeated by a majority of 48 to 24,
On the vote £777,368 for the Irish constabulary,

Col. DICKSON complained of the system of training
the police of Ireland as a military force and of arming them
with an Enfield rifle. He believed it was the general im-
pression 4 the magistrates of his country that that force had
greatly deteriorated of late years in consequence of that sys-
tem. The hon. and gallant officer concluded by moving as
an amendment that the vote be reduced by the sum of
£80,421. _ _ _

Lord PALMERSTON could not understand the force of
the hon. and gallant officer's objection. The question whe-
ther the police of Ireland should be armed wish firearms or

not was, no doubt, one open to fair argument; but surely
when the hon. and gallant officer admitted the propriety of
giving the police firearms, it could not be reasonably dis-
puted that they should have the most effective weapons
possible.

Mr. M'MAHON thought it was a great evil to arm
the police of Ireland as a military force and in a manner
wholly different to the principle adopted towards the police
of this country.
The vote as originally proposed was ultimately agreed to
without a division.

On the vote £360,000 for convict prisons,
Mr. WHALLEY objected to the item of £550 for Catho-
lic chaplains to those prisons, and strongly condemned the
principle of voting money for the purpose of instructing the
people in a religion which was believed by the State to be

one of superstition and idolatry. He moved as an amend-
ment that the vote be reduced by the sum of £550.
The amendment was negatived without a division, and
the vote was agreed to.
On the order of the day for the adjourned debate, on
going into committee upon the Sionmary Jurisdiction (Ire-
land) Bill,

Mr. M'MAHON moved as an amendment that the house
should go into committee upon this bill on that day three
months, on the ground that the measure was framed in
entire opposition to the principle of the consolidation of the
criminal law, and that it would establish a code in Ireland
wholly different to that which existed in England.
Sir R. PEEL thought the bill would prove most advan-
tageous to Ireland.

On a division the amendment was negatived by a majo-
rity of 44 tc 4.
The house then went into committee.
On reaching the 4th clause,
The CHAIRMAN reported progress, and asked leave to sit
again.

The Red Sea and India Telegraph Company Bill was
read a second time.

The Hull South Bridge Bill passed through committee.
The Charitable Uses Act (1801) Amendment Bill was`
read a third time and passed.
The other orders were disposed of, and the house ad
journed.