The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-14 00:00:00

question of audit, it was proposed that the same auditor
who audited the poor-law accounts should audit the ec-
coants relating to the highways. The Bill also pro-
po►ed to repeal an Act well known to many Members as
Sir Charles Burrell's Act, which provides for contribu-
tions from the funds of the parish towards
the maintenance of turnpike trusts that are
insolvent. Great complaints had arisen about
the operation of that Act, and it was now proposed that
the funds to be expended as that Ant provides should
be expended not, as at present, by the officer of
the turnpike trusts, but by the surveyor of the
district. The duty of managing the business of
the roads under this Bill would not involve a meeting of
the board of guardians more than once a month, and
it therefore provided that each board of guardians
should annually appoint a standing committee of their
number to manage the highways. Having now gone
through all the points which the measure touched upon,
he had only to thank the House for the indulgence
they had granted him, and to move for leave to bring in
the Bill.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. FREWEN said there were districts where the
roads were always kept in excellent order, and
he did not think any compulsory system would be re-
quired in those cases. Another difficuty which
st iod in the way of the Bill was this:—ln many
poor•law unions there were one or two parishes
which belonged to adjoining counties, and he
should be glad to know how that was to be provided
for. It appeared to him, also, that the board of guar-
dians was not the proper parties to have the manage-
ment of the highway rates. It was as much as they
could do to attend to the interests of the poor, and
therefore any further labour thrown upon them must
inevitably be neglected.
Mr. RICE felt bound to say that he very much ap-
proved of the measure, particularly as it established the
compulsory system, and did away with parish sur-
veyors. He hoped it would meet with the sanction of
the House. _ _

Sir W. JOLLIFFE did not approve of that part of the
Bill which placed the highways under the management
of the board of guardians.
Mr. DEEDES had last year asked the Hon. Gentle-
man the Member for Manchester to defer this important
measure until the opinion of the country could be
elicited with respect to it. He thanked the Hon.
Member for Manchester for introducing this Bill, tending
as it did to effeet very considerable improvement in a
system which was at present very defective; and he
thought the Bill deserved the cordial support of the
Howie. He reserved, however, to himself, the right of
discussing the details of the Bill when it went into Com-
mittee. _ _

Mr. SLANEY said, when ho considered an
auditor was to be established by this Bill,
a very salutary control would be exercised over the
expenditure on the highways. It was a favour-
able feature of this Bill, that under it each parish
would be obliged to maintain its own poor. He
thought the Bill would also effect a greater
uniformity in the repairs of the roads, end
that no obstinate parish would now be able to resist the
general desire, which frequently prevailed in a district,
to keep the highways in a good state of repair.
Sir H. WILLOUGHBY was of opinion that the Bill
would not work well unless it reduced the burdens upon
land.
Mr. E. B. DENISON was of opinion that under the
present Bill they were likely to have better and cheaper
roads than they had hitherto had, notwithstanding that
he took some exception to some of the details of the
measure.

Sir ROBERT PEEL thought his Honourable
Friend had judged most wisely in separating the repairs
of the highways from the township roads. The
mode of managing parishes was a most important con-
sideration. His Hon. Friend proposed to make these offi-
cers subject to the supervision of the Poor-law Board. He
was not prepared at present to give an opinion, but he did
think that districts might be chalked out which would be
more in consonance with our present mode of inland
communication. There was no doubt that the object
was to have the work done in the best way at the least
expense, and he was induced to think that the poor-law
guardians would be liable to the inducement of setting
their labourers to work on the highways where
the expense was unnecessary.—(Cries of " Hear,
hear,") He should thenfore be disposed to desire that
officers should be appointed as auditors who had nothing
whatever to do with the poor-law guardians. He ap-
proved then of the Bill so far as it went to institute dis-
tricts, so arranged as to be conveniently managed
through the use of our present means of internal cum.
munication.

