The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-06 00:00:00

RAILWAYS.

Mr. BARNABY gave notice that on Tuesday he
would move a resolution with regard to the insertion in
all future canal or railway bills of a clause relative to
the formation of bridges over, or tunnels under, turn-
pike-roads.
Mr. CRIPPS moved that he be exempted from
serving on Election Committees, on the plea of his age
being above 60.
The SPEAKER said he felt some doubt upon the
joint, as the Act required that the exemption should
be claimed when the names were called over.
Sir R. PEEL was afraid the claim was now too late.

Mr. F. SHAW did not read the Act so severely.

Sir I. k REEMANTLE and Mr. WARBURTON
n ere for the strict construction.
Mr. CRIPPS said he did not wish to involve the
House in a discussion on his case, and he would waive
the exemption.
Mr. F. FRENCH moved for leave of absence for
tLree weeks for Major Macnamara, who was attending
tic Grand Jury at the Assizes at Clare, which was
granted. _

Mr. HUME observed that it ought to be understood
whether every Gentleman who would choose to attend
!he Grand Jury would have leave of absence.
Mr. SHAW moved for leave of absence for one
month for Mr. Lefroy, which was granted.
Captain POLHILL asked the Chancellor of the
Exchequer when it was likely the returns would be laid
before the House, which he had moved for some time
.q.-o respecting the King of the Belgians, and he wished
to know whether it would be before the Royal marriage.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
said if notice of the question hod been given to him
he would have been prepared to answer it, which he was
lint nor able to do.

Captain PULL-TILL then gave notice that he should
lsk the question to-morrow.

Mr. VERCEVAL said he wished to ask the Noble
Lord the Secretary for Ireland, whether it was his in-
tention to introduce an Irish Absentee Bill this Session.
Lord MORPETH said that it was his intention to
do so in the course of the Session, but he could not say
Gruen.

PRINCE ALBERT'S ANNUITY BILL.
This Bill was then read a third time and passed.
DESIGNS COPPYRIGHT BILL.

Mr. o'CoNNECL—presented petitions from mer-
chants aad others of Dublin interested in the trade in
lavour of this Bill.

Sir R. PEEL said he had been intrusted with three
petitions from respectable houses in Manchester, in
favour of the Bill, which he should present before the
House went into Committee upon it.

Mr. E. TENNEN'I' then rose to move the second
reading of the Bill, but was almost inaudible in the
gallery. We understood him to say that so far back as
1787 protection was given to designs copy-right which
had been renewed in 1794, but the protection then
given was very ineffectual. He thought that the short
protection of three months afforded by tba exist-
ing Bill, would be found to be totally inoperative.
He thought that the introduction of the measure was
called for, and that they should accommodate them-
selves to the course of time and circumstances. He
believed that the parties whose interest he was advo-
cating were fairly entitled to the protection which they
sought' for. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by beg-
ging that the Bill should then be read a second time.
Mr. M ACKINNON rose for the purpose of sup-
porting the motion of his Hon. Friend. He would
strongly recommend to her Majesty's Government the
advantages of introducing a general and comprehensive
measure on the present subject. He would re-
commend to them to bring in a Bill for the purpose
of having designs and patterns registered at a small
expense, and for having them afterwards exposed in
a national gallery erected for the purpose. This would
be a great advantage both to the public and to mo-
dellers of design, who would have an opportunity
of seeing those works in the gallery. He believed,
too, that the small sums paid for registering these works
would meet the expenses of erecting the building.
He should support the Bill on the principle, that " half
a loaf was better than no bread"—(A laugh)—although
it did not go to the extent which he desired.

