The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-13 00:00:00

THE PRISON MINISTERS' BILL.

The committee on the Prison Ministers' Bill sat yester-
day, under the chairmanship of J. F. Maguire,
Esq.'
M. P. for Cork. The principal witness called was t
The Earl of Carnarvon, who expressed himself again_,s
any increase in the number of Roman Catholic chaplani"
in gaols, but preferred the working of the present systelf;
He did not object to the increase on religious growl°
but because of the increased expense and the necessary
i
employment of addititonal warders. He is chairman i,(1)
the visiting justices of the gaol at Winchester, and ~
did not think there was any inducement held out to Romaa
Catholic prisoners to attend the Protestant chapel by ther
being no other service in the gaol. Did not consider the hour
release from solitary confinement would be such an
ducement—it would be of the smallest possible character.
If Mr. Rathbone, the chairman of the Liverpool visiting.
justices, thought differently, although he had a great „,,re„
spect for that gentleman's opinion, yet he would not
Dept that opinion without some cross-examination. I."'
Winchester county gaol a Bible and Prayer-book were
placed in the cells of all prisoners, without discriminationd
and all but first-class Protestant prisoners were pernail,
to have a tract in addition. A Roman Gotha...,
prisoner had the Douay version of the Bible in his books
and was further entitled to any Roman Catholic bo
recommended by his minister. That rule applied., 1:
prisoners of every class. The reason for giving a I3T„„
and Prayer book to all prisoners indiscriminately,
that not more than.s or 6 per cent of the Roman Catholic
prisoners could read ; and it was not, therefore, thought
desirable to alter the rule of the gaol, to treat a Bible a.ni!
Prayer book as part of the cell furniture. Catholic boa!
were not left in the cells of Protestant prisoners excelo
by accident. It was against the rules of the gaol to do
Personally, he should have no objection to Protestant boo k°
being kept out of the cells of Catholic prisoners ; but It
would involve considerable changes, and a correspondl
expense. He .did not think that leaving the Bible an
Prayer-book in the cells was forcing them upon the
tholic prisoners. They had formed a library of Cathohe
books which was under the charge of the Roman Catlin:
lie minister. The schoolmasters are Protestant ; but It
was perfectly optional whether the Roman Catholic Pri:
soners went or not. Where there was a sensible Protestans
chaplain, he generally satisfied the Protestant Dissenter!
as well as the Church prisoners ; but his lordship could ...110
say whether he satisfied the Roman Catholics also.
Collinridge was the Roman Catholic chaplain, so far:
giving instruction to the Catholic prisoners in their cel
was concerned. Winchester was one of the earliest
counties to appoint a Catholic minister under the act.
had no objection to the Roman Catholic minister says
1
what books were . proper for the prisoners A.
his faith, instead of the Protestant Bible an;
Prayer-book being part of the cell furniture—beyoul
involving extra expense and new arrangements. He ba
had some correspondence with Mr. Collinridge as b°
increased facilities for the religious instruction of the
Catholic prisoners, and to arrangements for their assn
dated worship. The court had extended the time 'e•
instruction, so that the minister was now allowed three
hours per day for the purpose. With respect to assa"
siated worship, the justices thought it would involve 33
increase in the staff of prison officers and the furnishing
of another chapel. The proposal of Mr. Collinridge
would seriously interfere with the discipline of the gaol;
but if at any time the Roman Catholic prisoners should
so increase as to bear a large proportion to the other pri-
soners, the court might then consider such an arrange'
ment as was proposed. There had been cases of Protes-
tant dissenters objecting to attend the ministrations of
the Protestant chaplain. They were principally Baptists
and Presbyterians. The Catholic prisoners were at
liberty to take their own Bibles with them
school but the schoolmaster read from the
Protestant Bible. If a Roman Catholic prisoner, rather
than listen to it, stayed away from school, it would be to
his own loss. That was his misfortune, being in tin
minority. In reply to other questions, his Lordship sa°l
that at Winchester the Roman Catholic prisoners
were certainly confined to their cells durin
the worship of the Protestants ; but he.
such di
no not believe as
confinementmore
had
the class of people who are prisoners, if there were such
, beenthan
thesta stated that they
oodkitretagdeadt
themselves Protestants than really did.
Ile
ead of
a feeling in their minds, a great many more wouldhdaedclanroe
objection to the Act being made ins
optional, if the matter were fairly considered and (1°
cussed.

