The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-20 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE—This Bay.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

COURT OF DIVORCE.
(Before Sir J. P. Wilde and a Special Jury.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.-LAST EVENING,

BOARDMAN V. BOARDMAN (AND QUEEN'S PROCTOR INTER-
VENING.)
Mr. Coleridge, Q.C., and Dr. Spinks appeared for the
petitioner, and the Solicitor-General and Mr. Harmer for
the Crown.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.

SALE OF ESTATES BY AUCTION.

Lord ST. LEONARDS gave notice that on Monday next
he would draw the attention of the house to the law relat-
ing to the sale of land by auction, and bring in a bill onthe
subject similar to that which had been rejected by the
House of Commons.
THE EXTRADITION LAW.

This was a suit by the wife for a dissolution of marries.,
on the ground of her husband's adultery and cruelty, to
which he replied, pleading denial, condonation, and he re-
criminated the charge of adultery. Information reached
the Queen's Proctor to the effect that there had been col-
lusion between the petitioner and respondent to obtain a
divorce, and he accordingly intervened. The parties were
married at Glasgow in 1860, the petitioner being only 18
and the respondent being also young. The petitioner was
possessed of property, and had an absolute re version 0f.£10,000
on the decease of her maternal grandfather. They went to re-
side at Liverpool, where the respon dent carried on business in
partnership with another .gentleman. For about 18 months
after the marriage they lived happily together, but then
the respondent, who had induced his wife to assign to him
her fortune of £l,OOO and her reversion of the £lO,OOO
already mentioned, commenced neglecting her, being in the
habit of seldom coming home till late at night, and
addicting himself to gambling and drinking, although
not to the ;extent of intoxication. In the year 1863
Mr. Boardman and his wife went to live in the house of a
gentleman and his wife, named Bousfield, at Liverpool
with whom they were on most intimate terms. They
afterwards removed, and Mr. Bousfield died, which, how-
ever, did not interrupt the close intimacy that previously
existed with Mr. Bousfield. Mr. Boardman allowed his
wife to go to public places of amusement with Mr. Bous-
field, and did not object to his kissing her in his presence
The marital intercourse between the petitioner and his
wife continued until, when it came to the knowledge of the
petitioner in the early part of February, 1865, that her
husband was keeping a woman named Smith, and that he
had had an improper intimacy with other women during
the• time of their cohabitation. She immediately com-
menced proceedings to procure a divorce ; and the respon-
dent also filed a cross-petitlon, charging his wife with
having committed adultery with Mr Bousfield. In con-
sequence of this Mr. Bousfield brought an action against
Mr. Boardman for slander, but was nonsuited on technical
grounds.

. _
The LORD CHANCELLOR, in moving for leave to
bring in a bill on this subject, said the French Govern-
ment had expressed dissatisfaction at the Treaty of Extra-
dition, and had given notice that at the perioi of its expi-
ration they woitld discontinue to be parties to it, but had
consented to allow it to remain in operation until next
December, with the distinct understanding that it should
then undergo an alteration. A bill on the sub-
ject had been prepared by the late Government, and
would have been introduced by the late Secretary for
Foreign Affairs except for the change of Ministry. That
bill met the emergency of the case, and it was the measure
he proposed to introduce to the house. The present treaty,
which had been extended by the consent of the French
Government, was agreed to in 1840, and. lasted until
1860, when it was renewed, and was entered
into between the United States, France, and Denmark,
while France had no less than 53 such treaties. Having
explained the anomalies of the exististing treaties,
which excluded only the cases of murder, fiaudulent,
bankruptcy, and forgery, he expressed a hope that the
house would consent to allow him to introduce the bill.
After's few remarks from the Earl of CLARENDON, the
bill was then read a first time.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills were read. a third time and passed :
—Great North of Scotland Railway, Llanelly Railway and
Dock, 31uswell Hill Estate and Railway, and Great
Eastern Railway (Alexandra Park Branches.)
The Imperial Gas Company (No. 3) Bill was read a
second time.