Mr. WILLIAMS (of Coventry) thought that any
interference with trade on the part of the Legis-
lature, without strong reason, was very dangerous.
—(Hear.) The speeches which he had heard in
fivour of this Bill convinced him how dangerous it
was for persons, unconnected with business, to intro-
duce measures of that kind. The law at present in
force had existed for more than twenty years, and
during that period the printing business had flourished ;
and no one acquainted with its wants and interests
would recommend such an alteration of that law as was
now proposed, The very enactments introduced by the
Hon. Member for Belfast, were expressly excluded
from a Bill which had been introduced into the House
in two successive Sessions, with the support of the re-
presentative of Manchester, Mr. P. Thompson, then
President of the Board of Trade. But that gentle-
man was in a situation in which he could have ascer-
tained whether such enactments were desired by persons
connected with the trade, or would be advantageous to
them ; and if they were so, he surely would not have taken
rare to exclude them from the Bill which he supported.
It had been said that new patterns would be copied in
eight days. If the Hon. Gentleman had known any
thing about the law, or the practice of the trade, he
would have known that this was impossible, without in-
curring the severest penalties. As the law now stood,
the inventor of a pattern had a clear three months
exclusive sale, and if that sale were infringed upon by
any person, that party could instantly be stopped by an
injunction out of Chancery. As to the West India
trade, the extent of it was insignificant, and was the
law upon a great and general subject to be altered
merely for the convenience of some particular interest ?
Some years ago a Bill of this kind had been introduced
into the other House of Parliament, which, at the
(ear, hear.) It was
re-
quest of numerous petitions, had been referred to a Se-
lect Committee, and on the recommendation of that
Committee had been given up.--H
surprising that Gentlemen who called themselves
the friends of free trade should come forward and ask
for further restrictions, as though they wanted all other
trades to be free but their own. Thinking that the
House ought not to interfere upon the subject without
stronger ground than had as yet been made out, he
begged to move that this Bill be read a second time
this day six months.
Mr. LABOUC HERE said that undoubtedly this
question was one of great importance to the manufac-
turing interests. In the first place, he begged to call
the attention of the House to, the existing law, and he
must complain that the Hon. Member in his statement
had omitted mentioning it. '1 he old law of the land
was, that there was protection for three months to calico-
printers and linen-printers alone, which could only be en
forced by obtaining an injunction from the Courtof Chan-
cery. Last year Mr. P. Thomson brought in two Bills

extendirk the provisions of the old law to other fabrics.
He proposed by one of those Bills to give a protection
of three years to those articles that were made out of
metallic substances, but rendered it compulsory on the
parties who wished to avail themselves of that extended
period of protection to submit to a system of registration.
Some of the manufacturers said it was not worth their
while to incur the expense of registration, and there-
fore did not consent to the extended term under that
condition. He (Mr. Labouchere) wished to point out
to the House what evils they were likely to
fall into if they protracted the period of pro-
tection, and at the same time did not compel
them to adopt a system of registration.—(Hear.)
He certainly apprehended that it would be almost im-
possible to apply a system of that kind without a regis-
tration. It would, in fact be establishing a restriction
to one of the branches of our manufactures.
Unless a system of registration were adopted, he
believed it would be impossible for the Chan-
cellor to decide upon the questions which would
come before him. One great question"; which it was
always exceedingly difficult to decide in such cases,
was the question of priority of invention. The same
idea frequently struck different individuals nearly at the
same time, and it was in stitch cases exceedingly difficult
to determine who was entitled to the priority, but with
a system of registration this was perfectly easy. He
had been told by the Registrar that persons frequently
came to look at the register, and seeing the patterns
registered, the idea of which had previously struck them,
had gone away saying that they perceived they
were on that occasion unfortunately too late. But
if all these questions were to be left to the determination
of the Judges, they would be involved in law suits and
difficulties without end. He thought it right to make
this statement, because he thought the statement of
the Right Hon. Gentleman to the House would be
calculated to make them adopt measures which he
thought ought not to be adopted. In fact he considered
the question now before the House to be merely a
question of time, the House had agreed to the prin-
ciple that it was necessary to afford protection to de-
signs, and whether that protection should be for a
period of three, six, or twelve months, was merely a
question of time. He thought the present proposi-
tion would interfere too much with the trade, although
he was bound to confess that the result of the commu-
nications he had received had been to produce an im-
pression on his mind that the period of three months
was somewhat too short, but he could not help saying
he thought the House would act inadvisedly if it were
to extend the period to twelve months. He would,
therefore, support the second reading of the Bill, reserv-
ing to himself the right of moving in the Committee
that the protection should be extended to a period of
tix months instead of twelve. He thought the House
would act unprecedently in giving a large period of
protection, as it would in fact be granting a monopoly
of any favourite pattern for too long a period, and
raising the price to the consumer, thereby tending to
injure the sale, both in the home and in the foreign
markets. He should, therefore, allow the Bill to be
read a second time, on the understanding that in Com-
mittee be should move the substitution of a period of
six for one of twelve months.

