The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-04 00:00:00

PUBLIC PETITIONS.

The third report of the Select Committee on Public
Petitions gives a long list of additional petitions presented
to Parliament. The first is from electors of Dumfriesshire,
praying to be heard in reference to the election of
Sir Sidney Waterloo, which has been disputed on the
ground of his being a Government contractor. Petitions for
the Ballot, for the extension of the franchise to women,
and for other alterations in the Reform Bill follow ; to be
succeeded by a formidable list of petitions in favour of the
disendowment of the Irish Church, bearing altogether
49,504 signatures. One against the disestablishment comes
from Toronto. No less than sixteen appeals for the repeal
or reduction of fire insurance are added to those previously
reported. Three additional petitions for an alteration
of the law of licenses for beerhouses, come from Leeds,
Lancaster, and Bolton. A solitary petition comes from
Coventry against the renewal of the French Treaty ; and
one bearing 203 signatures of barristers-at-law, and
others, is in favour of erecting the new law
courts on the Thames Embankment. No less
than 112 petitions, bearing 148 signatures, come
from Poor-law medical officers for inquiry. Nine appeals
for restriction of the sale of liquors are included in the
list. Mr. Morrison, of the British College of Health,
has, we see, not been without imitators in his petition
against the Vaccination Laws. Happily, as the two peti-
tions for their repeal mentioned in this report only
represent two signatures, we need not be very aporehen-
sive of the results.

ELECTION PETITIONS.

.411-

At the hearing of the Taunton election petition onWed-
nesday, Mr. Henry James, the defeated candidate, was
called, and he gave evidence to the effect that he gave the
strictest order that bribery and corruption were to be
avoided, and it was a condition of his standing that not a
farthing was to be spent improperly. He would rather
lose the seat twenty times than ratify the spend-
ing of a penny improperly. From his professional
experience he also had a great objection to the
use of public-houses, and he never entered them except to
canvass the landlord. He did not know, after strict
inquiries, of any bribery or treating on his behalf, and he
took every step to avoid everything of the kind. Mr.
Cole, Q.C., was at one time a candidate, but as the result
of a ballot, Mr. Cole got 42 promises, and Mr. James 700.
After a complete canvass of the borough witness got 994
promises out of a net register of 1,900. Witness left the
borough for a time, and on his return was asked by voters,
" Are you going to pay us our court money; the other side are
doing it ?" and such questions. Witness believed these
payments were decisive of the result of the contest. Wit-
ness, esteeming them to be bribery, refused such pay-
ments, and the result was that he got the name of being
mean. Witness admitted in cross-examination that some
members of the Liberal Registration Association were
paid ss. for loss of work in attending the registration
court, but only on producing certificates that they at•
tended the court and that they were members of the asso-
ciation. _ .

In opening the Wigan election petition against the
return of Messrs. Woods and Lancaster, before Mr. Baron
Martin, Mr. Giffard said he believed that one important
feature, if not the most important feature, in the inquiry
would be that rates had been paid in a wholesale manner
for voters, with the intention and upon the distinct bargain
that they should vote for Messrs. Woods and Lancaster.
There were a great number of cases, but one would illus-
trate the whole. A man named Wilcock, who was acting
for the sitting members, had paid the rates for a number
of voters, and had arranged that the votes should be
recorded for Messrs. Woods and Lancaster. The names
of the candidates were not mentioned in many cases, but
it was well understood by the voters for which side they
were to vote. Wilcock said, " You must vote for a
good man ; a man of the right principles ; you must
vote for him who has paid your rates." About fifty
persons had been treated in that fashion, and had
accordingly voted as they had promised to do, namely, in
favour of Messrs. Woods and Lancaster. In the next
class bribes had been administered, not in the shape of
direct money payments, but in employments. At Mr.
Wood's own colliery, and at a colliery in which Mr. Lan-
caster was one of the chief animating spirits, voters had
been applied to, and if they exhibited any hesitation, it
was intimated to them that they would probably not
retain their situations. In a great many instances employ.
ment had been promised and given on the condition,
expressed or implied, that the votes should be recorded in
favour of Messrs. Woods and Lancaster. In another class
undue influence had been used on persons actually in em-
ployment. In one notable cuse a man named Tyson
had been summarily dismissed by his employers, Messrs.
Peck and Wood, for having expressed his intention to
vote for the Conservative candidates. It would be
shewn that the relations existing between Messrs. Peck
and Wood were such as to make the sitting members
responsible for Tyson's dismissal. There were two cases
—one especially which affected Mr. Lancaster. If their
evidence could be believed, two men, named Abbott and
Mawdsley, went to Mr. Lancaster's house in October
last, and received a pound eachron the understanding that
they would vote for Mr. Lancaster, who paid the money
in person. There were cases of smaller money payments,
but these could not be traced to the candidates themselves.
There were cases of treating, but there did not appear to
have been so much treating as there had been in other
places. In one case a third party, not a voter, was supplied
with money to buy drink and refreshment for a voter who
had asked for it.

