The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-21 00:00:00

THE IRISH MAILS.

Sir P. HEYGATE asked the Secretary to the Treasury
whether the attention of the Government had been
called to the alleged irregularities which had occurred
during the past six months in the running of the night
=ails from Dublin to Londonderry, and what measures had
been taken to remedy the evil.

Mr. CHILDERS said certain irregularities had been
complained of, but new and more powerful engines had
been since employed, and, with the exception of two de-
lays, occurred by accident, there had been no complaints.
There was no power in the hands of the Treasury to im-
pose penalties for delay.
THE NEW LAW COTJRTS.

Mr. C. BENTINCK asked the First Commissioner of
Works whether he would state the names of the gentle-
men appointed to serve on the committee for the selection
of the architects who were to compete for the new Law
Courts ; whether the number of architects was determined,
and who was to have the final decision on the merits of
the plans; and, whether he would lay upon the table the
proceedings of the Royal Commission ?
Mr. COWPER said commissions embracing nearly all
the •
Pidges and a member from each branch of the legal
profession considered the question, and a committee
0 t
appointed .
compete
for the plan.
the architects who were to
Justice of plan. It consisted of the Lord Chief-
of the England,Exchequer, the Attorney-General, the Chancellor
the hon. member lotrba First Commissioner of Works, and
with the matter were Perthshire. The papers connected
as e very voluminous, but they would be
produced as soontlsir.l)ossible. The names of the architects
were Mr. Scot
Hardwick.'ar Street, Mr. W. Hows, Mr.
Wyatt, and Mr.
CONSUMPTION
aOF
skedM EAT AND CORN.
Mr. S. NORTHCOTE t
the President of the Board
of Trade what amount of information the Government
could give respecting the consumption of food, especially
no
corn and
GIB
at various perioON said there
ds.wiPonrohe present century.
Mr. M. Greoliable statistics
which at present could give the information
verom
SOUTH KENSINGTON. rePiirel
Mr. CAVENDISH BENTINCK asked the
o Chancellor
of the Exchequer what course her Majesty's G
eIIt
intended to pursue relative to the vacant ground at South
Kensington and the erection of a building there ; and,
whether any bill was to be introduced this session for the
removal of any of the collections now forming part of the
British Museum.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
Government intended to take two votes with respect to
this subject, but until those votes had been decided he
could not say when the bill would be brought in.
PROCLAMATIONS IN IRELAND.
Mr. S. B. MILLER asked the Attorney General for Ire-
land why the county and city of Armagh had been pro-
claimed under the Peace Preservation Act without the
inland portion of the county of Louth, which adjoins the
county of Armagh to a large extent, being at the same
time proclaimed ; and whether there was any intention of
proclaiming the county of Louth or the portion of it above
referred to.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for IRELAND said the
course thought best had been pursued in Ireland. There
was no cause at present to proclaim the county of Louth.
CARRIAGE OF TROOP HORSES.
Mr. W. GORE asked the President of the Board of

Trade whether the horses of the Carabineers were moved
on their route to Ireland in cattle trucks ; and, if so, whe-
ther any measures were previously taken to disinfect those
trucks from the seeds of the cattle plague ?
Dir. COWPER said the directors of the London and
North-Western had undertaken that the horses should be
moved in horse-boxes, and the greatest care was to be
exercised with respect to the prevention of infection.
PROVISION FOR PRINCE ALFRED AND
PRINCESS HELENA.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQ ugli brought up
a message from her Majesty, asking that provision might
be mado for the Princess Helena on the occasion of her
marriage, and Prince Alfred on the occasion of his coming
of age.

The Royal Message is to be taken into consideration on
Thursday next.
STATUE TO LORD PALMERSTON.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said on
Thursday next that he should move an humble address
to her Majesty, praying her Majesty to give directions
that a statue to the late Lord Palmerston be erected in
Westminster Abbey, and that that house make good the
charges thereof.
This motion: was also ordered to be taken into consi-
deration on Thursday next. _
JAMAICA.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
order for consideration on Thursday would be the bill for
the government of Jamaica.

THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL.

Mr. D. GRIFFITH obtained leave to bring in a bill to
enable the Postmaster-General to sit in the House of Com-
mons.

ARTIZANS' AND LABOURERS' DWELLINGS.

Mr. M. TORRENS obtained leave to bring in a bill to
provide better dwellings for artizans and labourers.
THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.

