The Sun.
London, England, 1815-06-23 00:00:00

PELSON SHIN.

Mr. BATHURST MOM! the Committee on the
Trat,sportation Bill.
Mr. llALriotin objected to the Bill, as not re-
moving the abuses stated. in the Report of the
Committee on the state of prisons.,--drunkenness,
prbianeness, gaining, and several other vices,.
were still observable, particularly on board th►e
hulks, which this Bill did not sufficiently provide
to repress. The regulations on board ()Ikon ships
were extremely defective--,no distinction or sepa-
ration was made bet Ween the prisoners, tviik a
reference to the age, sex, or chm:teter ; and in
. one ship it appeared, by the evidci:ce of a Chap-
that there was no pulpit or reading desk,
and that the Clergyman could not even be -seen
by the pri.ionersdnring the service. He wished
also, that an account should be ke.pt of the en -
ngs of the convicts, Tart of which might' be
applied to their own wants ; nor-wound lie object
to a per-tentage on it to the superintendants, as
others had done, on the ground of its tending to
overwork them, because lie thought this necessary
to counteract the.disposition of the dock-yard of-
ficers to reduce the labour- of the convicts. He
tvished the convicts to be encowaged to labour its
at Woolwich, and-recommended having halt-p►►y
naval officers to inspect and regulate them. Ile
wished them to be reformed, and. had no doubt
it was possible.

-Mr. jiATUURST thouglit these objections would
hare been more regular before -the. Committee,.
and stated that variot:s reforms had already been
adopted, that others were in progress ; and par-
tiCalarly, that it was intended to.divide each ship
into:compartments,' as far
as its construction ad-
mitted of it,
great attention waS paid to to the-
state of these convicts—that a quarterly report
was made to the Prince Regent .‘‘ Ivo- frequently'
ranted
pardons f9tpar6cular gbod conduct. Au
g
other prec-aution-Was, obliging every prisoner to
bring with him front Gaoka stdtem-eat.olAt;is former
conduct and character, so as to put .thc superin.

.•.
tend ants in possession of the proper niotte of treat;.
ing theta.
Str S. RomiLLi• Said, the objections, .itiade• to
tlfts measure were not so, mild, to the particidar
provisions of the Bill as to the Syste'ni itself. The
present mode of punishment' was ftitind, instead
of reforrril'iS The offenders (Which was 'the object
of all punislimC,At wheVe heath was not inflicted),
to give them habit mote criminalthan they had
'acquired before. He commented at snne length
on the general increase •of crime, on the number
of juvenile convictions, and..on the Pi'esent, de-
fective state of our police, and expressed a hope
fica't.tbe present measure would not be adopted,
or if adopted, 'that it would iintybe made a tem,-
porary late, to expire in a year.
Mr. BATRIJ had no objection to the duration
of the 13111 being limited to. a year.
Mr. BENNETT said, that this Bill niight have
been brought forward earlier in the Sessiou,.but
Ministers had preferred introducing it in the month
of June, when it, was expected the House, fioni
the thinness of the attendance, would not enter
o int the discussion of its merits. If nobody else
.took,up:the subject, he should Call the attention
of the House to the state of the Police,
,early iu
the next f;essiou of Parliament.
Mr. BATHURST said, -the imputation thrown out
against
.Ministers was unfounded: The Hon.
Gentleman might, if he pleased, have brought
forward' at any period of the Session, that-motion
on the subject wkich he now' stated it to be 'his in
tent ion to make when the House met again.
Mr. W. SMITH thonglit it might be better that
the operation of the Bill should be limited to the
first week of the next Session of Parliament,• than
the it'should continue in•force for a year.. Feel-
it g. however, as he did, that it was necessary sonic
measure should be adopted in the-present Session,
he Would not oppose this Bill by 'dividing the
House on it.
Mr. \VILBERFOUCE hoped that even in the pre-
sent Session some advantages would be derived
front 'the suggestions thrown out by his
Friend (Mr. Holford). 'There certainly had. been
an. increase of crime; but nom the efforts mak-
ing to give the lower classes the benefit of edu-
cation, and other preventive measures, lie did not
despair of seeing the -day when the number 'of of-
-fences would be infinitely smaller than at present.
The question seas then put and carried, and the
House resolved itself into the Committee.
• Mr. HoLFoaD proposed a clause for continuing
the Bill in force till theist of May, whCh was
agreed to.
The House resumed, 'and the Report of the
Committee was ordered to be received to-morrow.
STAM ' DITTIES' BILL.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated,
that it was his intention in moving that the House
should go into Conimittee on this Bill only at
present, to fill up the blanks, reserving the full
discussion of the subject to a future day.
Mr. GRENFELL expressed his satisfaction at the
principle adopted by the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer.-in his composition with the Bank ; re-
gulating that composition by the dumber of their
Notes in circulation, though he differed from the
Right Honourable Gentleman in his application
of that principle. He.,thought it would be more
just to, all parties to take the average circulation
of. last year. Many hundred thousand poulas had
been gained by the Bank, owing to an oversight
of some of the Right Hon. Gentleman's prede-
tessors;
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated
that he had e-ntered into composition with the
Bank before the subject had been mentioned in
the House. With respect to the application of
the principle; Parliament was in some measiire
hound by the Acts of former Prtrliainents upon
that subject. The I'are of the former composition
had been 42,0001. annually ; there was' now an
addition _of 45,0001. making the whole sum
87,0001... lie. only then threw out the practical
principle', reserving a more ample detail for a In-
lure oecasion. The composition taken by the
average of the
,]mist three yews would* not differ
materially from the average of the last year. That
composition was only to continue while the Bank
ceased to pay-in cash. When that took, place, a
different principle of calculation would of course
be established.
MELLisu (Go.-erttor of ,the Bank) stated,
that the principle of the'cOmposition to be paid
by the Bank, had been settled betwixt the:Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer and'himself bet-1)1.4' the
subject hail been mentioned in that House. That
cireuinstance lie had now alluded to, that his Hon.
Friend (Mr. Grenfell) Wight Hut run away with
all die mci it of it. lie objected to the composi-
Lion being regulated by die average Of the last'
year, when the [Mintier of notes had been 2SMil-
which had not been the case in- the two

f the ditty '61;16. 'ills; whict A_
oiten-sorbeA 041•
siderahle part --•, the i•property 1.-)equest 1.1
ht it
. 0
CHANCLOR Of the Exci-tEauszithot4
better oh the n-hole to wake no alteratiou•
f t
r Aftei some dlsseivatio‘ns on 'the part °
'
"CHANCEi.LOit OthegiS.iigcluEß and lir :NJ 4-1". ./1
IA e
the. Repolt "was received, and ordered t+;6r. -11
.
• vt4lPc
into rurther consideration 0(4 Monday ; ("3
A" •
day the 'Reporc.on-the Newspaper S"nil) 4
Bill was also Ordered to betaken into father°ll.
sideiation. :• „43,7
-
,Leave was given (pursUant tht, Report of the CVVocli
tee) to bring in a Bill regulate the Trade with the'
Colonies. Cd. •
The Public Stores' Pill iv- readthirdtipleri,Anfotrescsr".
.The Reports of the Clma o
mittee of Ways and Meaiii were t•" bof 8u1"i }7; "and °is°.
de
ete roug 150
.ed to be brought in. •
111 e Chelsea Perisiners' Bill, and Foreign Officers
wee severally-read a third time; and
The London Assize of Bread Aihtliiiion F'as't
time, thili,eh,eatoidthoerrdeorreddertso,
ibto.e
be read
then asedcicsipoodetidmeofo,nallya-ei jigils-
Adjourned,