The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-16 00:00:00

THE IRISH LAW OFFICERS.

Colonel LESLIE asked the Attorney-General for Ire-
land what arrangements were made to carry on the Go-
vernment business in that country without the presence of
any law officer, the Castle adviser, contrary to precedent,
being now in Parliament, as well as the Attorney and Soli-
citor-General.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND said he
was not aware that any complaint had been made in
which the Government in Ireland was concerned. The
fact that himself and the Solicitor-General hav-
ing seats in the house did not interfere in
the slightest manner detrimentally. With respect
.to the office of Castle adviser, he begged to say
that his hon. friend did not bold that office at the present
moment, as he had resigned previous to the general elec-
tion. Ho had continued to act, however, at his solicitation,
for a short time longer; but ho did so without receiving
any remuneration. When the law officers for Ireland were
absent from the house complaints of such absence were
often made.

Sir J. PAKINGTON asked the Secretary for the
Colonies if he proposed to introduce the Jamaica Govern-
ment Bill that evening.
Mr. CARDWELL said it had been thought advisable to
introduce a measure that evening, but the discussion of it
would be taken on Monday evening next, on the occasion
of its second reading.
NEW COURTS OF JUSTICE.
Mr. C. BENTINCK asked what steps were being taken
with respect to the building of the new law courts ?
Mr. COWPER said the selection of the design for the
new courts of justice would be by competition. As that
matter would bo a very extensive and intri-
cate one, the numbor of architects who
would be entitled to compete would be limited.
The gentlemen who were to enter into competition would
be nominated by a committee composed of some of the
leading members of the legal profession, and a number of
the members of that house.
CATTLE DISEASES BILL.
The house then went into committee on the bill intro-
duced by the Government.
Clauses up to 5 were agreed to, and Clause 6 was post-

poned.
Mr. BRIGHT renewed his protest against indiscriminate
slaughter and against the principle of compensation out of
rates raised from the whole community, particularly to the
extent proposed 133 the bill. He objected altogether to
retrospective compensation, and urged the Government to
reconsider the compensation clauses.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
the questions then before the committee were two—first,
whether they were prepared to give compulsory powers
for the slaughter of infected cattle; and secondly, whether
such powers should be conferred without compensation.
These propositions hardly admitted, he thought, of dis-
pute, but with regard to the rate of compensation he was
not prepared to say that that contemplated by the bill might
not be too high.
The amendment was withdrawn.
Mr. J. B. SMITH referred to the• practice followed in
Russia in granting compensation where cattle affected by
the rinderpest had been destroyed.
Lord CRANBORNE pointed out that in Belgium two-
thirds of the value of the slaughtered animal were allowed,
in addition to the meat where it was fit to be sold for
human food.
It was, after some discussion, resolved to retain in clause
13 the words " not exceeding £2O ;" but the Chancellor of
the Exchequer subsequently moved to strike out from the
words " such sum not exceeding two-thirds the value of
the animal, as they (the local authorities) shall think fit,'
the words " two-thirds," and substitute for them " one-
half." He thought " one-half " the value would be ample
and literal inducement to the farmer to declare when his
stock was affected with the disease, whilst the power would
be left to the local authority of adapting the precise amount
to the circumstances of the case.
Sir P. KELLY had heard the proposition with regret
and surprise. It seemed to him to have been dictated by
the member for Birmingham.
Sir J. PAKINGTON also condemned the proposal, as
founded upon the "Bright fallacy" that the bill was in-
tended for the bene at of landowners. What they were doing
must be justified on the principle of public policy or it
would not be defensible ; and on that principle he urged
the Government to hold out a liberal inducement to the
owners ol stock to come forward and declare when their
beasts were affected.

Lord J. MANNERS complained that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer had taken the house altogether by surprise,
and trusted the committee would vindicate the Govern-
ment in their original proposition, and reject the amend-

meut.
Mr. BRIGHT intimated that he thought that, on the
whole, the change was a reasonable settlement of a ques-
tion of difficulty.
Col. W. Patten, Mr. Dent, and Mr. Henley also expressed
their opinion that "one-half" was a fair proportion; whilst
Mr. Dutton, Mr. Newdegato, Sir J. Trollope, and Mr.
Duncombe were as decidedly in favour of the clause as it
stood.

Mr. DISRAELI, considering the question with reference
to the general interests of the country, and giving credit
to Ministers for a desire to act with energy in the promo-
tion of those interests, had counselled his friends to sup-
port the Government in the course they recommended in
this emergency, Ho presumed that the bill was the result
of calm and mature deliberation ; though it might neces-
sarily present some crude characteristics ; but he was not
prepared for such a sudden change of opinion on the ques-
tion before the committee. He was inclined to believe
that the first proposition was best. Under these circum-

stances, however he hoped his friends would not go to a

division.

