The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-28 00:00:00

house while he replied to the personal allusions of the
hon. member for Manchester. The hon. gentleman com-
menced his observations rather benignly and mellowly, but
as he proceeded he warmed with his subject, and, getting
into his usual acrimonious stream, attacked every act of
the government of India, and every individual connected
with it. (Hear, and a laugh.) In conclusion he hoped
every hon. member would distinctly understand that if he
voted against the second reading he would vote for the
transfer of India to the direct Government of the Crown, and
for the extinction of any intervening body between the
Crown and India. He took his stand upon the great prin-
ciple of the bill, the carrying out of which he considered
necessary to the preservation of the brightest jewel in the
British Crown. (Hear, hear.)
On the motion of Mr. RICH, the debate was then ad-
journed, as we understood, to Thursday.
CUSTOMS, &c., ACTS.
On the motion of Mr. WILSON, the house then resolved
itself into committee on the Customs, &c. Acts, for the pur-
pose of allowing him to introduce a bill to amend and con-
solidate the laws relating to the Customs.
Sir It. INGLIS said that, when the subject was before
the house on a former occasion, the hon. gentleman pro-
mised to introduce a specific act for the Isle of Man, but
now he understood it was intended to incorporate the pro-
visions relating to that island in the present bill.
Mr. WILSON said that, on looking more fully into the
matter, he found the acts relating to the Isle of Man so
short and so simple that it would be more convenient for all
parties to include them in the bill which he now asked
leave to introduce. He had endeavoured to simplify the
Customs Acts as much as possible, and they would not oc-
cupy more than one-fourth of the space they now occu-
pied. The bill would be printed on Wednesday, and in
order that the country might have ample time to consider
it, he proposed that it should lay on the table for three
weeks.

After a few remarks from Mr. A. Pellatt, Sir J.
Walmsley, and Mr. Ewart, leave was given to bring in the
bill.

WESTMINSTER-BRIDGE BILL

On the motion for going into committee on this bill,
Mr. T. ALCOCK requested that the measure might be
postponed, in deference to the expressed wish of the city
of London, as the proposed alterations would interfere
with the navigation of the river.
Sir W. MOLESWORTH said, that the bill had been
carefully considered by the select committee. The na-
vigation of the river would not be interfered with by
the proposed bridge, and the traffic over the pre-
sent bridge was so great that no further delay ought
to take place in the construction of a more convenient
structure. The number of vehicles passing over the pre-
sent bridge upon an average of four days, from 8 a.m. to
8 p.m., was 8,441 vehicles per clay, drawn by 9,600 horses.
The traffic under the bridge was much less considerable,
consisting, on an average of four days, of 468 vessels per
day, 141 of which were steamboats, and 52 were sailing
barges and billyboys. The only vessels likely to be affected
by the diminished elevation of the proposed bridge were
the strawbarges, of which there was but one a day. These
barges would require either to have the means of lowering
their masts, or would have to wait a short period for the
falling of the tide. The gradients of the new bridge
would exhibit a great improvement as compared with
those of the present bridge, and would greatly diminish
the load at present borne by the horses in crossing the
bridge.

After a brief discussion the house resolved itself into
committee.

Sir D. NORREYS considered the site of the new bridge
injudiciously chosen. It ought to be placed near to Char-
ing-cross.
In answer to a question by an HON. MEMBER,
Sir W. MOLESWORTH stated that the new bridge
would be built of stone and iron.