The Sun.
London, England, 1822-06-29 00:00:00

SCOTCH JURY BILL.

Mr. KENNEDY moved the Order of the Day for the
House resolving itself into a Committee on the Scotch Jury
Bill. He stated it was not his intention -to press the Bill
through all the remaining stages in the course of the present
Session. 'Having obtained from the Secretary of State the
concession of an important privilege fcfropa-sons ,under accu-
sation, that of peremptory challenge, he wished the Bill to
pass the Committee, and should then be content to let the mea-
sure stand over till next Session.

A short conversation followed, in which Mr. H. Drummond,
Lord Althorpe Mr. J. P. Grant, Mr. M. A. Taylor, Sir 0.
Clerk, Mr. Hume, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, Mr.
W. Smith, and Lord Binning, participated, after which the
House resolved itself into the Committee. The clauses
were filled up, and the Report was ordered to be received on
Monday.

On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE-
QUER, it was ordered that the House at its rising should ad-
journ till Monday.
__ _

HALF PAY.

Mr. HUME seeing the Hon. Baronet, the Paymaster-Ge-
neral, in his place, wished to put a question to him respecting a
circumstance which came within his knowledge and had caused
much inconvenience. He wished to know when the military
pensions of those on the half-pay list would be paid, and fur-
ther to ask why they could not be paid at the same time that
the civil pensions were, instead of being withheld for a month
or six weeks, as had of late been the practice ? He was at a
loss to guess why this delay should take place, which, to his
knowledge, occasioned severe inconvenience to some of those
who were affected by it.
Sir C. LONG, in answer to the first question of the Hon.
Gentleman, had to reply that the half-pay pensions he expect-
ed would be paid on the 10th of next month, and in future he
believed there would be no difficulty in paying them on the
10th of the month following that in which they became due.
When the Hon. Gentleman spoke of its being customary to
delay the payment for a month or six weeks, he begged to say
that such was not the practice. It had indeed occurred in one
instance. From the difficulty of bringing up the accounts, the
payments last quarter were deferred till the 25th April, but
this was not usual. When the Hon. Gentleman said Why
could they not be paid when the civil pensions were, he had
to remark, that this was imposSible. The number of Military
Officers on half-pay was 10,000, and this stated, it would be'
seen, that that which the Hon. Gentleman contemplated could
not take place. The half-pay pensions he had no doubt would
be paid on the 10th of next month, and neither the Hon. Gen-
tleman nor any other persons need doubt the interest he took
in their being. promptly paid, since;when he came to Isis office,
they were paid halt yearly,_ and it was at his recommendation
that the present arrangements had been made for paying them
quarterly.
Mr. E. WODEHOUSE presented a Petition from a person
of the name of Preston, a manufacturer of Rock Salt at Yar-
mouth, praying relief.--. Ordered to lie on the table.
THE BOWDICHES. _ _

•
Mr. HOBHOUSE presented a Petition from certain Inha-
bitants of Taunton, calling the attention of the house to the
unfortunate case of the Bowdiches. Ile briefly touched on
some of the circumstances of the case, and remarked, a me-
lancholy error seemed to have run through the whole of it, in
consequence of which those unfortunate persons had been sub-
jected to much unmerited punishment.. He lamented the hard-
ship of the case, but at the same time was at a loss to see in what
way that House could interfere.—The petition was ordered to
lie on the table.

INVERNESS.
Sir R. FERGUSSON presented' a Petition from the Cox,
poration of Hammermen in the Royal Burgh of Inverness,
against the Bill for regulating the Scotch Burghs.
A conversation arose on the merits of the Bill, in which the
Lord Advocate, Mr. Hume, Mr. J. P. Grant, the Marquis of
Londonderry, Lord A. llamilton, and Sir George Clerk, took
part, after which the petition was ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. MAXWELL presented a Petition from the Clerks of
the Peace in Ireland against the Grand Jury Presentment
Bill—Ordered to lie on the table.