The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-26 00:00:00

SUN TDON, WEDNESDAY MORNING,

or amendment be offered in ,the House unless the
shall have been so submitted to the Chairman of the
Committee of Ways and Means, and he shall have re•
ported to the House whether, in his opinion, the clause
or amendment be such as ought or ought not to
be entertained by the House without referring
the same to the Select Committee on Standing Orders."
One of the principal alterations was, that where a turn-
pike-road was to be passed by a railway, the rise of any
arc or bridge or embankment should not be more than
one foot in thirty, and where a private road was to be
passed, the rise should not be more than one foot in
twenty. In Ireland it was proposed to pass an immense
number of these. roads, and some such regulation was
absolutely necessary to save great public inconvenience.
The House w*uld see that the altered+ 113 were chiefly
verbal, and he wou'd, therefore, move at once that the
report be agreed to, for the adoption of the new orders
as the future regulations on private Bills.
Mr. HUME, in rising to second the motion, was quite
sure that the House wes greatly obliged to the Hon.
Gentleman and the other Members of the Committee of
Selection for their great labour, and that there would be
a great relief to the Members of the House, that the
business of private Bills would be placed on a better
footing in future sessions, and greater satisfaction would
be given to the country.
The motion was agreed to.
CAMERON'S COALBROOK STEAM COAL AND
SWANSEA AND LOUGHOR RAILWAY.
The Lords' amendments to this Bill were agreed to.
SOUTHWARK, VAUXHALL AND WATERLOO
BRIDGES.
Mr. BROTHERTON presented petitions from South-
wark praying for the free passage of these bridges.
DISTRESS IN IRELAND.
Mr. LABOUCHERE presented petitions from Cork
and Antrim counties praying for inquiry and relief.
SMALL DEBTS' BILL.
Mr. AGLTONBY presented a petition, numerously
signed, praying that the appointment of the officers under
this Act might remain with the Lord Chancellor.

ENGLISH CONSTABULARY.
Mr. HUME moved for a return of the numbers and
services of the constabulary in England during the past
year.

I earliest
‘ 0:
,e,,. House to the re
opportunity next sessien of calling the attention
ih
port of the Andover Committee.
taS.L.Lv--..., .1.11 COUNTY OF MAYO (IRELAND).
Ehgt
iaordnewaiadsui wished
re
statement
to callnhti
Mr.
thepoirLdLeroosf thendnagwbesin
i •of the house to the state of distress
attention.
which facts
that
a thered ifp e
ameeea measures es
societyw e re
n the cou. '47
Srfeadifauylo.deslitietu
to show the
county was lithe:. 'tin'
gtLatt4dishtreessfe,
otherw oul d
places,perish
andc a
su humanha r beings
and
not taken to relieve
would be endangered,
nts that the potato-crop
of starvation. From '
itili the rot, but the whole
There were not less
he had received accot:
had not only been ,tainted
crop had entirely disappearew. Th.
and an immense number in a state e!nsely approximating
than 42,000 people in that count- in a state of famine,
to destitution. [The Honourable Member read
several documents to prove thai his statements were not
exaggerated, every one of which save a most appalling
description of the state of wretcheziness which existed
in the west of Ireland.] He hoped ihe House would
of taking imme-
press upon the Government the propriety
se
diate and more effectual steps than were propod to avert
the awful calamities which were impending. He did not
wish to make an inflammatory speech, but to give an
unvarnished statement of facts. He knew the priesthood
would endeavour to repress any outbreak, and to preach
resignation and patience to the people under-their suffer-
ings, but a crisis might arrive when reason and religion
would be disregarded, and cravings of nature burst
through all restraints. The Hon. Member having referred
to - the landed proprietors of that country, many
of whom were entirely ignorant of the extent
and situation of their properties. and who consequently
had little or no knowledge of the tenantry and labourers
on them, concludcd by pressing upon the Government
and the House the awful responsibility in which they
were placed with regard to this destitution, and the ne-
cesity of taking immediate and effectual measures for