Mr. WARBURTON said that he thought if the
House were put in possession of the different views
that were entertained on the petition before the Bill
sent into Committee, it would greatly facilitate their
coming to a correct conclusion. Ile was happy to
hear the observations that had been made as to the
ill effects resulting to the public from the monopoly, and
the interests of the various parties concerned ought to
be attended to. He wished to know in what respect
these finished patterns came from the inventor in a dif-
ferent way than printed works did. The Right Hon.
Baronet opposite, in some observations he made when
adverting to petitions placed in his hands, appeared
to take some interest in the matter, and he
hoped when the subject of granting a term
of copyright for literary property came under
discussion, they should be honoured with his presence,
which he did not rememberhad been given on former occa-
sions. He thought if the Right Hon. Baronet gave his
attendance on a matter of minor consequence, such as
calico printing, he would also give it to the greater
matter of literary property, and if so, the House would
be more likely to come to a just conclusion on the sub-
ject than otherwise.
Mr. LABOUC HERE made an observation which
was inaudible.
Sir ROBERT PEEL said that he was not at all
certain that he quite agreed with the petitioners, who
had not sent their petitions to him, in consequence of
any intimation that he was favourable to their views,
for he had great doubts upon the subject. He thought
it would be extremely inconvenient to carry the protec-
tion to so great a length, though he thought the present
protection very limited. He also thought that it would
be very difficult to effect registration on matters so transi-
tory. He thought this was exactly a case in which it would
' be irnposible to form a judgment without three or four
gentlemen before aCommittee, in order to learn from them
what were the opposite views entertained upon the
subject by the trade itself. In those practical mat-
ters the House could not undertake to decide
without having the opinions of practical men.—(Hear.)
It would not tend to a very extensive inquiry to
ascertain what the effects would be of an extension from
three months to twelve months,or what would be the effect
of the registration. He would support the second reading,
without pledging himself to the course which be might
take upon the future stages of the Bill. The sole
reason for his not taking part in the discussion at pre-
sent was, that he really did not understand it. It was
easy to say that it was the duty of every Member to
' read every thing connected with every subject that came
before the House—(A laugh)—but he pledged himself
upon his honour to make himself acquainted with this
subject in the course of the Session, so as to come to a
satisfactory judgment.
Mr. O'CONNELL observed that it had often been
complained of by Flon. Friends near him, that the
artists of this country were inferior to those of the Con-
tinent, owing to the opportunity which the Continental
artists had of viewing and studying the finest works of
art in existence. The Irish youths had displayed so
much ingenuity that the patterns were greatly in re-
quest. He thought there should be an extension, if not
to twelve, to six months.
Mr. M. PHILLIPS said he could not help observ-
ing that if a single pattern had a good run, the effect
of the extension of the copyright would be to
establish a monopoly of oae pattern for twelve
months ; during which time all other pattern designers
would be out of employment ; whereas, if the copyright
were shorter, there might be a greater variety of pat-
terns.—(Hear, hear.) Again, he thought that a long
term would be exceedingly prejudicial on this ground,
that such was the facility of transmission, and such the
rapidity with which patterns were were copied by the
French and Swiss (if, indeed, as was often the case, the
patterns were not theirs originally), that the Continental
manufacturers would speedily copy our designs, and
anticipate many of our markets.—(Hear, hear.) Thus
the effect would be, the injury, and not the advantage
of the trade.—(Hear.) With respect to the motion
of the Hon. Gentleman opposite, it appeared to him
that this question was not one that was generally taken
up by the trade. He was therefore bound to say that
he did not think there was any very strong feeling on
this subject among the calico printers of Manchester.
He should not, however, like to decide the question
hastily :but he was in hopes before the Bill got into Com-
mittee, from the inquiry he should make, to be able to
satisfy himself as to the course he thought he ought to
pursue.

