The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

Colonel BLAIR begged t; ask the noble lord the Presi-
dent of the Council when the estimates with regard to the
office of Secretary of the War Department would be laid
upon the table of the house?
Lord J. RUSSELL—They will be laid upon the table
on Monday, and I shall propose to take them into conside-
ration in committee of supply on Friday.
Lord HOTHAM—The report of the commission is not
yet printed and placed in the hands of members of the
house, and will it be advisable to bring forward a question
that may raise considerable discussion, and so nearly con-
nezted with the subject of the commission, on Friday
next?

Lord J. RUSSELL=I do not think that the report of
the commission has any-reference to the appointment of a
Secretary of State.
On the motion of Sir G. PECHELL, a return in detail
of the items composing the sum of 4,991/. 6s. 7d. for ex-
penses incurred relative to slave vessels captured by her
Majesty's ships, and included in vote 14, class V., for
20,000/. in civil service estimates to March, 1855, was or-
dered.

THE CANADA BILL.
Mr. ADDERLEY—I beg to ask the noble lord, when
will the Canada Bill be read a second time ?
Lord J. RUSSELL—I can only state that it will not be
read a second time before Monday, the 17th.
PUBLIC BUSINESS.
Lord J. RUSSELL proceeded to add that he proposed
to take the Episcopal and Capitular Bill on Thursday next
at an early sitting. With regard to the Irish land bills,
he could not make any pledge that he would on a Govern-
ment day give them precedence of other bills, or as to the
course the Government would think fit to adopt with re-
spect to giving facilities for proceeding with those bills.
He proposed on Monday to take in committee of the whole
house the Bribery Bill before other business, and on Thurs-
day and Friday they would proceed with supply.
THE USURY LAWS.
Mr. CAYLEY—Does the noble lord intend, in the ab-
sence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to take the repeal
of the Usury Laws Bill without any statement being made
respecting it ?
Lord J. RUSSELL—The Chancellor of the Exchequer
made a statement on bringing in the bill, and I do not
think there can be any objection to the second reading of
it ; but I will postpone the committee.
THE CHARITY COMMISSION.
The order of the day for going into committee of supply
being read,
Mr. E. ELLICE wished to take that opportunity of
correcting a misunderstanding, that he was informed had
arisen in consequence of what ho said on the previous
evening in reference to the charity commission. It was
supposed that he had said something reflecting on the
manner in which the able and excellent gentlemen who
was at the head of that commission (Mr. Erle) performed
his duties. Nothing could have been further from his
intention ; on the contrary, he had spoken of him in high
terms, all he complained of was, that the commissioners
had not sufficient power. (Hear, hear.)

UNST:A. lIPED P ÜB.LICAtIONS.

Sir J. SHELLEY wished to call the attention of the
house to the threatened prosecution of Mr. Novello, the
publisher of the lfusical Tintee, for an alleged violation of
the Newspaper Stamp Act, and to ask the Attorney-
General whether proceedings are to be instituted against
him ? On the Bth of May last Mr. Novello received a
letter from the board of Inland Revenue, telling him that
he was infringing the law, and that he was to be punished
fur so doing. Upon the receipt of this communication he
wrote in succession to the solicitor of the board, to the
chairman of that body, and to the Attorney-General,
asking in what manner he had become liable to prosecution
and whether it was intended to proceed with it, but he did
not receive an answer to these letters. He (Sir J. Shelley)
thought that, after the resolution to which the house had
lately come, the law on this subject was ill-defined. It
was incumbent on the law officers of the Crown to say
whether this wretched man was to be kept any longer in
suspense with a threatened prosecution hanging over his
head.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said the only reason why
Mr. Novello had not received an answer was, because the
same measure was to be meted out to him as would be the
case with others, and because the course of action on the
part of Government was not yet determined upon. Mr.
Novello published more than one-half of his paper filled
with advertisements at certain times, and as he sought to
evade the law and avoid payment of duty it was thought
fit to caution him. But Mr. Novello had not chosen to
keep within the limits of the law, and this was the reason
that he had received a communication from the Board of
Revenue. Mr. Novello would not be punished for what
had passed. The question was a serious question ; it was,
whether the recent resolution of the house did away with
the previous law; that question was not yet decided. As
soon as he had had an opportunity of making up his mind
as to what ought to be done under existing circumstances,
he would state the result to the house ; but he thought he
ought not to be called upon to explain what course he
would take generally, or in this special case, It would
depend upon the resolution of the committee what was to
be done in future.