An application has been made in Vice-Chancellor
Maline's Court to commit the proprietors of the Bristol Times
and Mirror for contempt of court, in publishing an affidavit
in connection with a suit (not yet ready for trial) against the
directors of the Cheltenham Waggon Company. The Vice-
Chancellor ruled that the publication was a contempt of
Court, and that the proprietors of the paper were liable to
committal. He adjudged them to pay the costs of the
application.
The case of the Rev. R. D. Duncan has for some
weeks engaged the attention of the Liverpool Bankruptcy
Court. At the sitting of the court on Tuesday Mr. Commis-
sioner Perry expressed a strong opinion that the bankrupt
had brought himself within those conditions of the Bank-
ruptcy Act which would disentitle him to an order of dis-
charge, and the judgment of the Court was that the order
should to suspended for two years, with liber'y to apply for
protection at the end of six months.
A fatal termination to a case of hydrophobia
occurred on Tuesday at Preston. The victim is a boy aged
six years. Three days before Christmas a blue terrier dog
belonging to the little fellow, fought another strange dog
which is supposed to have been in a rabid condition. The
blue terrier flew at the little boy, and tore away part of the
bottom lip. Notwithstanding the attention of eleven medi-
cal gentlemen, he died early yesterday morning.
Mr. West, our consul at Suez, gives a favourable
opinion of M. de Lesseps' canal. Ho says: -"I have strong
doubts of its being carried out within the prescribed period.
I nevertheless believe that a cutting leading from one sea to
the other will be effected, and, judging from the effects of
the facilities already afforded by the fresh-water canal in
conjunction with the Maritime Canal at Ismailia, there is
every reason to expect that an increasing amount of traffic
will pass through the Canal Maritime some time before its
entire completion."

MILITARY EDUCATION.—The fifth annual report
of the Council of Military Education has just been issued.
The report speaks very favourably of the efficiency and
general conduct of the army schoolmasters and school-
mistresses, and shews a considerable improvement in the
state of education in the army. Of a total of 169,214 men
reported upon, 16,010 can neither read nor write, 17,924
can read but not write, 124,893 can both read and
write, 10,387 have " a superior degree of education."
It is stated that in 1866 the percentage of men who could
not read or write was 12'45 ; in 1868 the percentage
was reduced to 9'46 ; the proportion of men who could
read only in 1866 was 16'12 per cent. ; in 1868 it was
reduced to 10'59. The proportion of men having a superior
education was fractionally larger in 1866 than in 1868.
The best educated corps is the Royal Enginers, where
only 1.34 per cent. are returned as uneducated ; the worst,
the Military Train, where the proportion of uneducated
reaches 24.0; per cunt. In 1865 it was as high as 38'62.
A good deal of complaint is made.of the
&Li I,xity_pf. attend'
thos-49101w port 61

NOTICE..
The Third Edition of " The Sun " of last Evening was
published in Aim° for delivery in town at 7.15 p.m.