The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-22 00:00:00

REPORTS ON RAILWAY BILLS.

Mr. GREENE moved that the reports on railway
Bills, which by the standing order of the House ought
to be considered upon Thursday, be considered on
Friday. the 28th day of this instant May.—Agreed to.
BIRMINGHAM AND OXFORD JUNCTION, AND
BIRMINGHAM, WOLVERHAMPTON, AND
DUDLEY RAILWAY AMALGAMATION BILL.

Mr. SPOONER moved the third reading of this Bill.

Sir CHARLES DOUGLAS asked for apostponement
of this Bill for ten days, until they should see what ter-
mination the legal proceedings at present pending in the
Court of Queen's Bench would have. _ _

Mr. RUSSELL said that he trusted the House
would not yield to the suggestion of the Honourable
Member. If the objection urged was a good and
valid one, it ought to have been urged on the bringing
up of the report; and after the discussion which had
taken place, he did not see that this motion ought to
have been made. If the House would resolve not to
pass any measure in reference to which legal proceed-
ings were taken it would be quite easy to defeat any
Bill.—(Cries of " Divide, divide.")
Sir C. DOUGLAS said that he would not divide
the House upon the question. All he desired to do was
to call the attention of the House to the fact, which was
not disputed by the Hon. Gentleman. He would
accordingly withdraw his amendment.

The Bill was then read a third time.
THE NAVIGATION-LAWS.

Mr. CURTEIS presented a petition against any
alteration in the navigation-laws.
CASE OF MARY DAWSON.

Mr. FERRAND presented a petition from a working
man of the name of Dawsun, in the neighbourhood of
Keighley, in the county of York, complaining of the
treatment which his daughter, Mary Dawson, had re-
ceived from her employer, a Mr. Ellice. The petition
alleged that his daughter was a weaver in the
factory of Mr. Ellice, where she had a warp in hand which
was so bad that she could not weave. From some dis-
pute which arose on the subject, she left his employment
on the 10th of March. In consequence, she was brought
before the magistrates at Keighley, but nothing was done
with her at the time. She got employment in another
mill, where she continued till the 30th April. On that
day, without any notice, a constable came and took her
to prison. She was taken through the streets to the rail-
way station, and hurried to Wakefield, where she now
lies committed to the House of Correction for a month.
He now gave notice that after the holidays he would
move that the petition be printed with the votes, with
the object of bringing the subject before the House.
COMPENSATION TO TENANTS FOR AGRI-

he would bring forward the measure on Monday, the
31st inst., when he would state to the House the course
which he i atended to pursue with respect to the Bill.
RAILR( )AD BILLS.—ADJOURNED DEBATE.
Mr. HU I,IE moved that the order of the day for the
adjourned debate thereupon be discharged. The Com-
mittee had met, and from the progress which they had
made, he the ►uglat it would render unnecessary any further
debate upon The subject.
The order WaF, aceordinalv discharged.
PRISONS BILL.

Lord MA.' E 10,74 wished to know when the Prisons Bill
would be brtzeglAt before the House ?
Sir GEO.IE GREY proposed to proceed with the
Bill on ThAitsday, the 3d of June.
ENCTIMBERE D ESTATES (IRELAND) BILL.
Sir F. THESIG -ER asked the Noble Lord when it
was proposed to Izroceed with this Bill?
L, )rd JOHN RUSSELL said that be had promised
the Recorder of Dublin that he would give ample notice
before that Bill was proceeded with. He also took that
opportunity o f stating that he would proceed with the
miscellanecu;i: estimates on Friday next.
E'OOE-LAW COMMISSION.