Mr. VERNON SMITH, after paying a handsome
compliment to Mr. Cornewall Lewis for his perse-
verance in introducing a Bill for the regulation of the
highways, and stating that he himself had served on
three Committees, said that no one could doubt the
utility of the hint which had just been thrown out by
the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) with respect to
the ormation of districts. The appointment of way-
wardens had been stoutly contested in all those committees.
The plan was all very well in theory, but in practise it
would prove absolutely nil. His Hon. Friend the Under
Secretary of State had found this difficulty, and had ac-
cordingly, and as he thought wisely, assigned it
to the poor-law guardians. There was only
one thine' which he was particularly anxious
should be attended to, however, and that was
that a distinction should be made between the money
spent upon the highways and that given for the relief of
the poor. It was customary in many parishes for the
guardians to send their old and infirm poor to do useless
work upon the highways, and the country really did not
know what money was spent upon the poor and what
upon the highways.
Mr. CORNE WALL LEWIS wished, in answer to
some questions which had been asked in the course
of the debate, to state, that it was provided in
the Bill that there should be a surveyor em-
ployed and paid by the board of guardians,
and it was also intended to abolish the highway rate—
by that name at least—though the amount would be
the same, and would fall upon the same property which
now paid the highway rate.—(Hear, hear.) He also
wished to thank the House for the attention which they
had paid to his Bill, and was glad to perceive that the
necessity of some such measure was generally acknow-
ledged by the House.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill, which was
subsequently brought in, read a first time, and ordered
to be read a second time this day fortnight.
ARMY AND ORDNANCE EXPENDITURE.
On the motion of Mr. FOX MAULE, the following
Members were appointed as a Select Committee on the
army and ordnance expenditure :—Lord Seymour, Mr.
Secretary at War, Mr. Hume, Col. Anson, Mr. Walter,
Sir William Moleaworth, Lord Charles Wellesley, Sir
James Graham, Mr. William Miles, Mr. Cobden, Mr.
Sidney Herbert, Mr. John Greene, Mr. Edward Ellice,
Mr. Vernon Smith, and Mr. Bankes.
The House then adjourned.

STATE OF TRADE.
(From the Manchester Guardian.)
MANCIIESTEE, TUESDAY.—We have had a spirit-
less and rather drooping market. The merchants have
shown a growing indisposition for business ; looking
upon prices as, for the most part, too high to
warrant further exports, in the present state of sup-
plies in foreign markets. The letters received this
morning from Germany, give quotations of prices
Wkich afford no encouragement for the immediate
resumption of operations. There has been some
inquiry from the Greeks, but with little result. As
to the home dealers, seldom have they been so little
seen in the warehouses of the manufacturers. There

is evidently a diminished confidence among all
classes of buyers, as to the maintenance of prices ;
and a determination to proceed cautiously, buy-
ing only for the supply of the most pres-
sing wants, is become general. The business
of the day has, consequently, fallen in amount,
below that of any Tuesday for some time back.
Under these circumstances, those spinners and manu-
facturers whose contracts are drawing to a close have
shown a willingness to make some concession in price
rather than suffer an offer to pass by them. Water
twist may be quoted id. to id. lower ; and, in mule
yarn, the buyer has some advantage in price, except
as to fine counts, from No. 60's upwards. In print-
ing cloths there is a giving way of about lid. per
piece, and 3d. in shirtings. There is a difference in
point of firmness, however, among spinners and
manufacturers, and a corresponding irregularity is
observable in the quotations. The spinners of water
twist, and the manufacturers of domestics, T's, and
some other stout cloths, are so much discouraged by
the little prospect there is of an improvement in the un-
favourable trade they have so long experienced, that
many of them are seriously intending to diminish their
production. One or two establishments in Manchester
have either stopped altogether or resorted to short
time ; and an attempt is being made to induce a
general adoption of the latter measure in these
branches of manufacture. At Rochdale, two or three
mills have taken one or other of the above courses ;
and we have before us the names of seven firms at '
Heywood who have limited the hours of work in their

ROCHDALE, AIONDAT.--.We have had a very fair
business doing to-day in pieces of all kinds, but there
has been little variation in prices. The wool market
has undergone little or no change since last week,
either in price or demand.
MACCLESFIELD, TUESDAY.—We have during the
past week been visited by several London buyers,
and some business has been done in goods. Larger
sales would probably have been effected, but the ma-
nufacturers are not prepared to accept the low prices
offered, in the face of a rising market for silk. Hence
there is 'a paucity of operations for the present.
On the other hand, we have letters from St. Etienne,
reporting business very brisk in goods ; and that the
manufacturers were full of orders up to April, at re-
munerating prices. The thrown silk market continues
tolerably active-under the combined influence of home
purchases and a foreign demand, which have, up to the
present, cleared the market of surplus stock ; and, in-
deed, the difficulty now experienced in having fine
silks thrown will, we think, keep stocks of this article
light for some time to come. The principal feature
in the raw silk market during the past week has been
the heavy transactions in the new arrivals of China
silks ; the bulk of which have changed hands at a
further advance; and the market is reported active at
the latest quotations.
HUDDERSFIELD, TUESDAY.—Notwithstanding the
unfavourableness of the weather, an average amount
of business has been done to-day. The main part of