Mr. CLAY rose to move for leave to bring in a bill to
extend the elective franchise in cities and boroughs in
England and Wales by creating an educational franchise.
This qualification, he explained, was that any man of full
age should have the right of submitting himself to be
examined before the Civil Service Commissioners, and,
upon such examination, should receive a certificate, which
he would deliver to the town clerk, or in non-incorporated
boroughs to the officers charged with analogous functions,
and that thereupon he should be placed en the register of
voters for such borough. A payment of one shilling
would have to be made by him upon presenting himself to
the cominissioners as a candidate, and a further fee of one
shilling and sixpence upon obtaining his certificate. The
subjects upon which ho would be examined and certifi-
cated would be reading, writing, spelling, and the four
rules of arithmetic.

Mr. GREGORY seconded the proposition, and stated
that he believed in the bill as a good one. It was high
time that some of the elite of the working classes at pre-
sent without a vote were introduced to the franchise. The
measure, he considered, was calculated to elevate, not to
debase, the constituencies, and for that reason it would re-
ceive his cordial support.
Lord ELCHO said he did not like to enter into the
general question of reform, as he knew that hon. gentle-
men were desirous of resuming the discussion on the
cattle plague. He wished to say a few words with refe-
rence to the hon. member for Hull. Accustomed as they
were to hear upon the subject of reform denunciatory
eloquence from the platform of Birmingham, Manchester,
and Rochdale, he thought it was refreshing to find an
advanced Liberal like the hon. member endeavouring to
do something better towards solving the question of re-
form than palming off upon them a £6 bill as a panacea
for all the political ills of the country. In bringing for-
ward his measure the hon. member was only following
in the wake of the hon. member for Westminster, Mr.
Hare, and others. (Hear, hear.) The hon. member, in addi-
tion to the educational test, would give every man a status
in proportion to his intellect and acquirements. Still ho
must say the measure of the hon. member was both novel
and pedantic in some respects, and these were qualities that
did not tend to insure its success. He was afraid the bill
would not be of the permanent character which the hon.
member anticipated, for it might happen that after a time
some hon. members would move to have the standard of
examination lowered. It would also admit a clever man
without character, and he had no doubt CounsellorKelly or
Caseley would pass the proposed examination. Another
objection ho entertained to the measure was that it would
not be final. He thought there might be future members
of that house, Viscount Amberley perhaps, who, after
walking two hours through Leeds, might urge that the
working classes were so wise that they should have a vote
without examination. What the Reform Bill of 0115 Go-
vernment was to be no man could tell. Before the meeting
of Parliament they were told it was to be a single barrelled
bill ; now there was a rumour that tho measure would
consist of two barrels ; but they were all agreed that it
would bo loaded with No. 6.