Mr. HUME thought the House ought to have fur-
ther information on this subject before they allowed the
Bill to go to a further stage ; he therefore thought the
subject ought to be referred to a Select Committee.
Mr. E. TENNENT thought that the claims of the
parties in question were not unreasonable. Some of
their works were even of so permanent a nature that
three years would be necessary to afford them a suffi-
cient protection. The Hon. Member then moved that
the Bill should be read a second time, and referred to
a Select Committee.
Mr. WILLIAMS here said he begged leave to
withdraw his amendment.
The Bill was then read a second time, and referred
to a Select Committee.

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE (IRE-
LAND.)

Sergeant JACKSON said that before he moved the
second reading of this Bill, he wished to ascertain the
course which the Governmeht proposed to pursue in
the matter.

Mr. PIGOTT said that he concurred in the
principle of the Bill, and so much so, that
it was his intention to introduce a measure
of the kind extending to Ireland the several
provisions of the English Bill on the subject. There
were, however, in the present measure some provisions
which he could not agree to ; and he could not give his
concurrence to them without further consideration, and
till he had consulted other Members of the Govern-
ment on the matter. In the course of a month,
however, he would be able to make up his mind on the
question. The object of the present Bill was to assi-
milate the institutions of England and of Ireland, and
on these grounds he would be prepared to bring a Bill
within the period mentioned.
Mr. SHAW wished that the Bill should be allowed
to pass a second time. He thought that at a further
stage his Hon. Friend the Solicitor-General for Ire-
land might propose his amendments, and that would
be the more regular proceeding, as he did not object to
the principle of the measure.
Mr. PIGOTT again expressed his objection to some
details of the measure, and said he should be ready,
as he had before said, to bring in a Bill of his own on
the subject.
Sergeant JACKSON said that his Hon. Friend the
Solicitor-General for Ireland had not assigned any rea-
son for postponing the second reading of the Bill, as he
merely objected to some of its clauses, and not to the
principle on which it was founded.
After a few words from Mr. PIGOTT,
Mr. TEN NEN T postponed the further considera-
tion of the Bill to this day fortnight.

EJECTMENT AND REPLEVIN BILL (IRE-

LAND).
Mr. TENNENT then moved the second reading
of the Ejectment and Replevin Bill (Ireland), and re-
ferred to several cases to show the inconsistencies and
inconveniencies arising from the present state of the law.
Mr. PIGOTT said he had hoped that this Bill also
would have been postponed, in order to give an oppor-
tunity to those Gentlemen who were acquainted with
the law of property in England, to consider how this
Bill would be suited to the United Kingdom. From
his own experience he was unwilling to adopt any mea-
sure which would widen the few d:fferences that re-
mained in the laws of this country and Ireland.
Land had been let in Ireland with a view to the existing
law, and contracts had been entered into to ensure a
protection against the very remedy which the Bill would
introduce. The change in the law would be unjust to
persons who had property on the faith of the present
law ; and with respect to future contracts the Bill would
be perfectly useless. He looked with jealousy to any
change which would make the law of property in Ire-
land different from that of England.—( Hear, hear.)
In his judgment the object of the Legislature ought to
be to asimilate the institutions of both countries as
much as possible. On those grounds if a second read-
ing were pressed he should move as an amendment
that theßill be postponed for two months.

