The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-02 00:00:00

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Leader of the house with respect to the coming Re-.
form Bill. There can be no doubt of the great

interest that is felt in the measure, and, as is

usually the case, almost every one has a different
suggestion, a fresh claini, or a new remedy. Mr.
DISRAELI, however, is not to be moved from his

official reticence, and is by no means inclined to
mar the effect of the bill in its collected form by

presenting its details piecemeal to the public. Mr.
SHERIDAN gave notice of a motion in favour of

household suffrage. Mr. WHITE asked for some

nformation respecting the agents who are to

prepare the bill itself, and other inqui-
ries :were made. The most important topic
touched upon was the representation of Scotland,

which Sir W. MAXWELL brought particularly under

he notice of the house. The hon. baronet remarked

ipon the dissatisfaction existing in Scotland, be-

cause no mention of the Scotch representatives had
been made in the new Reform scheme, and he re-

ferred to the return of last year, which showed the
proportional numbers belonging to each kingdom.
Taken in proportion to population Scotland should

have 69 members, taken according to taxation 86,
and according to the mean 78. The present num-
ber of representatives is 58—a number falling miser-

ably short of either of these estimates. In the bill of
last year it was proposed to give Scotland seven
additional members. In the bill of 1859 no specific
increase was made, but the claims of Scotland were
acknowledged. Sir W. nIXWELL went on to show
that the largest and wealthiest county in Scotland
sent only half the members returned by the county
of Rutland. It was proposed to give a member to
what was called the black country, but Scotland
had also a black country—Lanarkshire—which was
daily growing in wealth, population, and import-
ance, and which was only represented by a single
member ! The hon. baronet urged that the Chan-

cellor of the Exchequer should apply the same rule
to Scotland as he had to England, and reinforce the
county representation. Sir J. OGILVIE, Sir C.
COLEBROOKE, and several other members supported

the claims of Scotland to increased representation,
and Mr. BRUCE more particularly advocated the
right of the Scotch Universities to have one, if
not two, members. In answer to all these various
appeals and arguments, Mr. DISRAELI said that

ie Government were far from thinking that there

was any excess of representative power in Eng-
land, and, therefore, they could not cpnseut to
satisfy the claims of Scotland at the expense of
the English representation. At the same time
he declared that they were ready to consider

the state of Scotland without any prejudice,
and simply with regard to its actual requirements.
As for the Scotch Universities, he confessed that for

his own part he was favourable to mixing constitu-
encies, founded upon intellect and education, with
those great material interests which must necessarily
form the bulk of a representative system. The
right hon. gentleman took credit to his own party
for having in 1859 introduced the measure which
gave a corporate representative character to those
Universities, and thus enabled them to prefer their
present claim. It was not, he said, likely that they
would now be indifferent to the claims of the great
seats of learning. However, the right hon. gentleman
naturally enough was unwilling either to fix a
day for the introduction of the Scotch Reform Bill,
or to give any intimation of its character. Since
the day is not yet fixed for laying the English Bill
upon the table it is not reasonable to expect that the
Scotch Bill can be immediately introduced, and its
character must be necessarily very much affected by

the principles which are accepted for England.
There is a very simple and effectual mode of dis-
posing of the difficulty respecting.the increase of re-
presentation. Scotlanl has had an insufficient num-
ber of members, and prefers a just claim for
more. England is unable to spare any, since,
allowing for a considerable redistribution
of seats, there are so many thriving and
populous districts totally unrepresented, that what-
ever members may be taken from the smaller
boroughs can be speedily apportioned in the manu-
facturing counties, and other great hives of industry.
But there is no special charm in the number of 658,
which has been rigidly adhered to in every succes-
sive Reform Bill, as if the population, property, and
intelligence of the country had remained immovable
since 1832. If 658 was a fair representation
in 1832, most certainly it cannot be a fair
representation in 1867. We might as well
have 700 members at once, and • even then
the proportion of members and constituencies would
not be evenly balanced. But, supposing that our
Ministers and politicians shrink from so considerable
a change, why should they not reverse the magic
figures, and have 685 instead of 658. We venture
to assure them that a good many persons will be
none the wiser, while the addition of 27 members
will allow for a fair consideration of the claims of
Scotland and Wales, and a more efficient represen-
tation of England itself. If the Chancellor of the
Exchequer can succeed in giving representatives to
some more of our unrepresented districts, he will
greatly add to the popularity of his scheme, while he
will have justice and common sense on his side.
There will still be plenty to do in the way of redis-
tribution, but the alteration of the standing num-
ber of the members will considerably lighten the
worst part of the duty.

Last night Mr. NITALroLE brought in his Fac-
tory Act Extension Bill which was read a first
time amid general.applause. The right hon. gen-
tleman entered into an elaborate explanation of
the measure' before the House, in order that the
matter mightbe fully understood before the ques-
tion again came on for debate. It is not likely
that any one who has considered this subject will

differ from the Home Secretary, when he says
that it is desirable to extend the principle of
these Acts to those trades not yet subject to
them on account of the flagrant evils existing in
them. Originally the Factory Laws were
only applied to the cotton and woollen
factories, but since then they have been
extended by the Bleaching and Drying Acts, and
by the Lace Acts. Six other kinds of trade were
included in 1864, subject to various modifications.
Now that this question is engrossing so much atten-
tion, it is important and interesting to dwell upon
the main principles which have distinguished these
Factory Acts. The first object was to provide for
the health of those who are employed in factories,
on sanitary grounds ; secondly, to take care that
all dangerous machinery is properly guarded ; and,
thirdly, to enforce tho half-tim2, system with

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