The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-23 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY).

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'cicock.
Lord BROUGHAM presented 115 petitions on the sub-
ject of education.
THE ITALIAN QUESTION.
_ _

The Marquis of asked the noble earl the
President of the Council whether any information in refer-
ence to a statement ill a recent speech of the Emperor
Napoleon, to the effect that he -had advised the various
sovereigns of Italy to grant their subjects salutary reforms
had been received.
Earl GRANVILLE said he could give the noble mar-
quis no detailed information on the subject.
ADMIRALTY COURTS' .BILL.

The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the second reading
of this bill.

Lord WYNFORD thought some compensation ought to
be awarded to those who would suffer loss by the passing
of this bill.

Lord CHELMSFORD was of opinion that there was no
pressing necessity for passing the bill this session.
After a few words from Lord Cran worth, Lord Brougham,
and the Earl of Ripon the bill was read a second time.

TRIAL BY JURY
_(SCOTLAND) ACT AMEND-

MENT BILL

The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the second reading
of this bill. By the law as it stood, a verdict of a majority
of a jury was taken as unanimous. This had been
found to work well, by the regulation by which
a jury were required to be in deliberation for six hours
before the verdict could be taken. This arrangement was
now found to be needless, and the present bill proposed to
reduce the time the jury should remain in deliberation to
three ;hours.
The bill was read a second time.
SPEAKER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
(CANADA) !BILL.
On the motion of the Duke of NEWCASTLE this bill
was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on
Monday next. •
NORTH-WEST TERRITORY BILL.
The Duke of NEWCASTLE moved the second
reading of this bill, which had become necessary in
consequence of the cession of the Hudson's Bay Company's
tenures. The object of the bill was to enable her Majesty
to appoint justices of the peace to preserve order in conse-
quence, of the cession of the license, and to issue orders
for the regulation of trade with the Indians.
The bill was read a second time.

COURT OF PROBATE (ACQUISITION OF SITE)

BILL
This bill was read a second time.
ATTORNEY AND SOLICITORS' BILL.
This bill was read a third time, and passed.
POSTAL COMMUNICATION. WITH AUSTRALIA.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE asked what decision
had been announced or communication made to the various
parties who sent tenders to the Admiralty on the Ist of July,
in accordance with the advertised invitation to that effect,
for the mails to Australia via Panama in steam ships ; if
none :had been given, whether her Majesty's Government
had abandoned the intention of establishing the line of mail
steamers contemplated in the advertisement. He said that
at present there was but one mode of postal communication
with Australia, and that VMS the overland route to India
as far as Ceylon, and then to Melbourne, but that was a
very inconvenient route for Sydney and New South Wales.
The Legislature of New South Wales had voted £5),000 to-
wards the establishment of this route, and it was calculated
that the amount received for postage would be £45,000 a-
year, so that the home Government would not have a great
deal make up. He was informed that no notice had been
taken of the tenders, at which he thought the public here,
the colonists, and the parties who tendered, had great right
to complain. He was informed that though there was
another service, there was no contract, the Peninsular and
Oriental doing the work without any contract at all, but he
would move for the copy of any contract legally perfected
and in force at this moment for the conveyance of snails in
steam ships by any route.

The Mike of SOMERSET said the plan which had been
hitherto adopted with regard to these contracts was this :
they were sent to the Admiralty to arrange as to the rate of
speed, the places for stopping, and other details. They then
issued the advertisement for tenders, and when they came in
they were sent to the Treasury for its decision. The tenders in
question had been received by the Admiraly, and sent to the
Treasury, under whose consideration they still were, but the
whole question of steam-packet contracts had been referred
to a select committee of the House of Commons. There was
a monthly line by way of Suez which came into operation in
February. That was also to be by contract, but although
the communication was begun, and the packets had been
running for some time, he believed the fact was that the
contract had not been signed. Some difficulty arose as to the
places where the packets-were to call at, as to whether they
were to call at the Mauritius and other points, and as there
was no contract he could not lay one on the table of the
house. As the whole subject had been referred to a select
committee, it was but reasOnable that Government should
wait to see what the committee recommended. Circulars
bad been sent by the Treasury to all the Australian colonies,
calling upon them to express their opinions as to what new
line of postal communication should be established. The
whole of these answers had not yet come in, and although
the province of New South Wales had readily offered the
munificent contribution of £50,000 towards the Panama
line, the other colonies had not acted with the samepromp-
titude. It was important that the interests of all these colo-
nies should bo consulted, and that Government should not
establish a line now which might afterwards be objected to
by the other colonies, and might perhaps leid to the bringing
forward of a third line of steam-packet communication some
day, to compete with the claims of the other two for their
support.
Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY observed that the ob-
jections which had been raised to recent contracts of this
kind seemed to be disposed of almost entirely by the Trea-
sury, without special communication with any other depart-
ment. Now, he thought the Board of Trade, the Colonial-
office, and the Admiralty ought to have been consulted upon
such matters. The Post-office was, of course, the proper de-
partment to enter into the details of the matter, and the pe-
cuniary arrangements belonged to the Treasury, but the
other departments should have a share in the decision.
Earl GRANVILLE said he concurred with the noble
lord that the arrangement was a vicious one, but did not
think it had been usual to conclude these arrangements
without reference to the convenience of the departments
concerned.

Lord REDESDALE expressed his regret that the Post-
office had been deprived of the control of this mail packet
system. The expenditure upon it belonged entirely to the
postal service, and it was unfair to put it on the naval de-
partment. The effect was that the naval estimates were
apparently increased by a heavy charge which had really
nothing to do with the naval service; and, on the other
hand, the Post-office was made. to appear to have a surplus
of net revenue, when such was not the fact. The Admi-
ralty might be called upon to give advice in any naval mat-
ter, but the mail contracts should go to the Post-office
account.

The Marquis of CLANRICARDE agreed that the
charge ought to be on the postal service, but there were
other interests involved besides those of postal communica-
tion. The relations between England and the colonies, and
that commercial intercourse on which our prosperity chiefly
depended, were concerned in this matter. He regretted
that in this, as in some other departments of the state,
there was no responsible head.
The subject then dropped, and their lordships adjourned
at 20 minutes to seven.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.--(YESTERDAY.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The Lords' amendmentstothe Birkenhead, Lancashire
and Yorkshire Junction Railway, and East Kent Railway
Bills were considered and agreed to. The following bills
were read a third time and passed :—Berks and Hants En-
tettsion Railway, Dublin and Wicklow Railway, Great
Northern and Western (of Ireland) Railway, Lancashire
and Yorkshire Railway (Rochdale and Royton Branches),
Ludlow Roads, National Fire and Life Insurance Company
of Scotland, Silverdale and Newcastle-under-Lyme, Rail-
way, Sittingbourne and Sheerness Railway (Additional
Capital, &c.), West London Railway, West End
of London and Crystal Palace Railway (No. 3),
London and North Western Railway (Denton to Staly-
bridge), Midland Great Western of Ireland (Liffey branch,
&c.), North Staffordshire Railway. Bill.

THE APPROACHING CONFERENCE.
Lerd ELCHO, gave notice that on Monday week on the
motion for going into committee of-supply, he would move
that it would be consistent neither with the honour nor the
dignity of this country, which has preserved strict
neutrality with reference to the hostilities on the Ccntinent,
and used endeavours to preserve peace,to take anypart in the
conference for the purpose of settling the details of a peace,
the preliminaries of which had been arranged between the
Emperor of the French "and the Emperor of Austria.
(Hear, hear.)