Mr. O'CONNELL said he rose to second the
amendment. He wished it to be understood that the Bill
in its present state gave an advantage to the landlords in
Ireland, which they had not at present, and took away
from the tenants of Ireland an advantage which
they now bad. The effect of it would be to set aside
contracts which had existed, many of them, for centu-
ries. By this Bill if the tenant in any one single year
should allow his rent to go in arrear he
might be evicted and his family made destitute ;
lie might have a remedy to be sure by filing a bill in
equity, but why should he be put to this ? and what
right had the House to alter bygone contracts? Now,
he would submit to the Hon. Gentleman, whom he was
sure had no other motive than that of doing his duty,
whether there was any one thing so likely to create bad
feeling in Ireland as the insecurity and the eviction of
tenants, and he begged him to recollect that it was not
only the capital tenant who would be evicted, but also
the under-tenants, persons to whom the right of filing a
bill in equity would be no protection. Why should this
be done ? Who was calling for it ? He did not know
that the landlords were, and he was sure the tenants
were not. He would submit therofore to the Hon.
Gentleman that it would be better to agree to this post-
ponement. As to future contracts this Bill was unne-
cessary, because the parties would know what the law
was and could guard against it in their contracts, and
if on the contrary they chose to have a different law for
themselves, they could do so by shaping their contracts
accordingly. He did hope, therefore, the Hon. Gentle-
man would not press his motion.
Sergeant JACKSON said it appeared to him ex-
tremely desirable that the law should be settled in this
respect. His Friend had correctly stated the anomalous
state of the law in Ireland. The first case referred to
was not one of ejectment but of replevin, and the House
of Lords in England had reversed the judgment of the
Irish Courts, and the second case that had been re-
ferred to was not one of avowrie, but of ejectment,
and the Judges before whom that case came thought
themselves bound by the judgment of the former case.
And what happened afterwards ? The Judges of the
Court of Exchequer took a different view of it to the
Judges of the Court of King's Bench. NN, hat, he asked,
was the hardship complained of to the tenantry of
Ireland? If a person had great interest in land and
would not pay his rent, why should he not be ejected ?
The necessity for this Bill arose from the fact that the
law was not settled in Ireland ; for his part he could
not see why it should not be extended to England. He
quite agreed with his Hon. Friend that there was no
reason why there should not be a perfect assimilation
of the law between the two countries, nor why an Act
should not be passed to get rid of this, which was
nothing more than a technical objection. All the
Judges, and also the Bar of Ireland were agreed on the
importance of the Bill. He therefore much regretted
its postponement.

The amendment having been withdrawn,
Mr. E. TEN NENT said that he should postpone
the reading of the Bill for a fortnight.

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY.

The House then resolved itself into a Committee of
Supply.
Mr. HERRIES complained that last year the Bud-
get had been brought on at a very unusual period ; and
at a time when it might be supposed the financial state-
ments of the year had been closed, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer had proposed a new and considerable
operation, which was nothing less than that of funding
four millions of Exchequer Bills. When the Budget
had been completed, the then Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer had made provision among other articles of
supply for the discharge of twenty-four millions of Ex-
chequer Bills then outstanding. It was not, however,
the regular course, that when it was not intended to
diminish the amount of the unfunded debt, the Cnan-
cellor of the Exchequer should make a provision to
issue Exchequer Bills, as ways and means, to supply the
deficiency of those which had been voted as a supply.
Last year a provision had been made in ways and means
for twenty-five millions of Exchequer Bills, being a mil-
lion more than had been voted. The reason of that
was the unfortunate state of the finances, in which
there was a deficiency. He (Mr. Herries) complained
that Government should have funded four millions in
the Savings Banks, which had made them liable for
four millions more than if they had been rested in
Exchequer Bills.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
that he was not prepared to enter into the discussion of
the subject, as he had not been aware of the point which
the Hon. Member intended to bring forward, and as be
had no opportunity of directing his attention to it. The
operation, in question, had besides taken place under
the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he begged
leave that time should be given him to consider the
matter before he offered any explanation on it.
Mr. HUME wished to know (as we understood)
whether last year any addition had been made to the
funded debt by refunding money out of the Savings'
Bank ? He would take the opportunity of saying that
the operation would be a most unwarrantable one.