No hon. member having risen, the Speaker was about to
put the question, when
Mr. HORSMAN said he thought it was due to the
house that they should have some expression of opinion
from the Government on the proposal of the hon.
member for Hull. He could not understand why the
Government :should have such extraordinary reluctance
upon the bill, after having declared Reform to be the
absorbing, overwhelming, supreme question of the day.
(Opposition cheers.) He could imagine ono excuse for
the reluctance of the Government to speak upon
the question. There must be some degree of soreness at
the bottom of the reluctance. The hon. member must
be an object of envy to the Government. (Laughter.)
The hon. member for Hull, like the Government, pledged
himself to introduce a bill at the earliest period of the ses-
sion ; and, unlike the Government, he kept his pledge. The
hon. member, like the Government, promised to extend
the franchise ; but, unlike the Government, he offered them
something better than Lord Russell, who would only give
them a House of Commons elected by the mob. (Cheers
from the Opposition.) If the Chancellor of the Exchequer
wore unwilling to pass an opinion upon the bill, he was
surprised that those large and comprehensive reformers
below the gangway, who were all their lives roaring for
intelligence, did not offer some opinion on the bill of the
hon. member which rested the franchise upon intelligence.
(Cheers and laughter.) They were busy enough during
the recess, but the Queen's Speech mesmerised all the large
and comprehensive reformers. The hon. member for Bir-
mingham had been completely stunned by it. (A. laugh.)
On coming down to the house the day of the Queen's
Speech, he met an advanced reformer, and asked him how
they had been treated in it. " Very badly," he replied;
" they have shunted us into a siding ; but we won't stand
it, as you will see this evening. Come down at 5 o'clock,
and you will see the hon. member for Birmingham explode."
(Great laughter.) He went down to see the hon. member
explode, but he did not explode. (Renewed laughte.r.)
When the right hon. gentleman the member for Droitwich
alluded to the remarks of the hon. member the other even-
ing, he was ready enough to explode on Jamaica; he was
also great upon the cattle plague, and went off half-cock
upon Ireland. (Roars of laughter.) But on the subject
for which the whole nation was clamouring at the doors of
Parliament, the temperament of the hon. member was per-
fectly frigid. They had been told what .great things the
late election had done, of the new blood it had introduced,
and they were pointed to Westminster, Brighton, and
Lambeth. The reputation of these gentlemen had pre-
ceded them to the house, where they were welcomed
with pride and with pleasure. The house believed what
it was told, that the zeal and sincerity of those gentle-
men were even greater than had been represented. The
house had waited and watched for them to redeem the cha-
racter of the great reform party. They had waited, but
with what result ? He could well imagine these gentlemen
assembling around the hon. member for Birmingham at
the Reform Club, and one of them asking him what he was
doing about reform. " Oh," says the hon. member for Bir-
mingham, drawing himself up, " I am waiting for statis-
tics." (Laughter.) Then he turns to the hon. member for
Westminster, with " What are you doing on reform ?"
"Oh," he says, "I am helping the member for Birming-
ham." (Laughter.) Then he goes to the member for Brigh-
ton, and asks, " What are you doing about reform ?" and
"I am helping the member for Westminster" would be the
reply. Turning to the member for Lambeth, he would say,
"And you are probably helping your hon. friends ?" The
member for Lambeth replies, "Probably I am." Then he
meets a candid reformer, and, putting the same question to
the senior member for Brighton, is told that they were
helping the member for Birmingham to smother reform
under a mass of imaginary statistics. Now, they did not
expect on a qualification having intelligence for its basis
any very great assistance from those who went with the
hon. member for Birmingham. They who were with the
hon. member went a great deal further, and every one knew
that intelligence was fatal to agitation—(hear)—but they
did expect from members who had gained high position
and influence in that house, that they would follow reform
with a purer spirit of morality than had distinguished the
question for the last few years, because when men of that
kind were found to have degraded the Parliament they
were intended to adorn, it was nothing short of a national
calamity. (Cheers.)
The CIIANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER —My right
hon. friend who has just sat down expressed his hope that
h
should hear a few wards from the Treasury bench. I
hope he will be contented with a very few, and I assure
tom also that he will derive some benefit from them. The
principal duty
ineinix;r air Hull.
I have to perform is to render. a just tribute
great fore
to the speech wo
charac-
terised by g haverh heard this evening from the hon.
great ingenuity in then hand
That speech, as I thought, was charac-
above all, by the evidentability. in statement, and by
Candling of a difficult subject, but,
sense of the serious nature
On all these points lefthe
earnestness and sincerity and a
thankfo r hyat thh hon,
position ho was in.
ieb friend
related
aftoerd theto
(Hear.)
proposal he has
expressions he used, especially
wahn oc
bene-
volently has
ao sf
and which fixed the moral character of
made in his own words. My right hone
just sat down leads me a little beyond the, performances
this evening, by the contrast which ho has beenm
pleased to imagine between the position of mhon. friend the member for Hull, who has fulfilled all his
pledges, pledges, and that of her Majesty's Government, who he
seems to think have already, before they have spoken one
word, contrived to break the whole of them. I cannot
admit that we' feel any of that mortification he supposes