The Glasgow Corporation Water Bill and Glasgow
Bridges BilL was advanced a stage.
The order for the second reading of Masters and Opera-
tives' Bill was discharged.
The Pier and Harbour Orders Confirmation Bill went
through committee.

Several witnesses were called for the purpose of dis-
proving the allegation of adultery of the petitioner ; and
ode of them stated that Mr. Boardman said in his presence
that his wife was as pure as snow. There was medical
evidence also to show that Mrs. Boardman was suffering
from a loathsome disease, which she alleged was commu-
nicated to her by her husband, which constituted cruelty.

The Glebe Land (Scotland) bill was read a third time
and passed.

The Revising Barristers Qualification Bill was read a
second time.

The Carriage and Deposit of Dangerous Goods Bill was
also read a third time and passed.

POLICE iNTELLIGENCE.--This Day.

The Sheriff Court-houses (Scotland, 1860) Act Amend.
ment Bill was read a second.time.

MARLBOROITGH-STREET.

The New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land Bill
was read a second time.
Their lordships then adjourned.

EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE OF ROBBERY.—Catherine
Gairard Holt (stylishly dressed) and Kate Holmes were
charged before Mr. Knox with stealing a gold watch and
chain, of the value of .£B, the property of Mrs. Louisa
Leslie, who described herself as a milliner, of No. 10,
Kcmpsford-road, Ear,y read, Kennington.

HOUSE OF COMMONS--LAST EVENING,
The Speaker took the chair at 4 o'clock.
PRIVATE 13USINRSS.

The prosecutrix—l was at Barns's, the Grapes, in the
Haymarket, at a quarter to one on Wednesday morning,
taking some gin and strawberries. Holmes took my watch
and-chain off my neck, and pretended to give it to some
one, but did not, do so. I asked my niece, who was with
me, where my watch and chain were, and she said that
Holmes had got them.

The following bills, with amendments, were considered
and agreed to :—Bedford and Northampton Railway, Bray
Improvement, Bristol and North Somerset Railway (Addi-
tional Capital), Great Yarmouth Fish Wharves and
Tramways, Singsbridge Railway, Lynn and Sutton
Bridge, Spalding and Bourn, and Norwich and Spalding
Railway Companies, North British Railway (New Works,
&c.), Peterborough, Wisbeach, and Sutton Railway, and
Somerset and Dorset Railway.
THIRD READINGS.

Tho following bills were read a third time and passed
—Claro College, Cambridge (Blythe's Benefaction:
and Troyte's Estate.
Southern Railway, Taylor's Estate,

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 20, 1866.

