The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-17 00:00:00

MINISTERIAL POLICY.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL—I stated that I would to-
day give notice to the House the general course of
policy which it is the intention of her Majesty's Govern-
ment • to pursue with respect to those Bills before
the House, and I will do so in moving the consideration
of the order of the day. On Monday I will state to the
House the policy which it is the intention of the Go-
vernment to pursue with respect to the sugar
duties. I will then unfold the •plan we con,
sider ought to be adopted, aft( r which I propose to
adjourn the further consideration of the question until
to morrow week (Frida ) It is now late in the session
to lose time, and I will make as little delay as possible ;
at the same time I propose a short Bill for the continu-
ance of the sugar duties for one month, or until Parlia-
ment shall otherwise ap: rove.—(Hear.) With regard to
the Poor-law Removal Bill, I gave' already stated my
general views respecting it to the House, and what is
further proposed to be ch•ne will be stated by the Seere•
tart' fur the Home Department. The next Bill before
the House is the Drainage Bill. Some Members
of the Gore nment will undertake the care of that Bill,
with the hope of carrying it through. The next are
the Bills brought in by the late Chief Secretary fur
Ireland—one of the most important of these Bills,
the Ejecttnent Bill, it is our intention to adopt with
some slight alterations, preserving especially that clause
which prevents the seizure of growing crops. We
also propose to proceed with the Lease Bill ;
but with respect to the Tenants' Compensation
Bill, we find the machinery so exceedingly complicated
that we will postpone it for further consideration. There
are some other Bills affecting Ireland, regarding which
the Chief Secretary for Ireland (Mr..Labouchere) will be
able to answer whatever questions will be put to him.
There are some Bills which are now in the House of
Lords ; one of them is called the Small Debts Bill,
which is a Bill similar to the one which has been in-
troduced by the former Gcvernment, and which has
been repeatedly before Parliament. The present
Government entirely approve of the general purport of
that Bill, and although it is a Bill of great length, i
containing many provisions, they do hope that they will
be enabled to obtain the sanction of Parliament
to it during the present session, as it is a
measure of very great importance. There is
another Bill, which likewise is at present in the House
of Lords, which the Government do not propose to take
into their own hands unless necessary, but which I trust
will obtain the assent of Parliament—it is called the
Religious Opinions Bill. That Bill was introduced by a
member of the late Government, in the name of the
Government, and, therefpre, is a Government Bill. I
trust that the author of that Bill will continue to take
charge of it; but if he should not do that, some mem-
ber of the present Government will then propose that
Bill in its present shape. There are many other Bills
which are not of great importance, which we propose
to go on with. With respect to other measures pro-
posed to be introduced I will not give any detailed
notice. I will only say that, looking at the improve-
ment of waste lands in Ireland as a subject of
the greatest importance, we shall endeavour to
introduce a preparatory- measure ; and it it is ne-
cessary to tisk the aid of Parliament for any
measure of that kind, we shall do so this session.
At all events we shall endeavour to take steps between
this time and the next session for the introduttion of
aone measure on the subject. These • are the general
,tatements I have to make, and I beg to move that the
orders of the day be now read.