hwoenesshtoyuladndffsuinethrgytydeorf inthecohntoen.m pmlaemtinbegrtfhoer tulml.phazt
contemplate
of a good manemplatethatwintandly
with the satisfactioninspires—lawuhgihcthh
inspires—(laughter)—but
on-
dit
is entirely unalloyed by any reproaches of conscience as
to what wa have yet done, or not done, on the subject of
reform. In the speech of her Majesty it 'was stated that
the Government were engaged in gathering information
on this subject. Our responsibility with respect to this
part of the question may be very well tested by two con-
siderations : the first is, the time at which the Cabinet
was formed, and the time we had to proceed with the
inquiry after the death of Lord Palmerston ; and
the second, the important question whether, after
the careful debates that took place in 1860, it
was or was not material or important, with a view
to the satisfactory handling of the subject, that an
effort should be made to place Parliament and the country
in possession of the best and most accurate information
which we could command. (Hear, hoar.) We came to
the conclusion that such information was desirable. If my
right hon. friend thinks fit to challenge our judgment, and
to say this is a proceeding intended only for evasion or de-
lay, it is competent for him to do so. But at any rate,
whether these views were just or not, our duty has been a
perfectly simple one. We have prosecuted the business of
these inquiries and the management and manipulation of a
number of particulars with respect to the situation of coun-
ties and boroughs. If it is to be considered worthy of this
house by such attempts at accuracy and precision as the
subject matter will admit of, to gain information, that is a
thing not to be attained or accomplished without lapse of
time ; not one moment has been lost, and the announce-
ment of the time when it will be our duty to make a pro-
posal to this house must dep end, and will depend, entirely
on the day when we shall be able to place the house in
possession of this information. Very few days I hope will
elapse before I shall be able to state when that day will
come. (Hear, hear.)
" My bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne."
I have no sins to answer for, nor I think have my col-
leagues, as far as the delay hitherto charged upon us is
concerned. As respects the modest invitation, and as re-
gards the more elaborate invitation for some expression of
opinion from me on the part of the Government with re-
spect to the merits of the proposal, I flatter myself that on
that subject neither the respect which I bear to the gen-
tlemen nor the admiration I have of their abilities, nor any
other motive, shall succeed in extracting from me the
smallest particle of information. (Much laughter.)
Leave was then given to bring in the bill.
Mr. BOUVERIE (in committee of the whole house)
obtained leave to bring in a bill to repeal certain portions
of the Act of Uniformity, and it was afterwards read a first
time.

Sir J. PAKINGT ON nominated the select committee on
education.

The house then went into committee on the Cattle
Plague Bill, and the discussion of the clauses occupied
nearly the whole of the remainder of the sitting.
Several bills were advanced a stage, and the house ad-
journed.

Railway and other Companies.

MIDLAND.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at Derby, Mr. W. E. Hut-binson in the
chair. The report, an abstract of which has ap-
peared in The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report,. said that in it the satisfaction of the direc-
tors was expressed at the increased traffic ; but,
owing to exceptional circumstances, there had been
some decrease in the receipts for conveying cattle
and minerals. In reference to the former, if it so
happened that the plague resulted in the establish-
ment of large dead meat markets, he believed it
would be better for the community ; certainly they
would prefer carrying dead meat to live cattle.
Upon the mineral traffic the decrease had been
£6,000 as compared with 1864, but circumstances
in connexion with the colliers' strike in South Staf-
fordshire had caused an exceptional increase in that
year. In order to show the progress which had been
made in their mineral traffic, he might mention that
in the year 1863 their receipts for mineral traffic
amounted to £263,000 ; in 1865 the amount was
£312,000, and the increase in the coasting and mer-
chandise department had also been very satisfac-
tory—it having been £58,000. This increased
traffic had led to an increased expenditure. Their
accounts showed, unfortunately, an excess of
£11,390 in compensation for accidents as compared
with 1864. The state of the money-market during
the last half-year had not been favourable, but
they had renewed their loans on terms quite as satis-
factory as they could have expected; the average
had been rather less than 4i per cent., which was as
good or perhaps better than any other company. A
summary of the result of their working in the last
half-year showed an excess (net) in disposable ba-
lance of £2,500, and but for the occurrence at Col-
ney-hatch their position would have been highly
satisfactory. The expenditure on capital account
during the half-year showed an increase of £973,000
—this upon lines yet unproductive of revenue ; their
expenditure on the old lines had been £120,000 ;
much of this had been laid out in the purchase of
land close to large towns in order to provide for
the proper accommodation of the traffic, and there
had been an expenditure of £20,000 in the erection
of a goods station at Bristol. They had to pay a
dividend in 1864 on a capital of £14,250,000 ; in
1865 they had to pay on a capital of £16,607,000
an increase of nearly two millions and a half ; not-
withstanding this, they had been able to declare a
dividend at the rate of 7 per cent., and to carry for-
ward £12,000. He hoped that was as satisfactory
to the shareholders as it was to the directors. Their
prospects were also encouraging ; in the seven
weeks of the current half-year their receipts had
increased £24,600. He concluded by moving the
adoption of the report.
Mr. PRICE, M.P., seconded the motion.
Mr. GARNETT, and several other shareholders,
addressed the meeting, chiefly in opposition to pro-
ceeding with the Settle and Carlisle Railway. A.
resolution with the view to stop progress in it was
moved, but ultimately the report was adopted, and
the various dividends were declared as recom-
mended.