Mr. FERI RAND wished to know if the estimates of
the Poor-lav P Commission would be taken on that
evening.
Lord JOH N RUSSELL said that the estimates would
not be proceeded with before further progress was made
with the Poor -law Administration Bill.
I NTERMENT IN TOWNS.
Mr. MACK INNON wished to ask the Noble Lord if
he intended to proceed with this Bill:during the present
session ?
Lord MOR FETH said that be saw no prospect of
passing the Bill during the present session.
Mr. MACKUNTANON would like to know if he saw any
prospect of passing the Bill next session ?—(Laughter.)
Lord MORPETH said that he was very confident of
being able to pass the Bill next session.
USE 0 F SUGAR IN DISTILLERIES.
Mr. BARK/EX asked the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer what are. the additional facilities which he intends
to give for the use of sugar in distilleries, and whe-
ther
it is his intention to propose during the present
session, so *much of the Act of the 6th George IV.,
c. 80, as forbids all attempt to distil in combina-
tion with grain, or checks use of sugar in ex-
isting distilleries, more especially of the 4th
clause of that Act,- which prohibits distillation at the
same time from sugar and grain; the 45th clause, which
requires six days' notice to be given by the distiller of
his intention to use sugar; and the 46th clause, which
requires an interval of one month between distilling
grain and sugar, or sugar and grain separately.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
that he had stated on a former occasion that he did not
intend to bring forward any measure to prohibit the
use of grain in distilleries. He could only give the same
answer to the Hon. Gentleman as he gave to the Hon.
Gentleman (the Member for Montrose) a few evenings
Ago, that he would give every facility, for the use of sugar,
that was consistent with the existing laws. The chair-
man of the Board of Excise had also got instructions to
the same effect, and to give every facility for that purpose.
He thought that he had a paramount duty to keep up
the revenue.—(Cheers.) To the latter part of the ques-
tion of the Hon. Gentleman he begged to say that he had
no intention whatever to repeal any part of the Act
which had been passed for legalising the distillation
from sugar. With respect to the Hon. Gentleman's ob-
servation, that one month was necessary before distil-
lation from grain could be resumed after distillation from
grain had been used, he begged to observe that it was
quite a mistake; for, in reality only six days' notice was
necessary before the work could be resumed. In fact
Rowe and Co., of Dublin, and Messrs. Leman, of Rat-
cliffe Highway, were now working upon that system.
He theretore thought that any interference with 04,
excise was unnecessary.
Captain BARCLAY explained that he did not wish
to throw the slightest blame upon the Government, for
he did not inculpate them in the least for allowing dis-
tillation from grain.
ACTION OF THE POOR-LAW.

Mr. FEHR AND said that a handbill had been eircu•
lated in Sheffield, stating that a person named John
Darwin, who he understood had formerly been in highly
respectable circumstances, had lately died in the work-
house, and that his body had been cut up into quarters,
and sold. It was further stated that the mutilated mem-
bers had, five weeks afterwards, been taken to St. George's
burial ground in a coffin and interred. The question
which. he' wished to ask was whether any information re-
specting the circumstance had been communicated to the
Government ?
Sir GEORGE GREY said he had never heard of the
handbilL till the Hon. Gentleman had given notice of
his question. There was no reason for supposing that
any such occurrence had happened there, and he did
net think that the reports were sufficiently authenticated
to warrant further notice of it.
• THE PAUPER DISFRANCHISED.
Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN asked the Solicitor-
General for Ireland whether the fact of having received
relief under the Poor-law Act since the registering, dis-
franchises the voter; and in the event of his reply in the
ziegative, to ask whether it be the intention of her Ma-
jesty's Government to bring in a Bill on this subject
during the present session.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for Ireland said the
question involved great difficulty; for Committees on
special cases had differed from each other invariably,
and came to contradictory conclusions. It appeared
that in England, after the passing of the Reform Bill,
any person receiving relief within a year of the county
registration was not entitled to be registered. But in
Ireland the fact of receiving relief did not disfranchise
the county voter. The same law affected the burghs.
SEDUCTION AND PROSTITUTION BILL.

Mr. SPOONER, in reply to a question, said there
were only seven names opposed to the Bill. He did not
know whether these seven gentlemen were necessarily
seven wise men; but he begged distinctly to say
that he would proceed with the first reading of the Bill
at the earliest opportunity, without consideration of the
convenience of those Hon. Gentlemen.
ALLEGED FALSE IMPRISONMENT.

Mr. FERRAND called the attention of the Right
Hon. Gentleman, the Home Secretary, to the case of
girl which he had already brought before the House--
the individual in question being illegally, as he could
prove, confined in the House of Correction at Wake-
field. He wished to know whether directions for her
release would be given before the recess.
Sir G. GREY said—A case had been brought to the
Home•office in reference to the matter to which the
Hon. Gentleman alluded, but there was nothing
to convict the magistrate concerned in ihe matter
of anything like illegallity in his conviction in question.
RELIEF WORKS (IRELAND).

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER observed
that he had, at a former period, moved that 300,000!.
should be advanced, by way of loan, on the security of
rates in Ireland. He now gave notice that ho intended
on Friday to move that the House should agree to ad-
vance a further sum of 300,0001. for the same object for
which the last had been granted—that is, to the relief
committees.
Lord G. BENTINCK had hoped that when his Right
Hon. Friend mentioned that he intended to propose
300,0001. for relief works in Ireland, that he might at
the same time have incidentally stated to the House that
the Government had a well-founded hope it would be
able soon to reduce the enormous expense with which
the distribution of relief had been accompanied. The
Government had reduced the numbers of those receiving
relief from 700,000 to (he thought) 240,000 persons; bin
the expenses of the staff still continued.—(Hear.) That
expense was at the rate of 17,0001. a week, amounting
to about 900,0001. a year, of which a large portion was
_ _

charged to the Government, and would of course have to
be paid out of the finances of this country. He had
hoped that his Right Hon. Friend would have told them
_ _