The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-25 00:00:00

[LEFT SPEAKING.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(THIS EVENING.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
Mr. COGAIV took the oaths and his seat for Kildare.
A number of private bills were brought in and read a
first time.

The 'members chosen to serve on the Frome and Cam-
bridp, election petitions were sworn at the table.
Of, the members chosen to serve on the Waterford
election committee being called,
Sir J. TROLLOPE said that he had received this day
a. letter from Colonel Harcourt, one of the members
chosen to serve on this committee, stating that, in con-
sequence of the death of his brother, he had to request a
week's leave of absence. He (Sir J. Trollope) had there-
fore to move that Colonel Harcourt be discharged, and
that in pursuance of the act of Parliament the committee
should be discharged, and the petition referred to the
select committee of elections.
Tbe motion was agreed to.
Mr. THOMPSON presented a petition from Aber-
demi, praying for an increase of the salaries of letter-
Carriers.

Several petitions were presented praying for the dis-
tribution of Parliamentary papers.
Mr. PERCY presented a petition from Sunderland
sigainst the admission of Jews into Parliament.
Similr‘r petitions were presented by Mr. Deedes
from ?Cent ; Mr. Carter, and Lord Hotham, from a
place in West Kent, and several other honourable
members.

BRITISH 'EXPORTS.
Lord D. STUART moved for a return of the quAnti-
ilea and declared value of the different articles, being
the manufacture of Great Britain and Ireland, exported
to Turkey in 1851; similar return with regard to Russia;
and similar return with regard to Austria (in continua-
tion of Parliamentary paper, No. 273, of session 1852).
Agreed to.
Mr. ALCOCK moved for a return of all guano im-
ported into the United Kingdom in the years 1851 and
1852, distinguishing the quantities imported from each
country respectively.
On the motion that the house at its rising do adjourn
until. Monday next,

NORWICH ELECTION.
Mr. MACKENZIE wished to ask the hen. member
Tor Finsbury what he intended to do with regard to the
petition which the hon. member presented yesterday on
the subject of the Norwich Election ?
'Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said, if the house had per-
mitted him yesterday he should have gone on then with
the matter, and the house would not now have been
placed in a ridiculous and absurd position as regarded
the 'public. The Tory interest had been grossly ill-
used by a portion of the Tory party, and particularly
by the Carlton Club. The withdrawal of the petition,
however, was a fraud upon the house ; but the Speaker
decided that a fraud upon the house was not a breach of
privilege. He was prepared to prove that Mr. Brown
no authority to withdraw the petition, and
42" ould give notice that, after the private business
11.vIonday, he would move for a committee of inquiry
to. investigate the whole matter. (Hear, hear.)
Lord J. PUBLIC BUSINESS.
J. RUSSELL gave notice that on Monday the
ordnance estimates would be taken, and on Friday next
the Canada Clergy Reserves Bill.
The motion for the
Monday adjournment of the house until
was then agreed to.

ANTI-MILITIA. SOCIETIES.
On the motion for going into committee of supply,
Colonel NORTH referred to the letter of Somerville,
read to the house on a previous days which he thought
did great credit to the writer. He would call the attention
of te house to the following statement made by the
honourable member for Westminster. The statement wa.s to the effect that the French had not more than if ,000 troops to invade this country. If this should be
the case it would be undesirable to spend the public
money on such large armaments as the country
at present maintained. A statement also had
been circulated, that the pay of officers who were quite
unnecessary, would support 20,000 seamen. The
hon. member for the West Riding had, in a speech,
said that he drew a distinction between the
force to motect commerce and the large marine of this
country, The hon. member had said that he wanted to
see 20 or 30 members in the house who would not
support any Government that did not attempt to reduce
our %moments. The hon. member for Manchester told
the meeting that the Duke of Wellington was held up to
the World as the saviour of his country—a statement
'cvhi.ch called forth cheers and hisses, but he thought the
bhoyt. gentleman would have displayed more taste had he
more sparing of his taunts at the expense of the
y. (Hear.)
Sir DE LACY EVANS denied that he had ever made
"such a statement as that which had been imputed to him
by th'e lion, member for Manchester.
house IC RH wished to bring under the notice of the
e
ra the expediency of gradually increasing the battalions, without efficiency of the reserve force of pensioner
R 5 without detriment to our established militia
and regular forces. Parliament had hitherto paid too
much r.ttention to
reservear the active, at the expense of the
my, an
army estimates of this the consequence was, the
country had been exceedingly