returning officer in England, in case of an equal number
of votes being polled for two or more candidates at an elec-
tion, to return all such candidates.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER agreed with
Mr. Lowe that the Mayor of Holston had by his letter
cleared himself of his contempt ; but with regard to the
motion of the hon. member he recommended that it should
be deferred for a few days, in order to give the house an
opportunity of properly considering the matter, and seeing
what might be the fate of Mr. Goldsmid's Returning Offi-
cers at Elections Bill.
Mr. GLADSTONE concurred in this recommendation,
and the discussion was adjourned for a week.
THE INDIAN BUDGET.
In committee of the whole house,
Viscount CRANBOItNEsaid it was the practice in treat-
ing- Indian finance to deal with three years. With respect
to the first of the three, 1864-5, the gross revenue
was £45,653,000, and the gross expenditure £45,846,000,
being a deficit of £193,000, being a difference of more
than £BOO,OOO from the estimate. In regard to the year
1865-6, the gross revenue was £17,041,000, and the gross
expenditure was £47,020,000. In that year there was an
increase generally in the land and forest revenue, though
the net profit from the latter was at present but small. The
excise yielded £2,291,000, being a gain of over £47,000 on
the previous year. The income tax had been repealed, princi-
pally because it had been a complete failure in India, though
at tenpence in the pound never producing more than two
millions a year. The salt tax had experienced a consider-
able loss, about £167,000. The customs showed a gain of
£BB,OOO, while opium gave £8,638,000, or £1,277,000 more
than in the previous year. The public works realised a
sum of £1,016,000. Turning to expenditure, he spoke of
the enormous cost of the collection of the revenue, it being
£8,776,000, though there was last year a diminution of
over £200,000. The army cost £13,468,000, being nearly
the same as in the previous year, which was about the
average expenditure. The expenditure for public works
was £5,352,000, law and justice £2,439,000; and police
£2,398,000 ; each item being an increase. The estimate of
the revenue of the year 1866-7 showed a deficit of £72,800
The opium-tax was estimated at £8,500,000, but that was
a high and exceptional estimate ; and ho feared that too
much reliance was placed on this source of revenue. This
was the more to be regretted as the percentage of other
sources of Indian revenue had decreased rather than in-
creased ; and thus opium had become the essential element
in Eastern finance. For the current year more than
£6,000,000 was spent on public works, which was a heavy
item of expenditure, but it was, in fact, a large surplus
which was invested in remunerative works. The cash
balances at the close of the year would not be more than
£10,000,000. The railway expenditure had been a source
of enormous success, for the repayment of the outlay
was going on with extraordinary rapidity. The Great
Indian Peninsula line paid 7 per cent. on its capital,
and the East Indian nearly 5 per cent., though neither
of them was fully and thoroughly opened. In conse-
quence of a very full and able report on the general moral
and material condition of India which had been
presented to the house, it was not necessary for him to
say more than that education was progressing, public
works—particularly of irrigation—were going on; rail-
ways advancing ; the Ganges Canal had been rendered
more fitted for its great purposes, and there was much
evidence of prosperity. The shortness of his tenure of
office must be an apology, if he needed it, for his not
speaking of the policy of the Government in regard to
India, but it was quite in his power to say that that policy
was peace, public works, and an avoidance of the old ag-
gressive system of annexation.
Mr. LAING thought the house must feel greatly in-
debted to the noble lord for the interesting statement he
had made, and that they might augur well for the prospects
of India under the noble lord's administration, from the
comprehensive manner in which he had dealt with the
subject. The Governm- nt had acted wisely in not attempt-
ing to reimpose an income tax, which was peculiarly ob-
jectionable to the native population. The general system
of Indian finance inaugurated after the mutiny was not
upon the whole, unsatisfactory, and he saw no reason why
the revenue should not increase at the rate of a million a
year. Any future difficulties that we might encounter in
India would, he believed, most likely arise from the extent
to which irregulars were employed in the army, with an
insufficient number of European officers to command them.
The police system also required an improved organisation,
for at present there was great danger of its becoming a
military force.
Mr. STANSFELD said that if the policy shadowed out
by Lord Cranborne were carried into effect it should lead
to the keeping down, not the cutting down, of the military
expenditure, and we were entitled to hope that the
general expenditure should not increase, but be subjected
to a gradual and moderate reduction. Further, if we had
abandoned the old policy of conquest and annexation, then
the time had come when we were bound to concentrate all
our energies upon the civil government of the country, and
the moral, intellectual, and material progress of the people.
This meant financially a much larger civil outlay, and
more money spent upon law and justice, and above all
education, for which the people of India were athirst. He
should be glad to hear that the noble lord adopted these
views ; and in that case Mr. Stansfeld assured him that he
should have his cordial support.
Mr. SMOLLET T recommended that economy, and not
new taxation, should be the rule of the Indian Government

in future.
Mr. CRAWFORD expressed a general approval of the
policy enunciated by the Chief Secretary.
Lord W. HAY, referring to observations made by pre-
vious speakers on the subject of annexation, took occasion
to defend the administration of the Marquis of Dalhousie,
contending that the annexations of territory then effected
were absolutely necessary for the consolidation of our
Eastern empire.
Sir J. FERGUSSON, noticing the remarks of Mr. Laing
respecting the police of India, said that on the whole the
force worked very well, and that so far as the army was
concerned he could not agree with the hon. member that
it was an element of danger.
Mr. J. B. SMITH was gratified at hearing that the
Godavery was to be opened, for it was really the Miss-
issippi of India. In his opinion, however, public works
should be provided for not out of revenue, but by means
of loans.