Ultimately the clause was amended as suggested by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in that shape was agreed

On clause 16, directing the slaughter of cattle which
have been herded with diseased animals' a motion of Mr.
Bright to amend the clause by providing that such animals
should be slaughtered only with the consent of the owner,
led to much discussion, which ultimately terminated in a
division, and the confirmation of the clause by 388 to 50.
Clause 17, relating to the value of slaughtered animals,
was amended by the addition of a proviso that persons
violating the regulations should bo excluded from com-

pensation.
Clause 18, the retrospective clause, and the 19th and
20th, as to isolation of infected places, and the rules to be
applied to them, were postponed.
On the 21st clause, " movement of cattle,"
Mr. HUNT proposed amendments to the effect that no
cattle should be moved on any railway before the 25th of
March, 1866, or along any highway, canal, navigation, or
river, except in certain cases to be expressly provided for.
Sir G. GREY said this proposal necessarily involved the
stoppage of every market for fat cattle throughout the
kingdom. The effect of that would be to change the sup-
ply of live cattle into dead meat, and thus, in the absence
of the requisite facilities, materially interfere with the sup-
ply of food and greatly enhance its price to the people.
Mr. HENLEY sdpported, and Mr. HEADLAM (in the inte-
rest of Newcastle) opposed the amendment.
Mr. LOWE expressed his strong opinion in energetic
terms in favour of adopting one simple, unvarying rule
1 portion ' loc
oa f t divisionfio will,
when was-
to be applied to the whole country.
The discussion was continued amidst the marked im
takenpatien
:ell ot
this,
i st,he the
nol house,st and at 2 o clock
important
there appeared—

For the amendment
Against it
181
Majority against the amendment —B3
The amendments were then agreed to.
Mr. BOUVERIE, as the committee had now reached the
exceptions to the clause, moved that the chairman should
report progress, in order that time' might be afforded to
consider them.

Sir G. GREY consenting, the motion was agreed to, and
the house resumed.

The National Debt Reduction Bill, the Savings Banks
and Post-office Savings Banks Bills, and the Pensions Bill,

were severally read a second time

THE GOVERNMENT OF JAMAICA.
Mr. CARDWELL rose and said—ln accordance with
what I understand to be the opinion of the house, I will

now proceed to lay the bill relating to the Government of

Jamaica before the house. I will make no statement with

Mr. WALPOLE was of opinion that the hon. gentleman
had made some little mistake. He (Mr. Walpole) held
that the kind of government which- he intended the
Crown by Order in Council to proclaim in the colonies
should •be specified, and that it should not be left a
matter of uncertainty.
Sir J. PAKINGTON said he would reserve his remarks
on the question till a future occasion.
Mr. CAVE said that such a measure as that now pro-
posed by the Government had for 'some years been con-
sidered necessary by all who knew anything about the
colony.

