The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-17 00:00:00

is incumbent on Parliament to give adequate en-
couragement to the colonists, and to allow them a rea-
sonable time to make a fair trial of free labour, by the
removal of all improper restrictions in the obtaining and
employment of labour; to entorce in the colonies the
came strict system of vagrant laws which are in force in
England, and to make them applicable equally to the
black and to the white population; and to allow the
c,,lonists to redtide their establishments and fiscal charges
to the lowest amount they shall judge requisite for the
police and municipal services of the colony.
IRELAND.

Mr. BATESON moved for returns of the number of
persons in each county in Ireland whose tenements are
rated to the poor at the annual value of 8/. ; of the
number rated above 8/. and not exceeding 10L ; above
101. end not exceeding 121. ; above 121. and not exceed-
ing 15/. ; above 151. and not exceeding 181. ; above 181.
and not exceeding 201. ; above 20/. and not exceeding
1. ; and above 251.—Agreed to.
Mr. BRIGHT presented petitions from Heywood and
A3hton•under-Lyme, praying that some measure should
be passed to limit the sale of intoxicating liquors on
Sunday ; also a petition from a Mr. Holland, surgeon,
Manchester, praying the House not to make any impor-
tant alteration in the Fr ovisions of the Health of
Towns Bill.

Lord CASTLEREAGH presented a petition in favour
,e the Sites for Churches Bill.
INDIAN MAILS. _

11r. HENLEY asked the following questions of the
'Jet:rotary of the Admiralty, respecting the conveyance
.)f the Indian mails :-1. Whether, in accordance with
he decided opinion expressed by the Committee of the
House of Lords, any inquiry has been instituted into
the cost of the execution of the former contracts
±cr conveying the mails from England to Alex-
aodila; into the manner in which the service has
-en performed: acd into the profits resulting to the con-
•ractors. 2. By whom such inquiry has been made.
3. Whether the Government proposes, on the part of the
public, to continuo to pay the present heavy charge for
s,uoh communication. 4. Whether, in any future con-

tracts, the Government propose to adopt the suggestion
of the Committee of the House of Lords, that th public
shall be secured, by adequate provisions in the contracts,
a participation in the profits, when they shall exceed a
certain per centage on the capital, access to the accounts,
and a full knowledge of all the transactions of the several
companies with which agreements may be entered into.
5. Whether any department of the thivernment, and it
any:which, will be rtsponiible to Parliament that the
contracts about to be entered into shall be just, and proper.
Mr. WARD stated, in reply to the first and second
questions, that he thought it was generally understood
that the Admiralty had no power, under the contracts,
to insist upon such an inquiry as that pointed.
out • but the Commissioners had consented
to 'admit an agent of the Admiralty to
in-
spect their books, and as the Admiralty
intended
to satisfy itself in the matter, Captain
appointed to make the requisite inves
t. E
ation. With
Ellis had been
respect to the third question, he had to state that the
Admiralty bad taken the best precaution they could for
i
reducing their charges, with a view to the public n-
--,erests. With respect to the fourth query, he was in-
%tructed to state that the Admiralty did not think it
udvisable to. appoint an auditor, believing that they pos.
iessed a mach more effectual check, in opening periodi
cally the contracts and accepting the lowest tender; and
for the proper carrying out of the contracts the Admi-
ralty walk respon3THEible.
. MA,URITIITS.
. _
Lord G. BE4TINCIi wished to ask the Hon.
Gentleman. the I.7ndec-Secretary of State for the
Colonies, A he had any objection to lay on the
table the official letter which he received on Satur-
day last from the " Mauritius Association," which
gave a very different picture of the condition
of the- colony compared with that drawn by the
Hon. Gentleman last evening.
Mr, HAWES had not the least objection to lay the
memorial ou the table ; in fact, he was indebted to the
Noble Lord for calling the attention of the House to it. It
.inly arrived last evening. lie maintained that his state-
-tient was perfectly correct, and he did not wish to retract
any portion of it whatever,, namely, that the acccounts
received up to the 4rh of February were more favourable
than former communications had given them reason to
..aticipate. The memorial stated that in February the
rice of sugar was higher in the Mauritius
:hen in the home market, and attempted to de-
duce from this tact that f'li'ts proved the distressed
condition of the colony, ancrChen it was laid upon the
table the House would judge whether the statements
were worthy of credence or not.