The discussion was continued by Colonel Sykes, Mr.
Liddell, Mr. Ayrton, and Lord Dunkellin, and closed with
the adoption of the usual resolution declaratory of the re-
venue and charges for the financial year.
The consideration of the Thames Navigation Bill wag
resumed in committee at Clause 63 shortly before midnight,
but it was a quarter to two in the morning before the re-
maining portion of the clauses were agreed to, and the
bill ordered to be reported to the house.
REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE BILL.—RE-
DISTRIBUTION OF SEATS BILL.

Mr. GLADSTONE, who rose at a quarter to two o'clock,
said —On rising to move that the orders be discharged, he
had a few words of explanation to offer as to the course he
proposed to take. On the occasion of the resignation Of
the late Government he had not moved the discharge of
the orders, under the conviction that it was their duty to
give the incoming Government an opportunity of consider-
ing the course they should adopt with respect to the bills,
The declaration of the leading members of the Government
in another place, and likewise in the country, showed that
it was not their intention to take any step in reference to
the bills, a course of which he did not at all make a com-
plaint. He did not think, however, that the motion should
bo taken altogether as a matter of course, and ho had there-
fore given notice of 1115 intention to make it, in order that
if any member desired to take the opinion of the house
upon it he should have an opportunity of doing so. At
that late hour he would not enit7 into the reasons for not
going forward with the bills at this per;ji of the session,
but perhaps it was expected of him that after ai; t.that had

taken place he should say a word as to the future. As re-
gards the future, the great subject of the representation of

the people was not primarily in the hands of himself or of
those with whom he had been connected. It was, of
course, to her Majesty's Government that in the first in-
stance the country would look for a decision in reference
to those bills. He did not desire to press the Govern-
ment upon the question, nor did he make any com-
plaint that the Government had declined to give an
early opinion upon the course they intended to adopt
He would only say that it would be matter of great satis-
faction, both to his colleagues and himself, if the Govern-
ment should be in a condition to moot this question, and
to deal with it in a satisfactory and effectual manner. He
did not ask from them, nor was he prepared to give on his
own part, or on the part of those with whom he had the
honour to act, any pledge either with respect to time or
any particular provisions of the late bill, or any bill for par-
liamentary reform. This was not the period at which the
matter should be so handled, but they would be glad to
support any measure which they believed to be good and
effectual, and without the smallest regard to what had hap-
pened should be ready to assist and congratulate those who
might be more fortunate than themselves. (Cheers.) He
must also say, without conveying any imputation what-
ever on any class of persons, that they were not the parties
who would consent to the passing of any measure that they
should regard as reactionary or illusory in its provisions,
and to such a measure they should offer the best resistance
in their power. Beyond that, to any questions put to him
in regard to their future course, and to their intentions in
respect to this matter, he would only say that they should
wish to be judged by what they had said during times past
and in the present session. He meant not so much in refer-
ence to the particular terms or provisions for the attain-
ment of an object of such great public importance, in re-
spect to which all parties ought to remain entirely free, as
in respect to the temper, the spirit, and the aim with which
they should at any time, if it became their duly in the place
which they now occupied, to approach this su‘)ject. With
respect to those points, they would wish their futureeoz
duct to be interpreted by their language and their act
the past. With those words he begged leave to move that
the the orders of the day for going into committee on the Repre-
sentation of the People Bill and Redistribution of Seats
Bill should be discharged.
The order was then discharged.
The Commons Metropolis Bill passed through com-
mittee.
The remaining orders 'were disposed of, and the house
adjourned shortly after 2 o'clock.