Tl;e CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
said that the operation in question had taken place.
Mr. HUME could only say that it was a most irre-
gular mode of proceeding' and he would take another
opportunity of directinc, the attention of the House to it.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was
understood to say, that the result of the operations
alluded to had been a great reduction of the unfunded
debt.

Mr. HERRIES objected to the mode which had been
adopted of funding, that it was not permanent, and
sufficiently secured by the Government.
Mr. HUME said if his suggestions had been adopted,
these complaints would not have arisen.
Mr. WARBURTON wished to throw out a hint,
whether the Joint-stock Banks did not in some way
supersede the necessity of Savings' Banks.
The resolution was then reported.

On the motion of Mr. AGLIONBY there were
ordered returns of the total amount of the fees received
by or on account of the six clerks of the High Court
of Chancery, during the year 1838, distinguishing how
much of such fees were received on account of their
office of six clerks, and how much as clerks of the in-
rolments and comptroller of the Hanaper respectively :
Of the total amount of the fees and sums of money
which were received by or became payable to each of
the sworn clerks of the Court of Chancery during the
year 1838 ; distinguishing how much of such fees
were accounted for to the six clerks of the said Court,
or to any other and what persons : Of the number of
term fees which were received by or became pay-
able to each of the said sworn clerks during the year

1838, and the number of causes -in re-
spect of which such term fees accrued : Of the
amount of the fees which were received by or became
payable to each of such sworn clerks during the year
1838, on account of the taxation of costs, and in respect
of how many bills of costs such fees became payable ;
specifying the ten largest amounts received by each of
the said sworn clerks for any one bill of costs : Of the
total amount which was received by or became payable
to each of the said sworn clerks for office copies during
the year 1838. Similar returns during the year 1839.
Return of the number of warrants on leaving bills of
costs, and the number of warrants for taxing bills of
costs, issued by each of the Masters of the High Court
of Chancery during the yearlB3B. Similar return during
the year 1839.
The House then adjourned.

BEVERLEY ELECTION.—THE PARSONS.--
We are much gratified to learn that Lord Wenlock has been
appointed Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding. No man is
better qualified—both from his acquaintance with the Riding
and his large possessions in it—for this post than the Noble
Lord. We trust that now we shall have the bench of justices
purged
of those clerical members who pervert their calling and
degrade their office into mere political partisanship. Especially
should some of those reverend gentlemen in the commission,
who last week interfered with the freedom of election at Be_
verley, be informed by the Lord Lieutenant that such practices
are at variance with the duties they are sworn to perform. We
have not forgotten, either, their Sunday crusade against the
independence of the Riding at the last county election, and
trust that a repetition of such flagrant conduct will be prevented.
A number of sound Liberals might with advantage be at once
put into the commission.—Hull Observer.
Wednesday afternoon, about six o'clock, while
the workmen near the east end of the Sneddon-bridge were at
their employment, the apparatus for hoisting stones and lime
to the upper part of the building broke down, by which a
labourer of the name of Patrick Donochy was crushed to the
ground. He was conveyed to the house of Mr. David Mid-
dleton, where every attention was paid to him, medical aid was
promptly procured, but he died in the course of ten minutes.
Another fellow-labourer was at the same time precipitated from
the top of the building, but fortunately alighted on a heap of
furnace ashes, and escaped with only some slight bruises.—
Glasgow Chronicle.
Mr. Guild, the ornithologist,
arrived safe at
Sydney on the 3(1 of September, and was about to proceed into
the interior. He has sent home some of his discoveries, and
Government have liberally allowed the spec•mens to pass the
Custom House unopened.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS•

