The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-29 00:00:00

VAGRANCY.

Mr. CAYLEY presented petitions from Market
Drayton and from the_ board of guardians of Stafford
and of Chester, complaining of the increase of vagrancy
and the high amount to which the rate-payers were
charged for its relief. Also a petition from the West
Riding of Yorkshire, complaining of agricultural dis-
tress and the low price of agricultural labour.
INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.
Mr. J. WILLIAMS presented petitions from ♦anions
places in Cardiganshire, in favour of referring interna-
tional disputes to arbitration.
IMPORTATION OF WORKS OF ART.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL gave notice of his intention to
ask the Noble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
on Friday or Monday, what restrictions are imposed on
the importation into this country of works of art pur-
chased in Italy.
Mr. HUTT asked the President of the Board of
Trade whether any law existed in this country or any
power vested in the Government which would prevent
the delivery into this country of works of art purchased
in Italy?

Dir.IABOUCEIERE apprehended that there was no
law of trade that prevented works of art coming into
the country.
PUBLIC HEALTH IN SCOTLAND.
Sir GEORGE GREY gave notice of his intention to
introduce a Bill on an early day to promote the public
health in Scotland.

IRELAND.
Mr. JOHN O'CONNELL in rising to more that this
House will, upon: —, resolvelitself into a Committee,
to consider of the condition of Ireland, and the necessity
of changing the policy that has been hitherto pursued
towards that country, and adopting such measures as
shall go to the root of the evils of which she complains,
said that hia only object in placing that motion upon the
paper was to obtain un expression of the intentions
ot the Right Hon. Gentleman who had the other night
mooted a question with regard to Ireland. There seemed
to be some idea throughout the country that there had
been great mistakes made in the mode of legislating for
Ireland, and that it was likely that all the small, petty,
and what he could not help considering the ineffective
measures ot Government, would only end in dhappoint-
ment and disadvantage, and that it was necessary that
some large and comprehensive measure should be intro-
duced instead. The proposition broached by the Right
Honourable Baronet the Member for Tarnworth had ex-
cited a deep and very general and anxious consideration
in Ireland. That was a large and a comprehensive mea-
sure, and believing, as he himself did, that comprehensive
measures could alone benefit that country, he was anxious
to obtain the precise opinions of the Right Hon. Gentle-
men as to the measure which he seemed desirous
of laying before the House. He was also
equally anxious to know the details of the proposition
which it was intended to submit by the Hon. Member
for Buckinghamshire (Mr. Disraeli.) That Hon. Gen-
tleman had stated that in the plan which he had laid out
he designed to confer large benefits on Ireland. For
any such advantage the Irish Members would be grate-
ful, and he could say that the Irish Members would be
ready to give their support to any one who would ho-
nestly take the welfare of Ireland in hand, Yet he felt
reluctant to press his motion upon the House, but was
earnestly desirous of getting the views of her Ma-
jesty's Ministers.—(Hear, hear.) He begged, how-
ever, to postpone his motion, in the hope that the
measures of the Government would render it unneces-
sary.—(Hear.)

IRISH SAVINGS BANKS.
Mr. REYNOLDS, in rising to move for a Select
Committee to inquire into and report upon the circum-
stances connected,with the failure of the St. Peter's
ransh Savings Bank, in Cuffe-street, Dublin, and into
any security or liability that may exist for the
satisfaction of the losses thereby occasioned, said,
last year he placed a similar notice upon the table
of the House, but he withdrew it from time to time at
the request of the Right Hon. Bart. the Chancellor of
' the Exchequer. In the month of July, however, a Se-
lect Committee was appointed to inquire and report
upon savings' banks; that Committee sat nine days and
came to the following report:_.' Your Committee have
proceeded with the inquiry intrusted to them by the
House, but owing to the late period of the session, they
find themselves unable to bring it to a satisfactory con-
clusion; they are of opinion that it is desirable that
further inquiry should take place either during the
recess or in the next session of Parliament into the
existing system of savings banks. They are of opinion
.
that it is expedient that a should be intro-
duced in the present session of Parliament
for regulating the liabilities of the trusteess of savings
banks." Now, he begged to state, that, in accordance
with that report, a Bill was introduced and passed both
Houses of Parliament, and was now the law of the land.
That Bill did not alter the old law relative to
the government of savings banks in any very
material particular. It conferred the power upon the
local trustees of the various saving banks to appoint
auditors, and to!enable the trustees themselves to come
into the management of the bank at the limited liability
of 4,6001. Now he begged to remind the House that the
savings banks of Great Britain and Ireland have been
long established, and the preambles of the Bill or Bills
under which they were established declared that
they were instituted for the purpose of accumu-
lating the savings of the industrious classes—a
very laudable and praiseworthy object, but in the
case he should have the honour to submit to the House,
he should he should be able to prove that the intention
of the Legislature had not been carried out.
The facts connected with the Cuffe Street
Savings' Bank would be found to be un-
paralleled in the history of banking transactions.
He might have gone into the statement he was now
about to make last year, were it not that he apprehended
that the statement of the facts if they had obtained cir-
culation through the press would have produced a panic,
and might have injured the parties he was anxiousito serve.
The evidence, however, taken before the committee had
since been published in. the Times and Chronicle, and he
was therefore now released from any difficulty or deli-
cacy tit the Ratter, because nothing be could say would