The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-14 00:00:00

APPROPRIATION BILL.

On the motion for goiqg into Committee on this Bill,
Sir G. SINCLAIR complained of large sums of money
being voted away without due deliberation, when so many days
were wasted in useless debate. If they took together the de-
bates on the Sugar Duties, and the vote of no contlence,
-they wcAild be frmod to occupy n,Arly a month. He thought the
practice of wijourned debates must, by common consent, be put
an end to. lie thought, also, that the Traders of both parties
were, of all others, the most to blame, since they never got up
until a very late hour in the evening. He wished the accom-
plished gentlemen in the front benches were an are of the in-
convenience to which this conduct put their friends behind
them ; and of bow much gentlemen complained of being
brought down to the House at a very late hour (the early part
of the evening having been wasted), that some gentle-
men might make- an eloquent speech to full benches.
—(Cries. of " Hear, hear.") He thought that if Catiline
had got up in the Roman Senate, and made a v-ry long speech
at some such an unseasonable hour as Hon. Gentlemen were
accustomed to rise; the conscript fathers would not have failed
to apostrophise him, " Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina,
patientia nostrar If Brutus had risen to speak at three
o'clock in the morning his best friends would have exclaimed,
" Et 'u, Brute !" and he conceived that if ever Cicero had
kept them to so late an hour, the Senators would have .been
found walking listlessly in the lobby, inquiring " Is Cicero still
up?"—( Laughter.) He had two remedies for the present
evil of protracted discussion ; he would propose either that on
an understanding between both sides, tellers might. be appointed
who would take the names of all Hon. Members who wished to'
leave the House till eleven o'clock, and that they should then
depart, leaving any who might please to remain in the House ;
or if that plan were not thought advisable, he should recom-
mend that on the meeting of the House, after an adjohrned
debate, they should proceed immediately to a division.
The Appropriation Bill went through Committee, and the
Report was ordered to be brought up on Monday.
ELECTION PETITIONS TRIAL BILL.

Sir GEORGE CLERK having moved the second reading
of this Bill,

Mr. VERNON SMITH expressed his belief that it would
not meet all the exigencies of the ease. In his opinion elec-
tion petitions could never.be satisfactorily tried until the juris-
diction was removed altogether from the House.
Sir G. CLERK said that the observations of the Hon. Gen-
tleman did not apply to the immediate question before the
House. It would be impassible at the present period of the
Session to discuss the general subject to which the Hon.
Member had referred. The object of the present Bill
was merely to introduce some alterations in the present mea-
sure, particularly as regarded the Committee of Selection.
It was desirable that the Bill should he made as perfect as pos •
sible, and the provisions now proposed to be introduced in it
were merely intended to remove certain difficulties which had
occurred. One of the alterations proposed was to make
the attendance of the Chairman compulsory. He
agreed entirely with the Honourable Gentleman that
some such enactment would be necessary, as he thought
it would be impossible to secure their attendance without such
enactment. Another alteration was for the purpose
of removing difficulties -which had occurred with regard to the
serving of notices. Another difficulty had arist•n as to cases
where more than one petition had been presented against a re-
turn. It was proposed to consider all such as one petition, and
refer them to the Committee of Selection. His Right Hon.
Friend proposed to re-enact the whole of the former Bill, and
the alterations proposed to be introduced would be printed in
italics, so that Hon. Members could see at a glance the alte-
rations intended.

Mr. ORD did not think thelßill had totally failed ; on the
contrary, he thought it a great improvement on the old law.
He objected to giving to any tribunal out of the House t le
power of trying election petitions.
Lard MA HON still retained his original opinion that no mea-
sure that'did not take away from Committees of the House the
power of deciding on electipti petitions would be satisfactory.
He thought that, considering the
.party feelings by which
Members of that House were agitated; thay were quite
disqualified from coming to any decision on such a question.
In toying this he meant to cast no imputation on any Member',
or body of Members, and he considered' his observations ap-
plied to himself with the same force that they did to any other
Member.

Mr. C.. BULLER thought the Bill had introduced a great
deal of practical goal, and he considered it still more valuable
as a stet) to further improvement. He thought the plan
of the Right • Honourable Baronet had bad the effi.et of
increasing the intelligence of Election Committees. He thought
the mode of selecting the Chairman a great improvement, and
he thought it desirable to hive as permanent a Chairman as
possible. The question whether such Chairman should be of
the House or out of the House, was a very grave one, and re-
quired much consideration. He was not prepared to go to
the extent of making the service of the Chairman compulsory.
No set of men would be harder worked than they would be
during the next Session, and it would be a monstrous injus-
tice to the Chairman and doubling the difficulties of the Com-
mittee of Selection. He then fore hoped that no such clause
would be proposed.
Mr. PRYAIE objected to the plan of rejecting all lawyers
from Committees, unless they were able to procure the most
eminent in the profeision. Such a course was most prepos-
terous.

Lord ELIOT thought the duty of Chairman was not
more onerous than that of any individual serving on the Cora•
mittee.

After a few words from Mr. ORD and Mr. PRYME, the Bill
was read a second time.

The Metropolis Improvement Bill was read a third time and
pa-sed.
HIGHWAY RATES BILL.

On the motion that the Report on the Highway Rates' Bill
be received,

Captain I"ECHELL said he had great objection to the Bill,
and felt persuaded that the House was not aware of the great
power it gave to the county magistrates. He should, there-
fore, move that the Bill be brought up this day three months.
Mr. GORING said that the Bill, instead of injuring the
public, was calculated, in a very great degree, to guard against
expense being incurred by parishes, inasmuch as by its opera-
tion the roads :were prevented being in such a situation as that
an indictment would lie. It was, he thought, of material impor-
tanc&illit the Hill should be•eontinued.
Sleep. BERRELE;:strptiorted the Bill.

Sir G. GREY 9uugested that the tie.now brought up
and the !oense of`the House taken on the third reading. •
After a few words from Mr. FIELDEN; •

Lord ELIOT trusted that if the Hon and Gallant Member
would not reserve his opposition to the third reading., he would
at least'eonsent toihe • adlournment.of ,-the drbate to Monday
next, ' ,

Captain PECHELL said he wished to consult the feelings
of 'the 'House, and he, would therefore withdraw his motion, on
condition that the debate should be adjourned to. Monday.
. 'Sir. GEORGE GREY then moved the adjournmeni of the
'debate till Monday, which was agreed to. • • •
• . .
.; COUNTY BRIDGES (No. 2) BILL.
The County Bridges (No. 2) Bill was read,a third time and
passed.
The WickloW•Harbonr Bill.was,'.read. a third time, several
clauses being added, and passed.
The Winterbonrne Parish Division Bill passed through Com-
mittee, and the Report was ordered to be received on Alonday.
The Mariners' Estate Bill was read a third time and passed.

Colonel SIBTHORP moved for a return of commissions
issued by her Majesty in the years 1836, 1837, and 1838.
Mr. V. SMITH przsented petitions from two places in Scot-
land against the Corn-laws.
The House then adjourned at a Quartor to Three o'Clock.