Mr. M. GIBSON thought it would be wise to suspend
existing actions, and not to commence new actions until
Government had decided as to the course which was rea-
sonble and expedient. He would press on the noble lord to
use his influence with his colleagues, so that no action
should be commenced under the stamp laws until Govern-
ment had determined what they would do. He was sur-
prised to notice the delay that took place. The whole ques-
tion 'night be settled in three days. The Board of Inland
nn,_ *suite were placed in an unpleasant position owing to
? uncertainty of the law, and the nature of the intentions
%Government He was at a loss to understand where the
°-atrii,ttii,°l lat 3- The members of the Government always
rece-
—la in a friendly manner on the subject; but still
nothing was done. Th
was to ee,,,, to tax e sime wa to settle the question 1
and to charge only for
transmission by t newspapers,
thing this session, they
poe • I Government could not do any-
the next session to brinalfiht billeast at the ,
bewinning of
Lord J. RUSSELL said,lv on the subject.
said, he could only say that been
Chancellor of the Exchequer h..u, paid
hhirnagard to what had
the
_ , right hon. friend
at-
tention to the question, and was d0,,,,i settled in a satisfactory manner, but most anxious
pointed out by the right hon. gentlemanroue of seeing it
Whether that mode
Manchester was the best, or whether it member for
question, as asserted, was open to debat:ti. w"
a„B,i=lie
prosecuted, and those who
tion of the right hon. gentleman was this---:tliairthtahLie9,l;
their obe-
evaded the law should not be
acknowledged the law should pay a-penalty r. dience. This he could nod regard as in impartial adroini.
stration of the law.
Mr. COBDEN protested against the uncertainty in
which the question was kept, on account of the trouble i
gave to members of Parliament. Ho, for instance, t
greatly troubled by applications from parties on the sub-
ject, not only from parties who had unstamped papers, 1
but those who had stamped publications. He had received
a letter from a Manchester newspaper proprietor calling
his attention to an advertisement of Holes Army and Navy
Gazette, which was announced to contain all the news of
the army and navy for three half pence, the publication
being unstamped. He warned the Attorney-General not
to attempt to confine the favour of Government to what
were called class papers. If th s were attempted to be
acted upon it would soon be difficult to draw the line. He
would put it to Government to say whether they could re-
sist the growing feeling of the people for instruction,
which was evidenced by the increase of cheap publica-
tions, by still continuing this unpopular tax.
Mr. J. SMITH said persons, instead of spending their
money in drink, bought penny publications, and took
them home to read.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL made some reply which
waa inaudible.

Mr. BOWYER complained of the circumstance of morn-
ing sittings being fixed on Tuesdays, as they were the only
days when members could bring forward motions. By
the arrangement of morning sittings, it sometimes
happened that neither time nor inclination existed for
discussion in. the evening. His object in rising was to beg
her Majesty's Government to make some arrangement by
which members could bring forward their motions.
Mr. M. MILNES referred to the count-out, the other
evening on the hon. member's (Mr. Phillimore s) motion,
and said he considered that hon, members had been un-
fairly treated, PA the question as to the rights and law of
neutrals was of the most important character. He thought
that Government would add to their popularity if they did
not check motions made by ind pendent members.
Mr. J. G. PHILLIXORE theono•ht the house ought to
know whether the right hon. gontleman (Sir W. Moles-
worth), in his speech the other night expressed his own sentiments only, or the sentiments of her Majesty's
Ministers.
Lord D. STUART said, the morning sittings on Tues-
days did iatorfaro with the right of 4depezdacit alcubers

to bring forward important motions. The arrangement of
business rendered it impossible for a private member to
carry any bill through that house. He was not speaking
altogether as a disinterested party, for he had a motion on
the Russo-Dutch loan for Tuesday next, which was a sub-
ject which he thought ought to be discussed. No doubt
the Government were anxious to get through busine,s as
expeditiously as possible ; but he doubted whether morn-
ing sittings would further that object. It appeared from
the statement of the hon. and learned member for Dundalk
that members were denied access to the house the other
night when it was counted out. He believed the hon.
member did not blame the door-keepers ; but he had been
told that an hon. member went and got hold of the key,
locked the door, resumed his seat, and called the attention
of the Speaker to the fact that forty members were not
present. (Laughter.)
The SPEAKER said that he ought to state that he was
informed that the door had been locked, that the key was
left in the door, but that none of the officers knew of it.
He should take steps to prevent the same thing happening
again..
Mr. GOULBURN hoped that the door would not be
locked to prevent members going out. (Laughter.)
Sir G. GREY said that the house on three Tuesdays
last month had sat till midnight, after there had been
morning sittings ; so that he thought it could not be said
that those sittings cut short the business of the evening.
Mr. DISRAELI said he had made an effort to check the
abuse of morning sittings, and he believed that every mem-
ber opposite, who had lamented losing the opportunity
either of beginning or concluding his speech last Tuesday,
had voted against the proposition he had made. (Laughter.)