large. The active army ought to be kept down to the
lowest point consistent with the safety of the country,
while the pensioner battalion; the formation of which
was due to Lord Hardinge, ought to be improved
and augmented. At present these battalions
which numbered some 30,000 able-bodied men, were
kept up at a cost of 40,0001. a year, but only 16,000 of
them were in the habit of being called out for service.
Now these battalions could hardly be treated as an
efficient reserve force and he would, therefore,
suggest that the regular army should be gradually re-
duced, and these reserve battalions increased to 100,000
men, who could be kept in a state of efficiency at a mo-
derate expense, and called out for garrison service in
the event of the exigencies of the national defence
requiring the concentration of the regular army at other
points. His plan would be to extend the system of giving
short pensions for short service, and require the pen-
sioner to enrol himself in an effective battalion of reserve.
The only objection he had ever heard to this plan was
that it would have the effect of draining the army
of its best men ; but those who made this objec-
tion should remember that the services—the active
services—of the soldier would still be at the dispo-
sal of his country, while a large portion of his pay
would be saved to the Exchequer. There would be
besides the additional advantage of having all the
branches of the army in a constant state of efficiency,and
while that was the case there would be no room for the
fears of those alarmists who had raised the cry of a corn-
ing invasion. (Hear, hear.) _ . .

Air. S. HERBERT had 'listened to the statement of
the hon. member with much interest and attention, but
it appeared to him that the plan which the hon. mem-
ber proposed could not be safely carried out. He was
bound to admit, however, that the time was not far dis-
tant when something must be done to organise soldiers
who were discharged from the army on pensions, after a
short term of servitude. This plan of retirement after a
short service was introduced by Lord Panmure, when
Secretary at War ; and although there were defects in
the details of that system. yet, on the whole, it had been
found to work well. But it was not right to force
the soldiers to leave the army after ten years service ;
it was much better to leave it optional with the soldier
to remain or not, but for those who choose to retire on
pensions it was necessary to have some scheme of organi-
sation, and he] could assure the house that the subject
was constantly engaging the attention of the authorities
at the War-office.

Sir H. WILLOUGHBY said be bad given notice of
his intention to move for an address for copies or ex-
tracts of communications which may have passed in re-
ference to hostilities in Ava, and in relation to the an-
nexation of any portion of the Burmah territory to the
British empire in the East. He had given that notice
because he thought the time had arrived when
the Legislature ought to exercise a more watchful con-
trol over the warlike proceedings of the Indian army
than it did at present.

(LEFT SPEARING.)

EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.

MEETING THIS DAY.

The thirty-third half-yearly general meeting of the
shareholders was held at the London Tavern this after-
noon ; Mr. David Waddington, M.P., in the chair.
The report, which has been already published in The
Sun, was taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN said he undertook the duty of moving
the adoption of the report with considerable pleasure,
inasmuch as the company had emerged from those diffi-
culties which at Cone time surrounded and promised to
engulph it. (Hear.) The increase of the traffic
during the past half-year as compared with the corres-
ponding period of 1851, amounted to 21,5821. 13s.
6d. This was a novel feature connected with
metropolitan railways, as all of them, except the
Eastern Counties, showed a considerable decrease in
their receipts in 1852, as compared with the Exhibition
year. (Cheers.) As to the expenditure of the company
he was happy to say that there had been a decrease of
8,460/. 15s. 7d., yet there was included the cost of
working 19 miles of the Shepreth and Hitchen branch,
which was not embraced in the accounts of the corres-
ponding period of 1851. It would be observed that
2,619/. 4s. had been laid out in sacks and sheets for the
purpose of stocking the East Anglian and the Royston
and Hitchen and Shepreth lines. It was a matter of consi-
deration with the directors, whether that sum should go
to capital or revenue, and they decided to include it in
the working expenses, and to eebit it to revenue, and
not capital. During the past half-year, there had been
added to the reserve fund for the maintenance of perma-
nent way 3,5741. 7s. 3d. Without these charges, the
account to be carried forward to the next half-year's
accounts would have been 10,568/., but as it was, the
balance remaining would be 4,3741. 15s. Bd. (Hear,
hear.) As to the working of the line, the policy
iof the directors was to keep it in the highest
state of efficiency, without incurring a penny of
expense which was not absolutely necessary. There was
not a single servant of the company who did not exert
himself to the utmost to secure the safety of the public.
On this subject it was right to mention that the locomo-
tive superintendent had put into practice, on one or two
trains, a plan of communication between the guard and
driver, in order to test its efficiency, and he had no
doubt it would lead to some satisfactory results.
18,0001. would be required for the extension of the
Wisbeach line to the harbour below the bridge
at that place. For this an act of Parliament
was obtained last session, and the works were now in
operation. When completed, the line would be the
means of developing the trade of the town and the port
of Wisbeach, which at present was crippled, in conse-
quence of goods having now to be removed from the
larger vessels into lighters before they could be brought
to the railway ; but what was now being done would
soon enable ships of the greatest burden to be brought
alongside the railway. The directors had no reason
to think that the original estimate of 50,0001.
for this extension would be very much exceeded.
Lines were now in the course of construction for con-
necting the Eastern Counties Railway with the London
and North-Western, at Stratford, with the Victoria
Docks, with the East and West India Docks Junction,
with the London, Tilbury, and Southend, and with the
North Woolwich lines ; all of which would bring a great

accession of traffic to this company. By an arrange-
ment entered into with the Blackwall Company, an expen-
diture of 50,0001. would be incurred, to accommodate the

,raffic of the Eastern Counties on their line.

