The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-11 00:00:00

°onto. on boards of guardians in respect to having walls
dry.
Mr. LOWE said that he would consent to an altera-
tion limiting the powers of the boards of guard ns to the
keeping in repair the existing wells.
Mr. HENLEY said that would exactly meet his views.
After some discussion the clause as amen i.d was agreed
to.

The remaining clauses with BODI4 a, endments were

agreed to.
The Chairman was then ordered to report progress,
SAVINGS BANKS AND FRIENDLY SOCIETIES
INVESTMENTS BILL.

The committee on this bill resumed.
On clause 1,
Mr. AYRTON said he had hoped that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer would have withdrawn the bill after the ob-
jections that had been expressed with regard to it. He
contended that the main object of the bill was to deal with

the funds of savings banks._ The proposition of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer was that he should be a banker to
administer the funds of these savings banks for the benefit
of the nation. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, however,

would be a banker of a very novel character and withonl

any security, and nothing could be more absurd than to
attempt to use the State as a banker. The committee on
savings banks had recommended the appointment of a
commission which would undertake the management of tha
aggregate funds of these institutions ; but, at the outset
they were met with the difficulty that, owing to 40 years
mal-administration, there was a deficit of £1,000,000
or
£5,000,000, and it would be necessary to make that good
at starting. He repeated his objections to the Chancellor of
the Exchequer assuming the functions of a banker in dealing
with no less than £40,000,000, the property of savings banks
and friendly societies, and he called on the committee to
agree to the resolutions adopted by the select committee on
the bill. _ _ .

.-- ---
The CHANC FSLLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
the* subject which the hon. member had introduced had
been already fully discussed and decided by the house,
and he trusted the committee would confine their
attention to the clause before them. The State was already
a banker as regarded these institutions, and allhe proposed
was to improve its condition and surround the management
with safeguards. The right hon. gentleman defended the
bill at some length.
Afier a few words from Sir H. WILLOUGHBY and Mr.

rENLEY,
The house suspended sitting, it being four o'clock.
The house resumed at six o'clock.
SICILY AND PIEDMONT.

Sir R. PEEL rave notice that on Thursday next he
should move an address for papers relating to the threat-
ened annexation of Sicily to Piedmont, and also for any in-
formation Government may have obtained as to the pro-
bable demands of France consequent thereupon. lie also
gave notice that he would ask whether Government had
intimated to the Government of Turin that it had not
viewed with indifference the uniformly aggressive policy
of that Government, and would call the attention of the
house to these subjects.
THE CONVICT_WILLIAMS.
Viscount RAYNHAM asked the Secretary of State
fel- the Home Department, whether he would consider the
I:,lropriety of recommending the exercise of the prerogative
of mercy in the case of a prisoner ix Hertford Gaol, named
Williams, convicted at the last Court of Quarter Sessions
at Hertford, of simple larceny, and sentenced to imprison-
ment and whipping, so far as the remission of the corporal
punishment is concerned.
Sir G. C. LEWIS in reply read a letter from the Mar-
quis of Salisbury showing the enormity of the offences of
which the convict had been guilty, and said that the magis-
trates in quarter sessions were empowered by the 7th and
Bth Geo. IV. to inflict the punishment in question, and
that in no instance had the punishment been more deserved.
KENSINGTON GARDENS.

Mr. E. JAMES asked the First Commissioner of Works
whether a portion Of Kensington Gardens, which had re-
cently been fenced off with iron hurdles in the shape and
size of a " two-year-old course," was intended for the pur-
pose of forming a road from Tyburnia to Belgravia, so much
desired by the public, or whether the object was to afford
accommodation to the equestrian portion of the population
to the exclusion of the pedestrian in the most agreeable and
most frequented part of Kensington Gardens.
Mr. COWPER said it was the wish of her Majesty
and of her predecessors that those gardens should be made to
afford the greatest possible recreation to visitors on horse-
back as well as those upon foot ; and recently efforts had
been made by the planting of additional flowers and plants
to make them more attractive. There was one class of the
community whose interests had been overlooked, and that
was those who were in the habit of riding in Rotten-row.
(A laugh.) It consisted of persons who were of varioas pro-
fessions—lawyers, doctors, and others—who served the
public, and who were obliged to take their exercise in a very
short space of time. (A laugh.) Hitherto they were ob-
lived to go backwards and forwards in a narrow space
scarcely large enough to hold them, and without being able
to diverge either to the right or to the loft. It seemed to
him that, if without interfering improperly with the recrea-
tions of the pedestrians a larger amount of space could be
appropriated to the riders, it would be an advantage.
(Hear.) He had therefore arranged a new entrance for
horsemen at the west end of Rotten-row, between two gates
that are devoted to pedestrians. Persons desirous of walk-
ing might therefore go either to the right or to the left of
the riders—(a laugh)—who had therefore no right to c.m-
plain. The space hitherto devoted to riders was a strip of
land only a mile and a quarter in length, while that devoted
to pedestrians was an area of upwards of 600 acres ; it would
therefore be no loss to them to give up the avenue. They
would not, however, be wholly excluded from it, as the
fences were so arranged that whilst barring the aceess of
the horses to the footwalk, they did not prevent pedestrians
passing across. He was sorry if the constituents of the hon.
and learned member had found fault with the arrangement,
which had given the greatest satisfaction not only to the
riders, but to many who walked, and who found that the
solitade was greatly enlivened by the addition of eques-
trians, both female end male. (Laughter and cheers.)
THE RECENT OUTRAGES IN LEBANON.