TOBAGO.
Mr. GOULBURN wished to know from the Under-
:;eoretary of State for the Colonies whether any infor-
mation had been received by the Government relative to
Tobago?
Mr. HAWES said Chat the Government had not re-
ceived any information.
OATIIEDI3.ALS AND COLLEGIATE CHURCHES
Mr. HORSMAN then rose to move, pursuant to
notice, that an humble address be presented to her Ma-
jesty, praying that she will be graciously pleased to
direct an inquiry to be made into the state of
our cathedrals and collegiate churches, with a view
of ascertaining whether they may not be
rendered more conducive to the services of the
Church and the spiritual instructions of the people.
His proposition was shortly this. These establishments
were formerly endowed for public purposes, they were
invested with large powers and large properties for en-
couraging charity and promoting education. For a
long series of years these establishments performed the
functions for which they were originally fcunded with
vigour and effect; but in late years they had fallen
into a state ut torpor which was greatly detrimental
to the interests of the Church, and utterly opposed to
every principle of Christianity. To convince the House
r,t this he need only bring under the attention of Hon.
Members the present state of the see of Canterbury.
In that see there were nine members of the Chapter,
who, besides dividing amongst themselves 17,0001. a
year, derivable from lands and property attached to the
,ee, had in their possession the patronage of 40
livings, and were in the receipt of annual sti-
pend& amounting to upwards of 8,0001. each.
.I:he question naturally to be asked then was, what did
these functionaries do for all this money? What ad-
vantage was derived from their services or conferred
upon religion? He had made an inquiry into this ques-
twn, and it was melancholy to state that they did abso-
lutely nothing that was at all calculated to promote the
interests of religion. Bearing in mind the large provi-
sion that was made for the comfort of the chapter, let
them now see what the chapter dial for the public. The
services performed at Canterbury—of the character of
which he should have something to say directly—were
two a day ; and he had obtained a return of the number
of persons who attended these services on two of the
finest -days last week. At the morning service the offici-
ating parties nearly equalled the congregation, the num-
bers being 22 against 25; while in the afternoon the num-
bers were 23 as against 53: bat Canterbury presented a
favourable aepect, in this respect compared with other sees.
At Durham the return was so extraordinary that he had
it taken over again, and for three days, instead of one,
and be found that on the morning of the first day the
number of official functionaries was thirty two, and the
number of the congregation four.—(Laughter.) In
;.he afternoon there were thirty-three functionaries pre
,ent, and the congregation numbered thirty-seven; and in
he two following days the- attendance was nearly the
.iame. Taking the three die together, the number of
(Zicials present was one-third more than that of the
congregation.—(Hear, hear.) Oxford was also remark •
zble iii that respect, for the officials numbered fifteeu,
Ind the congregation eighteen; and at Lincoln the
congregation only consisted of eight persons, whilst
the number of officials present was 24.—(Hear, hear.)
And as far as-he had been able to judge, those richly
endowed institutions which ought to give every encou-
ragement to persons to attend the services, were shunned
icy the public. At Canterbury, out of a population of
15,000, the average attendance at the cathedral was only
39. Indeed, it was an universal fact that in proportion
to the richness of the cathedral institutions the poorer
were the elm-relies in the city, and from a me-
ruorial which was presented by some clergymen
r_f Canterbury to the Ecclesiastical Commission,
is appeared that the highest salary of a clergyman
-here, with the exception of one, was 1404, and the lowest
75/., and that the salary of the 'whole clergymen did
:rot amount to more than the salary of one member of the
'captor. The Hon. Gentleman then called the attention
1 the House to another return, showing that the attend
:ince at the Established Churches at Canterbury was
5,700, and the attendance at Dissenting Chapels 4,800.
Thug. the Established Church had 8,000, and the Die-
senters 3,700. The largest attendance at the churches
of the Established Church was 3,200 ; at those of
the Dissenters, 2,670—whilst the number of scholars
who attended the former was 647; that of the
Dissenters eSto,—(Hear)—so that the whole attendance
in favar of the Church was one seventh, and one-
:eurth in favour of the Dissenters in this richly endowed
city of Canterbury. In the fifteen churches
belonging to the Church, there was service in
ten only in the morning, in the afternoon in
seven, and in the evening in five : so that
ill fact one-third of the churches were shut up on Sun-
days in which morning service should be performed,
and more than two-thirds of them were closed in the
eveehig- Now in these fifteen churches twenty-
two ~ervioes only were performed, whilst
in the nine Dissenting chapels as many
were performed, • showing the . great'--- activity
of the Dissenters.—(Hear, hear.) If this wits the state
of the churches of the city, it could not be -expected
that the chapter took greater care of those in the rural
districts, contiguous to the town. Ten of these were
visited by the district
the district committee, and it was found
that in near
whole of them but one ser-
_vice was pertormed on the Sabbath. In several
performed on alternate Sun-
of them service was only
days ; levy had a resident incumbent, and none pos-
ses.ed way. schools.. .lii the poorest parish—Trinity
pa,risb, in Dover—the-incumbent either came himself or
sent his curate onoe a
.fortnight
and the one or the
ae:ervveircael whatever.ilospit
hospital,
ra"nlng or afternoon,
other preached emitohnerthenith;l:
Was
no
but in the winter
—(Hear, hear.) Then there wezt
mans of the
in Canterbury
fur the decayed
underihe Ar officio ,
P" of th
chapeer.—hospitals
alth
The nomination off the poor mewnaslaid w,.4llecatnoownns,
and what did the House suppose the
.course that
had been adopted by
nating poor men they
thatibodhyad? Wnhomy,iinnasttedeea osfernvomi.
tuts
t had
_, tbeir iiwric and Mr. Aorcnhedoefacthoen
niCo:tofwe
actually appointed Mr. Austin,
iden -of, Cantirbary, one of the poor bruoteharer, e,heaanA
stall in t 4"!.4 lisi' -Austin one of the poor sisters.—(
- But thai was not'all; Archdeacon Croft had a
f-,0001• a year, and other Church emoluments
tez.;soa,eind with all the he_ had not
Oesitited to adopt the course to which he had referred.
Nothing, in his opinion, could justify the carelessness
that robbed the poor people of Canterbury of the benefits