The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-10 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF COMMONS—Tins EVENING.

Mr. DopsoN (deputy-Speaker) took the chair at four
o'clock.
NEW MEMBERS.
- -

Mr. C. Fortescue loa.th;;;1;;;;This seat for Louth,
Mr S. Goldsmith took the oaths and his seat for Honitou,
and Mr. Eckersley for Wigan.
NOTTINGHAM ELECTION.
Mr. ADAIR, the chairman of the committee, reported
that a witness named Springall had refused to attend the
summons of the committee. The witness was ordered to
attend on pain of imprisonment for contempt.
THE FRANCHISE BILL.

A number of petitions were presented in favour of this
bill.

HAMPSTEAD, HIGHGATE, AND...CHARING-

CROSS RAILWAY BILL.

Mr. C. FORSTER moved that the order that the Hamp-
stead, Highgate, and Charing-cross Railway Bill be
committed, be read, and discharged, and that tho bill be
withdrawn.

The motion was agreed to.
LEIOESTER-SQUARE.
Mr. W. LESLIE asked the First Commissioner of
Works whether there was any intention of causing the en-
closure in Leicester-square to be turned into a garden or
ornamental ground, under the provisions of the Gardens
in Towns Protection Act, 1863 ?
Mr. COWPER said the Gardens in Towns Act of 1863
imposed no new duties on bim ; but with respect to Lei-
cester-square, it did empower the Metropolitan Board
of Works to deal with that spot, and the Board had pub-
lished a notice that they intended to do so. That notice
had been followed by legal proceedings on the part
of the gentleman who claimed the soil of Lei-
cester-square, and he had no doubt that cause
would so be decided. With respect to the statue with one
leg and one arm, that was private property, and the owner
of it had sot taken that decent care of it which he uught to
have done.

TENANT RIGHT (IRELAND).
Mr. O'BEIRNE asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland
whether he would fix a day for the introduction of the bill
for the improvement of the law of landlotd and tenant in
Ireland.

Mr. C. FORTESCITE said he could not positively state
when the bill would be introduced, at all events it would
not be until after the decision of the house on the Fran-
chise Bill.

THE LOSS OF L'ABBE.
Mr. B. COCHRANE asked the Under Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs whether the Foreign-office have re-
ceived any despatches to justify the hope that there are
some survivors of the ship L'Abbe, which was wrecked
off Tonadi Nuova in 1855, still detained as prisoners
among the Somaali on the coast of Africa; and, if so,
whether the Government would take any steps to procure
their release ?

Mr. LAYARD said the Government felt deeply for the
families of the persons who had perished by the loss of
this vessel. It had been supposed that all persons on board
had perished, but in 1861 it was supposed that some of the
survivors were in the Somaali country, and, accordingly,
inquiries were made which led to the belief that the hope
was altogether unfounded. But since that some hides had
been brought to Zanzibar :with European characters cut
upon them, and that had led again to the belief that some
white people were in the Somaali country. It was inha-
bited by a very wild race of people, and was almost inac-
cessible, but the Government had requested Dr. Living-
stone and Dr. Kirk, the latter of whom was proceeding to
Zanzibar to make the most searching inquiry as to whether
any white people were in captivity. He could assure
the hon. gentleman that the Government would do all in
their power to effect the release of any Europeans, if it
should prove to be true that there were any under the un-
fortunate circumstances referred to by the hon. gentleman
opposite. (Hear, hear.)
INCOME OF WORKING MEN.
Mr. B. STANHOPE asked the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer what information existed as to the amount of the
aggregate income of the working men of this country, and
on what basis that amount had been calculated ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he
was not aware that anything which could be called infor-
mation existed on the subject. His observations had been
made upon computation derived from the census returns,
but that could not be called information. It was merely
an opinion._