Lord C. HAMILTON asked the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs whether he had any official confirma-
tion of the frightful outrages reported to have taken place
in the district of the Lebanon, and whether the representa-
tives of the Christian Powers had been able to decide upon
any combined course of action calculated to put ea imme-
diate stop to such wholesale massacres.
Lord J. RUSSELL, who spoke in a 'rely low tone of
voice, and was almost inaudible, said he was sorry that the
Government had received official confirmation of the out-
rages. The statements had not, however, come up to those
seen by the noble lord 'n the pnblic papers. With regard
to the means of protecting the Christians, the representa-
tives of the ChCatian Powers had met, an had determined
to send troops to put down these outrages. Fuad Pacha
hal been sent by the Turkish Govei intent to i-westigate
the whole matter, r-ul her Majesty's Government had de-
sired the English squal-on there to interpose, and afford
every possible protection to the Christian population in
those regions. (Hear.)
THE NATIONAL DEFENCES.

Mr. MILLS asked the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs whether any arrangement had been agreed upon be-
tween the Governments of Great Britain and France on the
subject of the Newfoundland fisheries, and when the report
of the ommissioners would be laid upon the table.
Lord J. RUSS ELL said an arrangement had been agreed
upon between the Governments of Great Britain and
France respecting them, and as soon as the report of the
commissioners and the papers c nnected with the subject
could be procured, they would be laid on the table.
POLITICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN SARDINIA.
AND NAPLES.

Lord J. RUSSELL said he had received a commnnica•

Szr J. SHELLEY asked the First Lord of the Treasury
what course the Government intended to take in reference
to the report of the Commissioners on National Defences.
The report was made early in February last, and a question
was asked more than th-ee weeks ago in the other Housoof
Parliament, and the reply then given on the part of her
Majesty's Government was, that during the following week
the Government, in this house, would state the course
which it was intended to take in reference to this matter.
He wished to ask whether the Government intended to take
any steps in consequence of the report, end, if money was
to be asked for, when it was intended to propose a vote for
that purpose.
Lord PALMERSTON said it was quite right and
proper that the house should know what course the Go- '
vernment intended to pursue. His right hon. friend the
Chancellor of the Exchequer should state on Friday what
amount was required for.the China vote, and how it was
to be raised. It was quite right the house should be
made acquainted with the whole amount of the demand
which might be made upon it in the course of the session.
It was therefore his (Lord Palmerston's) intention on that
occasion not to go ixto detail on the measure to be proposed,
but to state to the house the arnouat of money which her
Majesty's Government proposed to %also for the execution
of the works in question, and in what manner they proposed
that the money should be raised.
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.

In answer to Lord J. MANNERS, as to what business
would be taken on Thursday,
Lord PALMERSTON said he apprehended that oz
Thursday there would be a statement from his right hon.
friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer as to the China
vote. He was not quite sure whether his right hon. friend
would be able on that night to go into the subject, but the
resolutions on Thursday must be reported on Friday before
he could make his statement, but when he made his state-
ment respecting the China vote he (Lord Palmerston)
would make the statement to that house to which ho had
just referred.
NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES, _ .

Mr. GRIFFITH asked the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs whether he had reason to believe that
great pressure was being put upon the Government of
Sardinia by that of France, to induce the former to enter
into alliance with the Government of Naples on the
strength of the promise of a constitution extorted at the
vmeernS
ai
last moment from its fears ; and whether the British Go-
ance. would afford its moral support to the Govern-
nt m
oefut ina
action to em.nabrleespitectto
topreasneyrvseucithe
proposedindependeanllice
and liberty ar
of .