The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-17 00:00:00

THAMES EMBANKMFST.

Mr. J. WHITE moved for copies of the correspondence
between the Board of Trade and the Metropolitan Board of
Works relative to the material used for filling in the
Thames Embankment ; and also of the report of Messrs.
Coode and Rawlinson thereon to the Board of Trade.—
Agreed to.

NEW ZEALAND.

On the order for going into committee of supply,

Sir J. TRELAWNY asked the Colonial Secretary
whether • the proclamation made by the Governor of New
Zealand in December last, so far as it was favourable to the
natives, would be carried out in good faith, or whether the
proclaimation was to be afterwards interpreted and acted,
upon by the governor himself, as had been done in the case
of the treaty of Waitangi, the violation of which by Gover-
nor Brown was the cause of the unfortunate rebellion
which had since broken out.
Mr. CARD WELL vindicated the conduct of Governor
Brown with regard to the treaty of Waitangi, and observed
that he had not the slightest suspicion that the Governor
of New Zealand and his Ministers intended any breach of
faith, and certainly no instructions would proceedfrom the
Colonial-office which would have any tendency of that
kind or be conceived in any such spirit. The right hon.
gentleman added, in answer to Mr. Lyall and Sir H. Wil-
loughby, that in the present year there had been a consi-
derable increase in the contributions of the colony of
Mauritius for military expenditure, and that advances by
the Treasury to New Zealand ceased in 1863.

Mr. TREHERNE called attention to the distressed con-
dition of his constituents, the ribbon weavers of Coventry,
and drew a lamentable picture of the state of the mantfac-
ture, which ho said had, under the operation of the com-
mercial treaty with France, been brought to the verge of
ruin. He inquired whether any communication had taken
place between the British Government and that of France
with a view to the modification of the treaty.
Mr. WHITE said that one would infer from the speech
of his hon. friend that the ribbon trade of France was
flourishing at the expense of Coventry, but so far was that
from being the case he had lately received information that
the manufacturers of St. Etienne were themselves in a de-
plorable condition. The truth was, that the ribbon trade
was peculiarly liable to the caprice of fashion ; and if in-
stead of appealing to the house his hon. friend could use
some occult influence with an illustrious lady in a neigh-
bouring country, who was the arbitress of fashion through-
out Europe, we might possibly witness the revival of pros-
perity in this branch of industry.

Mr. GIBSON sympathised with the ribbon weavers, but
had no faith in legislation for a remedy of their distress.
An application was made to French Government last year
with a view to the procuring a reduction of the import
duty on English ribbons ; and in reply it was stated that
in consequence of the commercial treaty with Switzerland,
English ribbons would shortly be admitted into France,
under the favoured nation clause, at a reduction in the rate
of duty from 8 francs per kilogramme to 4 francs, or to 31
per cent. ad valorem.
Some observations on the same subject were also made
by Mr. NEWDEGATE and Mr. G. P. BENTINCK.