The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-14 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Fri. 13.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the wool.
sack at the usual hour.
The Bishop of SALISBURY presented petitions
from Knaresborough, and from Shepton Mallet in favour
of Church Extension. and also a petition from Shepton
Mallet against any further grant to the College of May-
nooth. . .

The Bishop of LONDON presented petitions from
several places in Gloucestershire, from Windsor, and from
Egham, praying for Church Extension ; from some place
in Yorkshire, against any further grant to the College of
Maynooth ; from Ashby de la Zouch, praying for an in-
quiry into the number of Bishops and Clergy in the colo-
nies ; from Kirkpatrick, praying for Church Extension in
Scotland ; and from the minister, churchwardens, and
parishioners of St. Paul's, Covent-garden, praying their
Lordships to adopt some measures to make more effectual
the provisions of the Act of Charles 11., regarding the
laying informations and the enforcing penalties against
persons guilty of Sunday trading.
The Bishop of EXETER presented a petition from
certain persons for whose respectability he could vouch,
stating that they had paid great attention to the publica-
tions of the Socialists; more particularly they wished to
draw their Lordship? attention to a publication entitled
the " Social Bible," which contained matter of a highly
objectionable nature; and praying their Lordships to adopt
legislative measures to prevent the propagation of Socialist
principles. He thought it right to state, in presenting
this petition, that he should have entirely concurred in
the prayer of it, if he had not believed that the
existing laws, if properly administered, were quite
sufficient to put a stop to any enormities which might be
committed by the publishing of blasphemous immoral pub-
lications, and he believed that the Noble Marquis, the
See' etary of State for the Home Department, was sincere
in the declaration he bad made of his intention to enforce
those laws in every case in which with propriety they could
be enforced. He would take that opportunity of giving
notice of his intention to ask a question of the Noble Vis-
count at the head of her Majesty's Government.
On Monday next—he should have given notice for
to-morrow—but, considering the question that was to be
brought forward to-morrow, be hoped no discordant feel-
ings would be allowed to intrude on such an occasion, and
he for one would be the last man in the world to do or say
anything that could in the remotest degree tend to give
rise to such feelings ; but on Monday next he would put
a question to the Noble Viscount respecting a letter which
had been addressed to that Noble Lord in July last, by
the Rev. Andrew Irvine, minister of the parish of St,
Margaret's, Leicester, respecting the mischievous extent
to which Socialism was extending in that pariah.
The Earl of RIPON asked if the Report of the Eccle-
siastical Commissioners for Ireland, which was delivered
in August last, would be laid on the table?
The Marquis of NORMANBY said the Report should
be laid on the table.
PRISONS ACT AMENDMENT BILL.
The Marquis of NORMANBY moved the second
reading of the Prisons Act Amendment Bill. The object
of this Bill was to enable the Visiting Magistrates, with
the concurrence of the Secretary of State, to relax the
regulations of the Prisons Acts, as regarded debtors who
were confined in the same prisons with criminals.
The Duke of RICHMOND thought it would be more
satisfactory if the rules and regulations were made by the
Magistrates at Quarter Sessions, than by the Visiting
Justices. He thought this would be a good opportunity
fur the adoption of a recommendation he made
some time ago, namely, that gaols and houses of cor-
rection should be exempt from payment of the Queen's
taxes, which he thought was a great hardship on the rate-
payers, and he hoped the Government would on this sub-
ject show they were aware of the great additional taxes
which were pressing on them.
The Marquis of NORMANBY had already given di-
rections for the preparation of a Bill for the purpose of
correcting the evils complained of with respect to prisons
and poor-houses. With respect to the present Bill all that
was intended was to allow Visiting Justices to act differently
with respect to debtors confined in criminal prisons to
what they did with respect to others who were incarcerated
criminally.
The Duke of RICHMOND trusted that the Noble
Marquis would not put into the Bill any suggestions
with respect to workhouses, other% ire a Noble Lord,
who was not now in his place, would come down and say
that workhouses were prisons.—( Laughter. )
The Bill was then read a second time, and ordered to
be committed to-morrow.
The Marquis of BUTE presented several petitions from
different parishes in Wales, praying for Church Extension.