CITY, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
TIMES._. Consols opened to-day at 91i to forMoneh
but afterwards rose to 914 to The price for the Ac-
count was similarly affected, and advanced from 914
to to 91-1 to Money has been in no particular de-
mand, but Exchequer Bills remain at 10e. to 12s. prem.
In the Foreign House the chief transactions have
been in Spanish Active, which at one time of the day
rose as high as 26k. This is attributed to the ad-
vanced quotation in the Paris Papers, and also to ac-
counts that the Spanish elections are going on favour-
ably to the present Ministers. A slight reaction after-
wards took place, and Spanish left off at 26i to 1. Por-
tuguese remained steady all day, the Five per Cents. at
344 to 5 ; and the Three per Cents. at 234 to 4.
Private letters from Dover state the wind has con-
tinued these 16 or 17 days, and that it has stopped up
the harbour, by accumulating such a quantity of shingle.
that her Majesty's packets have not been able to come
in for these 10 or 12 days. It is even expected that
this stoppage will prevent Prince Albert from landing
at Dover, which will be a great disappointment to the
inhabitants, as the council of the borough have prepared
an address for the occasion.

The quantity of silver shipped from the port of Do-
ver from January 28 to February 3 is 736,000 ounces
of coin and bullion.

The recent notice of the fraudulent adulteration of
tobacco has drawn forth letters from various correspon-
dents, according to which it appears that the fraud
is openly avowed by parties committing it to the
Commissioners of Excise, that a demand has been put
forward for an allowance of 30 per cent, to cover
and protect it, and that this scheme of giving up one
third of the revenue has actually been for eight months
under the consideration of Government. As the price
of tobacco is on an average 4d. per lb., and the duty 3s.
par lb., it is contended that the necessity for so immo-
derate a rate of taxation should call forth a proportionate
vigilance on the part of Government to guard against
evasion. Nevertheless, so extraordinary is the systems
that it seems the Commissioners of Customs, on a ver-
dict obtained against them, were compelled to give up
a large quantity of tobacco on payment of five farthings
per pound duty, while their opponent charged the
public with the whole 35., and thus put in his own
pocket what was due to the Exchequer. So many
anomalies appear to be connected w.th this important
branch of th.r revenue, that it is high time to give it $
thorough revision.

SUN.—The commercial markets were generally
steady this afternoon, but Tea was rather heavy. The
attention of the speculators is now directed to the re•
ceipt of the next over-land mail from India, which, it
is hoped, will bring later news from China.
Money has been scarce all day in the Stock Ex
change, and the consequence has been a continued
heavy market for the Public Securities.

Consols have been quoted 91i to for present trans-
fer, and 911 to 1 for time, the latter of these. prices,
which are a shade higher than yesterday, being obtained
just before the close of business. Exchequer Bills con-
tinued at 10s. to 12s. premium, and India Bonds at par.
to 3s. premium. Bank Stock was at 1784, and the
New Three-and-a-Half per Cents. at 99.
The improvement which occurred in Spanish Bonds
in the morning was tolerably well supported up to the
close of the market ; the Actives remaining at 264 to i;
Columbian Stock was heavy at 27i to , and Mexican
at 29 to -I ; Dutch Two.and-a-half per Cents. brought
.52i, and Portuguese were the same as in the morning.

7.l'he Share Market was not so steady, and prices
were generally lower. The Great Western Railway
Shares left off at 2 ; the Birmingham at 66 ; the
Quarter at 19 ; the New at 19 ; and the New North
Midland at .51 prem. The New Great Western were
at par ; and the Brighton at 10 dis. The Banking
Shares were rather brisk, but at about previous rates