Railway

rnpanie a

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the Waterloo-road ; Captain
Mangles in the chair.
Mr. F. Clarke, the secretary, having read the
notice convening the meeting, the report, an abstract
of which has appeared in The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption 2f the
report, said it would have been more agreeable to
the directors if they could have recommended the
proprietors an increased dividend. Still, he thought,
under the circumstances, the maintenance of the
same dividend for the past year, as they had had
since 1862, inclusive, was not an unsatisfactory re-
sult, especially as they had to work several new
lines that had come into operation, but the traffic
on which had notyet been developed. The constant
object of the directors would be, while supplying
the requisite lines, to increase the traffic receipts so
as to keep pace with the increase of capital. At the
same time they felt it their duty to discountenance
the increase of capital as much as possible. They
could not disguise from the proprietors the adroit-
ness with which new lines were being placed on the
map, especially in the metropolitan district, by
other companies. He then referred to the balance-
sheet, which showed, as regarded capital account,
that the company had expended £519,390 during
the past half-year. They had now 148 stations,
and, in consequence of the inereasing traffic they
bad continually to provide additional station and
other accommodation at various places on their gym-
tern, and to build goods warehouses. Ile held in his
band a list of payments in the half-year, amounting
to £226,730 for land and new works on 39 lines be-
longing to the company. One of the largest items
was £31,178 expended on the original line, of which
£4,860 was for land, £8,653 for the goods-shed at
Nine Elms, £1,500 for a retaining wall, £ll,OOO
for fish-joints, heavy rails, and other items, all very
good things in their way, but rendered necessary
to meet the requirements of an increased traffic.
He could give all the various items if they wished
to have them, but he would not further detain them
on that point. The gross revenue had shown an
increase of £37,238 over that of the same half in
1864, and the gross traffic in the year 1865, as com-
pared with that of 1864, showed an increase of
£67,500. The traffic for the first six weeks of the
present year showed an increase of £B,OOO over that
for the same period of last year. The traffic depart-
ment showed an increase in the expenses of £19,612.
This arose from opening new stations, increased
wages, additional signalmen, and other expenses in
the establishment of the block system of telegraph
signalling from station to station, which he hoped
would tend to prevent accidents. The report of Mr.
Beattie, their locomotive engineer, informed them
that 206,100 additional train miles had been run
during the half-year, the rate per mile being 9-85 d.
as compared with 10-23 d. for the corresponding
period of 1864, which he thought was very satisfac-
tory, and he believed that there were very few rail-
way companies able to keep that charge so low. The
increased mileage was principally caused by the
opening of the Andover and Redbridge, the Alton
and Winchester, the Waterloo and London-bridge
service, the Thames Valley, and other lines. They
were working a great number of lines upon which
the traffic had not been developed. They had been
constructing new carriages to increase the comfort
of the passengers. The new carriages were lighter
and neater than the other carriages, and were as
nearly perfect as could be. The works of doubling
the Salisbury and Yeovil and a portion of the Bas-
ingstoke and Salisbury were progressing satisfac-
torily. The Salisbury and Yeovil Company had
announced a dividend at the rate of 6 per cent. per
annum for the past half -year, and taking that declared
in the preceding half-year gave 51 per cent. for the
past year. The South-Western Company were
shareholders of more than half that line, so that they
participated in benefits of the increased dividends.
The Southampton and Netley Railway was a subur-
ban line to Southampton, but it would be a paying
line when extended to Havant, which would open a
communication to Brighton.- The Clapham Junc-
tion line would be opened on the Ist of March,
which would give them access via the London, Chat-
ham, and Dover Railway to theLudgate-hill station.
The Tooting and Merton line had been let to Mr.
Brassey below the estimate of the engineer, and a
good deal of the land had been purchased. He then
alluded to the bills promoted by the company in the
present session, which the report stated were few in
number and inconsiderable in extent, and he trusted
these lines would amply meet the requirements for
which they were intended. A number of schemes
had been promoted for the purpose of invading the
districts served by the company, especially at King-
ston and Richmond. He hoped that some stop would
be put to such projects, many of them being absurd
and uncalled for. Their renewal of way account had
been gradually reduced from £84,000 in 1862 to
£49,587 in the past half-year, and would continue
to be further reduced. In 1864 they paid £30,000
for compensation, and in 1865 £25,000 ; he trusted
that in future they would be able to keep that item
within a fair compass. The block system of signal-
ling and the mode of communicating between the
passengers and guards would tend in future to reduce
not only the loss of life, but the loss of money.
The Hon. R. H. DUTTON, M.P., seconded the
motion for the adoption of the report.
After a discussion on financial matters, items of
account, and the probable increase of interest on

loans,

Mr. SCOTT, the general manager, in reply to a
question, stated that they had succeeied in perfect-
ing a method of signalling between passengers and
guards, which was in operation in the express trains
between London and Exeter, by which the guards
and engine-driver could be communicated with.
They had repeatedly tried experiments on it, but had
no occasion to use it, and it was found to act exceed- ,
ingly well. The subject had been under the conside-
ration of a committee of railway managers for two
years, and he believed the system adopted on the por-
tion he had mentioned of the South-Western Rail-
way was the only successful plan. Some of the
northern companies were doubtful as to how it
could be worked at junctions, where additional car-
riages were usually added to a train. The experi-
ments on this subject would be closed by the
committee at the end of the present year, when a
final report would be issued. Pending that report
the South-Western Company had no intention of
increasing that system of signalling until the
general result of all the experiments was known.
Resolutions were passed unanimously adopting
the report and statement of accounts, declaring a
dividend at the rate of 5f per cent, per annum for
the past half-year on the ordinary stock of the
company (less income-tax), payable on the Ist of
March ; re-electing Mr. E.
J. Hutchins and Mr.
11* C. Lacy, the retiring directors, and also Mr. A.
g
Noyes, the retiring auditor itor ; authorising the direc-
tors to take such
steps m respect to various bills now
before Parliament to them might appear most
conducive to the interests of the company ; and also
giving them power
to
bills in Parliament. proceed with the company's
The meeting was then made s pecial
rectors were authorised to for , and the di-
the Ist of January,
1864, ceasecertain 15years, from
piece
opflyal,idataat
r ent
South
of £750 per annumampton to the Imperial noteleo
raan
The proceeding concluded with the best thanks
of the meeting to the chairman and directors.