RAILROADS, AND SUPPLIES OF FRESH
WATER TO THE METROPOLIS.
The Marquis of WESTMINSTER said that he now
rose in consequence of a notice he had given on a former
evening, and also in consequence of a notice he had given
at the latter end of last session, to bring before their
Lordships a question with regard to Railroads, and the
better supplying of the metropolis with water. Their
Lordships might think it extraordinary that be should
couple the two questions together ; but he thought
before he sat down be should be able to provo that
his proposal to bring both these subjects before a Se-
Lea Committee, which he should conclude with moving
for, was the correct and necessary course. His proposi-
tion hr, nothing to do with the general system of railroads,
but it his intention, in the first instance, to have
the attention' of the Committee directed to the very great
danger which attended the present state of railroad!.
If it should appssar that by any means the danger arising
from Railways could be averted, that would be of itself a
sufficient motive for eeferring the subject to a Committee,
by doing which an impoz-,ant service would be rendered to
the country. He would nob" proceed to the consideration
of the plan for the better :Imply of water to the
metropolis. He had thought it nesecesary, and had made
up his mind since he first called the attention of the House
to the subject, to have no connection with any Water
Conpany, that he might enter upon the consideration of
the subject without prejudice ; and if their Lordships
should agree to grant the Committee he desired, he hoped
the Noble Lords who might form it would stand in the
same position. It was a question that had affected the
minds of the people for many years, and though Commit-
tees of both Houses had sat upon the subject, nothing sa-
tisfactory had been done. The great objeet was to obtain
a plentiful supply of water, of the purest description. Now,
it was hardly possible to obtain that from the Thames,
on account of the impurities which fell into it, though
marry attempts had been made, among others by the
Chelsea Company, who, by filtering their water by sand,
had partially succeeded, and by the Grand Junction
Company, who, from their situation, were yet more unfa-
vourably placed for the purpose, but who had now laid
out a considerable sum of money for the purpose, and
had carried their works out farther. Another Company
was the Grand Junction and West Middlesex, which had
also to a certain extent succeeded; but, notwithstanding
the money laid out, the paias taken, and the machinery
employed, it was impossible to suppose that a supply from
the Thames could be obtained of the kind desired at a rea-
sonable distance from London ; there was nothing left,
then, but the springs which undoubtedly surrounded the
Metropolis, and particularly on that side on which there
was a considerable fall. A Company was formed for the
working of these ; and if all they professed could be veri-
fied, the object would be obtained ; but this must be
proved before the Committee. This Company had a piece
of laud at (he thought) a place called Lusby Lodge
Meadows, about twelve miles from London, which ex-
tended about two or three miles one way, and a mile and
a half the other, and had procured water there within 18
inches of the surface. The Noble Marquis, in conclusion,
moved for a Select Committee on the unforseen dangers
that might arise from Railroads—on the Supply of Water
to the Metropolis, and on the state of the Sewers.
The Marquis of LANDSDOWNE said he could
see no objection, though he could not discern any
very definite advantage, from the Committee.
Undoubtedly, the more railroads were extended, the more
important was it that the Legislature should, as far as
possible, provide for the public safety. There was cer-
tainly no very dear connection between the subjects of in-
quiry—( Hear, and a laugh)—but a Committee being ap-
pointed on one, he could see no objection to its entering
into the others; so that the one most easily inquired into
had precedence of investigation. As to the supply of'
water especially, it was one which, in a great metropolis
like this, should constantly engage the attention of the
Legislature. It was impossible not to feel—he was sure
that he often did—that they were completely under the
sway of a partition treaty upon the subject—( Hear, hear,
and a laugh)—and that they had no means of extricating
themselves from the impositions of the Water Companies
—(Hear)—impositions, by the by, not the less galling and
a
oppressive, because carried on under Acts of Parliament,
by which their Lordships had, for a time, bound their
hands.—(Hear.)
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The Earl of ABERDEEN said he could see no possi-
ble connection between the subjects of inquiry. Now, as
to the first, " the unforeseen danger of railroads," did it
not seem a little absurd to inquire into dangers not antici-
pated l—.(
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