The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-24 00:00:00

SUPPLY.

The house then resolved itself into committee of supply,
Mr. Massey in the chair.
On the motion that a sum not exceeding £185,140 be
granted to her Majesty towards defraying the expenses of
superannuation allowances,
Mr. 'WILLIAMS took exception to the vote, which ex-
ceeded £7,000 that of last year. If proper economy had
been resorted to, many of the persons who had been re-
ceiving those superannuation allowances might be appointed
to other offices; but instead of that, other persons were ap-
pointed to them by the Government. Ile found in this vote
a party who had been in receipt of £320 a-year for 30 years,
on the ground of ill health, and another person who had
been 40 years in receipt of a large pension on the ground of
infirmity of body. He also found in the vote a grant for
the Queen's Coroner. He should like to hear some expla
nation as to what was meant by the Queen's Coroner.
Mr. PEEL explained that the salary of the Queen's
Coroner and Solicitor was £3,000 a-year ; but that the
office had been done away with by the Court of Queen's
Bench, and the grant in question was agreed upon as com-
pensation.
The following votes were then agreed to :
L 1,040 for Toulonais and Corsican emigrants.
£125 for the Refuge for the Destitute. •
£3,210 in aid of the Polish refugees and distressed
Sp&niards.
£3,951 towards defraying miscellaneous charges formerly
on civil list.
£2,539 towards defraying the expenses of public inetitu-
ions in Ireland.
I £2,600 for the Westmoreland Lock Hospital, Dublin.
£7OO for the Rotunda Lying-in Hospital, Dublin.
£2OO for the Coombe Lying-in Hospital, Dublin.
7,600 for the House of Industry and Hospital, Dublin.
£2,500 f )r the Cork-street Fever Hospital, Dublin.
£6OO for the Meath Hospital, Dublin.
£29,740 having been proposed for Nonconformist clergy-
men,

Mr. HADFIELD objected to the vote on the ground that
the paucity of numbers of these dissenters did not justify
such a grant. There were now 550,000 Presbyterians in
Ireland, and the vote for their ministers was much greater
than it was in 1834, when their numbers were 20 per cent.
higher than at present. In fact the donunz was double at
present what it was when the number was greater. The
rate of allowance was increased, not in proportion to their
increasing numbers, but to their diminishing numbers.
(Hear, hear.) The hon. member stated that the Govern-
ment had withdrawn from the Society for Spreading the
Gospel in Foreign Parts the small grant of £7,000, and what
did the society do ? Why, they raised as much as £70,000
by voluntary subscriptions. Why, then, should this grant
of the Regium Donum be continued? He thought hon.
members opposite who favoured this vote would find that
it would not last for the term of their natural lives. The
hon. member moved as an amendment that the vote should
be reduced by the sum of £28,000.
Mr. CARDWELL said it had formerly been the practice
to oppose this vote in committee, but it had at length been
agreed that the sense of the house should be taken upon the
grant, and last year the member for Montrose in a very
able speech, moved in a full house that the grant should be
discontinued, but the motion was lost by a large majority,
and the grant was sustained. After that decision he hoped
hon. members would permit the vote to pass.
Mr. P. DAWSON defended the vote.
The committee divided, when the numbers were—
For the vote
Against it
Majority —6o
The vote was then agreed to.
On the vote of £3,750 for the expenses of the ecclesiasti-
cal commissioners of England,
Mr. WILLIAMS said that the commissioners in question
had, during the years 18.55, 1856, 1857, and 1858, ex-
pended £98,000 upon lawyers and solicitors. He would
take the sons of the house on the vote.
Sir G. LEWIS said the duties of the commissioners in
connection with the property of the Church were very great,
and the expenses were therefore necessarily very heavy.
Hence the necessity of this vote.
Mr. HADFIELD wished to know what these commis-
sioners had to do. He could not really understand their
duties.

Mr. CAIRD objected to immense sums paid to land and
timber surveyors, £10,840 having been so spent in 1855,
and £20,546 in 1858. He objected to these persons being
paid by
commission, and thought they should be attached
to the office and paid a reasonable salary; £10,000:a-year toa
land and timber surveyor was out of all character. The
solicitors also got an amount higher than the salary of the
Lord Chancellor himself.
Mr. DEEDES defended the commissioners.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS said the hon. gentleman had failed
to show any reason why
any portion of the public money
should be applied at all to the purposes he had indicated.
No doubt the commissioners had to deal with large sums;
but since the year 1801 no public money had been granted
to build charges, and the money having many years since
been spent, the functions of the commissioners ought to
have ceased long ago, The wealth of the Church was enor-