its relief..
Sir DENHAM NORREYS corroborated the state-
ment of the Hon. Member who had just sat down, with
respect to the great distress which at present prevailed,
and was to be anticipated in the west of Ireland.
He trusted that the Government would now seriously
turn their attention to the condition of Ireland, and pre-
pare measures which would tend to bring permanent
employment to the people, who were, as it were, children
in their hands, for they had never been left to themselves.
The British Legislature had ever interfered with the
gentry of Ireland, for the purpose of furthering their own
interests at the expense of the people of Ireland. Eng-
land owed to that country a great debt, and it was but
just that they should repay a portion of that debt by
increasing the means of employment t f the people of

Ireland.
The O'CONOIL DON considered that he should not
be discharging his duty if he did not rise to confirm
the statements of the two Honourable Members who
had preceded him. He wished that the failure
of the potato crop were confined to the
county of Mayo, but it was a lamentable fact, that the
greater portion ',of the whole' of Ireland would be ob-
jected to the greatest distress during the coming winter
from the same cause. He could assure the House that
the Government were most anxious to do all in their

power_ to alleviate that distress.
Mr. GRANGER wished to known if the Government
had r.ceived information of the distress that at present
prevailed at Kinsale ? He held in his hands letters to
prove that the distress was most alarming, and that, if
remedial measures were not immediately taken by the
Government, the consequences to life and property

, -
would be most destructive.
Captain LAYARD corroborated the statements that
had been made as to the distress prevalent in Ireland,
and stated that he had seen that morning a letter from a
gontleman who had recently travelled from Cork to
Dublin, and that letter stated that in the whole course
of that journey he did not see one potato field which
was not tainted.
Mr. LABOUCHERE did not dispute the truth of
the statements made by the Irish Members that the
potato crop had failed to a greater extent this year than
the preceding one. He believed that Mayo, of all the
other counties in Ireland, was the one which
would suffer most from the potato blight.
He found by the last accounts from Mayo, that Indian
meal was selling at Id. per lb., and every one must
admit that that was an exceedingly low price; thirty tons
of that meal were lately sold at Westport at that price, and
he therefore did not conceive that any one .need have
any apprehension as to an outbreak in Mayo froth a
want of food. The Hon. Member had said that it was
useless to talk of the cheapness of the food
if the people had not money to purchase it.—(Hear.)
In reply to that he could only say that the Government
had exerted themselves towards establishing public works
in Ireland, but, unless their efforts were aided by the
landed proprietors in that country, they would, he
feared, prove unavailing.—(Hear, hear.) The most fatal
step which the Government could take in reference to
this subject would, in his opinion, be an interference
with the importation of food, which he considered
would plentifully flow into Ireland in the regular course
of trade. The Government, however, were prepared
to interfere to this extent—they would take measures to
prevent food in Ireland rising to a price which the people
could not pay. The Government would continue to devote
their most serious attention to this subject, but he
must again declare that the landlords of Ireland
were in a far better position to aid the prosperity
of Ireland than the British Legislature. All the
accounts of distress in Ireland that had reached
this country brought the very gratifying intelligence
at the. same time that the people were most
long-suffering and patient, and that the clergy,
both Roman Catholic and Protestant, did their
utmost to prevent the people from committing any acts of
violence in their suff,rings. He hoped that every one
would feel it his duty to prevent as much as possible the
tendency to exaggerate, which manifested itself so much
in reference to the distress in Ireland.
SMALL DEBTS BILL.