That out-

lay on which they would have to pay 51. peecent. was
for a junction connecting them with the Blackwall Rail-
way , • he was informed that it would be completed in
July next, when arrangements would have to be made
for its working. The long-vexed question about the
Harwich Railway was at length settled so far as the con-
struction was concerned. It would be completed at the
end of this or the beginning of the next year,
and would open up a communication by means of the
Eastern Counties Railway with Norway, Sweden, and
Denmark. They were now running express trains,
in about four hours, to Yarmouth and Lowestoft ; and
the boats of the North of Europe Steam Navigation
Company would be laid on at these ports, and would
thus form a connecting link with the railways on_ the
opposite coast. The Eastern Counties Railway would
provide the shortest route to Hamburgh and the whole
of Northern Europe, for the journey to Hamburgh would
be accomplished in thirty hours. (Hear.) All the
traffic they had yet received from Petersburgh and Stock-
holm was confined solely to cattle. Yet that had so in-
creased that they were unable to accommodate it with
their present plant, and the directors thought it right to
order the construction of 200 waggons. It might be
said, " Where was the money to come from ? You
have closed your capital account, and you are now going
to open it again." Now, he hid well considered the
subject, and he was of opinion that, though it might be
advisable to close the capital account in regard to the
construction of lines, it was not a sound principle to act
upon to say that it should be entirely closed
as to other matters, and that they should not obtain ad-
ditional plant in order to provide for increased traffic.
(Hear, hear.) He regretted to say that they were still
in hostility with the Eastern Union Railway ; but their
opponents were the obstructing parties. (Hear.) If a
further system of aggression was carried on, the direc-
tors would not hesitate to take steps for the
protection of the interests of the Eastern Counties.
(Hear, hear.) Though he could not hold out to the
shareholders the' hope of maintaining the dividend at Os.,
seeing that many circumstances arose in agricultural dis-
tricts which greatly affected the traffic ; yet, looking to
the sources of revenue which were opened to them by
their connection with Hamburgh and the other places he
had mentioned, he thought the prospects of the Eastern
Counties Company must be judged by the future, and
not by the past. (Cheers.) He concluded by moving
the adoption of the report.
Mr. PATTERSON seconded the motion.

In reply to some questions,

The CHAIRMAN said the several sums to be expended
by the company in new works were-105,0001. for the
Woodford' branch, 50,0001. for the West India Dock
Junction, 18,0001. for the Wisbeach Extension, and 1501.
for the erection of granaries, &c., in London, making alto-
gether 323,0001. It was to be recollected, however, that
this outlay was for the purpose of earning revenue, not
for accommodating the present traffic. (Hear.)
After some desultory discussion, the motion was
agreed to, and a dividend declared at the rate of 6s. per
share.

Mr. Thomas Broadbent and Mr. James Packe, who
retired by rotation from the directory, were then re-
elected, as was also Mr. Wm. Mayhew, one of the
auditors.

After the transaction of some other unimportant busi-
ness, a vote of thanks was tendered to the chairman and
directors of the company. •
The CHAIRMAN, in acknowledging the compliment,
took occasion to advert to the meritorious conduct of all
the servants of the company, for, owing to their care
and vigilance, no accidents whatever had occurred,
though the late floods had rendered travelling lately on
most railways extremely dangerous.

THE LONDON GAZETTE.

(THIS EVENING.)

DOWNING STREET, FEB. 25.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint Benjamin
I:oothby, Esq., to be Second Judge of the Supreme Court
.1 the Colony of South Australia.
Her Majesty has also been pleased to make the follow-
ing appointments for the colony of Victoria:—Claude
Fairie, Esq., to be Sheriff ; Hugh Culling Eardley
'Childers, Esq., to be Auditor-General ; Edward Grimes,
Esq., to be Immigration Agent ; George William Rusclon,
to be Clerk of the Executive Council.

Her Majesty has further been pleased to appoint Henry
31`Crea Watson, Esq., to be President of Sorters in the
Post-office at the Cape of Good Hope.
_ _ _

WHITEHALL, FEB. 25.

The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev. James
Gibson, A.M., to the church and parish of Bari, in the