SIR JOHN BOWRING ON OPIUM.
Sir John Bowring writes to the Pall Mall Gazette
on
the opium trade : It has been long known that tie
poppy has been and is cultivated largely in at least fa!!
Chinese provinces, and in the earlier edicts it was lel
to the use of opium than to the ' oozing out ' I);
the sycee silver in payment for the ' foreign drilgis
that the objections were urged. It was ration
notorious that many of the decrees against the importat'°4
of opium emanated from those who themselves consulz.,„
it. Employed in excess, there can be rip doubt of 11;
being deleterious and dangerous, but its mischiefs 11°.e,
been much exaggerated. I caused statistics to be 10.„
pared when I was Governor of Hong Kong, and it 'or;
shewn that there were fewer deaths among tm,
60,000 natives who Smoked opium than among 600 Bur-
peans . addicted to drinking. Among forty of ~
y
own dependents and servants there was only
be
who used the drug to excess nor let it
forgotten that opium has to a very large extent banis,he
intoxicating liquors, formerly much used in China. -lhe
drunkard is led to commit every sort of violence ;
effects of opium are much less unjurious—they who state,
it are delivered over to delicious though delirious drearp
but the community suffers little from these excesses..
believe no legislation will prevent an indulgence Nitc,4
may be called national, and were Indian opium prohiblird
and its supply checked, the vacuum would be soon fill
up from other quarters. Any increase upon the ho,v
av,'
duties now levied in China will but give greater encourae-s-i
ment to smuggling, especially along the extended 040
and amid the many islands of the China sea, and
almost universal corruption of the Custom-house officers*

THE PLEBISCITE FEVER.
Paris has gone mad over " Oui" and " Non" during
the last few days, as it does over every new thing- °l':
journal notes that towards the end of April the propriete°r
of a large magasin de nouveautes advertised a material he
ladies' dresses styled " Foulard-Plebiscite," of whic it
is
kept two shades called respectively Oui and Non.
said that the wife of a certain political personage, wTast
people accuse of having changed his opinions during the of
30 years, has been anonymously presented with a dress ole
this material,the colour of which changes accordingly as, a
light falls upon it. A few days previous to the v°l"ed
baker in the neighbourhood of the Palais Royal `sereelle
heap of petits pains in his shop window, upon which r
stamped :—" Pains PlObiscite, Oui;" and now a jewe tart'e
on the boulevard, who has invented the plebiseitio
jewellery, exhibits sleeve links and scarf pins with
word " Oui " written across them in large letters.

_Ayes:
The Dublin Court of Queen's Bench decided
terday that the Magee Presbyterian College, L°"°l-
derry, was not a charitable institution within the gleaint
ing of the Act exempting such institutions from Pr.°
of rates.
A letter from a gentleman, says a Bristol P9'4.1°,1
makes the following statement :—" Mr. Bright, whO Ke
Llandudno, is much better, and is out every day' d to
knits garters to amuse himself, as he is only allowe
read but little."

BIRTHS.
On the Ist ult.; at Allababad, the wife of Lient.-Col. W. 1)
Bishop, Bengal Infantry, of a sou. Brook's'
On the 10th, at 64, Regent's Park-road, Mrs. HeDrY
of a daughter.

. . .3.14 R.ql AGES.
On the 7th filet., at St. Andrew's, Holborn, r
Frederick Sec
mouy, youngest son of Mr. H. Banks, 4, John-street, °
Elizabeth Belshani, adopted daughter of Mr. and Ms•
Lucalh. _
On they 111th arn
inst., at Forton, Gosport, John Thomas Irog1:
Esq:, RN., to Lucy Mary, eldest daughter of the Bev.
B. Denuys, chaplain to the Military Prison, Gosport.

DEATHS.
On the 10th inst., at Hastings, Mr. John Gilliam, silver-
smith, of 6, Serle-street,
On the 11th inst., of bronchitis, at Wandle-road, Croydon,
in her 82d year, Mrs. Mary Newman, late of Huston.

London: Printed and Published by WILLIAM ANDREW'f,
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Office, No. 112 f,
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the Couuty
Middlesex.—Friday, May 13, 1870.