On the order of the day for the third reading of the
Small Dsbts Bill being read,
Mr. WARBURTON said that he hoped the claims
for compensation, to be made under this Bill, would be
regarded with the utmost jealousy by the Government.
Sir G. GREY said it was the opinion of the Govern-
ment and of the Lord Chancellor, who had been con-
sulted on the subject, that no danger would result from
that source.
Several additional clauses and verbal amendments
were proposed and agreed to.
The Bill was then read a third time and passed.
DISTRICT LUNATIC ASYLUMS (IRELAND).
This Bill was also read a third time and passed.
PAWNBROKERS' BILL.
This Bill was also read a third time and passed.
WASTE LANDS (AUSTRALIA) BILL.
This Bill was also read a third time and passed.
LEGAL EDUCATION.
Mr. WYSE brought up the report of the Select Com-
mittee on Legal Education.
PRIVATE BILLS.
Lord LINCOLN moved for a return of the number
of private Bills which have passed since the year 1838,
classifying them as railways, bridges, canals, roads, &c.
MEDICAL REGISTRATION.
Mr. WAKLEY presented several petitions in favour
of a system of medical registration.
PUBLIC RECORDS.
Mr. PROTIIEROE wished to call the attention of
the Government to the necessity of taking some imme-
diate steps for the preservation cf the public records,
by establishing a proper place for their deposit. A
great mass of the records were at present left in the
greatest danger, and he doubted not but that, if in-
stead of their being the records of the nation they
were common Government stores, or clothing for the
army or navy, a place would very soon be provided for
-them. The new Houses of Parliament would not afford
any proper convenience for them. Mr. Barry had
stated that the Victoria Tower would be a most
improper place for depositing them ; he hoped, therefore,
that the Government would, in this, the 19th century,
build some plain and simple building fit and proper for
a depository for these valuable national records ; he
would, therefore, move—" That it having been reportea
to her Majesty, by the Del-lay Keeper of the Public Re-
cords, that all the record repositories in the me
tropolis are subject to such an amount of risk
from fire, that they could he insured only at
the following premiums :—Rolls' Chapel, at ls. 6d. per
cent. ; Chapter House, Rolls House, and Wakefield
Tower, at 2s. per cent. ; Carlton Riding House, and
White Tower, in the Tower, at ss. per cent. It being
observed of the latter repository by Mr. Braidwood,
Superintendent•of the Fire Brigade, that no merchant of
ordinary prudence would keep his books and accounts in
the same situation in which the records are placed in the
said repositories. That a large annual expenditure is in-
curred for temporary arrangements and repositories, and
for watching the same. That the public records are
justly deemed of such national interest and value as to
°evasion a large yearly grant of public money for their
custody and administration. It is the opinion of this
House, that no further delay should take place in the
erection of a suitable record repository, pursuant
to the Act for keeping the public records, passed on the
14th day of August, 1838."
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said,
that at present he could give no other opinion on the
subject except that it was necessary that some place
should be erected for the purpose of preserving these
records.
After a few words from Mr. P- ROTHEROE and Sir G.
GREY the motion was withdrawn.
BUCK INGITAM. PALACE.
In the absence of Mr. Hume,
Mr. P. BORTHWICK moved for a copy of the report
of the commission to inquire into the salubrity of
Buckinghani Palace to Lord Melbourne.
Mr. PROTUEBOE hoped that if the arch in front of
Buckingham Palace was removed, the beautiful sculp
ture of Mr. Blore would not be destroyed, which he had
intended for the top of the arch, but which had been
placed at the top of Buckingham Palace. He (Mr.
Protheroe) did not quite concur in the general condem-
nation of Buckingham Palace; he believed that some
portions of it would do credit to the best periods of
Italian or Grecian sculpture.
Lord MORPETH said that as it was decided to put
up the statue by way of experiment he did not wish
to say anything on the subject at present.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES PREVENTION BILL.
The Lords' amendments to this Bill were then read
and agreed to.
Captain PECIIELL presented a petition horn 23 indi-
viduals, *ho were prisoners in the Queen's Bench
prison, complaining of the treatment inflicted upon
tiiem there by the keeper. -who frequently put them in
solitary confinement, their treatment being that of felons
instead of debtors. He also presented a petition to
the same effect from Mr. P. Berrieg, a debtor in the
prison.

I adduced before the Andover Union Committee would be
laid upon the table of that House?

Captain PEC HELL said that the evidence was being
revised by the Chairman previous to its being placed in
the hands of the printer. All the members of that Com-
mittee were most anxious that it should be produced at
the very earliest period possible.
The House adjourned at half-past Three to a quarter
to Two to-morrow.