The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-06 00:00:00

FACTORIES ACT.

Mr. BROTHERTON moved for a return of the
number and names of the persons summoned for
offences against the Factories Act, between the Ist day
of January, 1843, and the Ist day of January, 1844,
specifying the date of the conviction or hearing, the
place of hearing, by whom each conviction was made,
the offence in each case, and the manner in which the
penalties and costs were appropriated. Also, a sum-
mary of the total number of informations and convic-
tions, the amount of penalties and costs, in each year,
since the commencement of the Factories Regulation
Act in 1834.—Agreed to. The Honourable Member
postponed the motion for another return, of which he
had given notice, relating to the number of cotton; woollen,
and silk and flax factories, at work, empty, and together,
in each county of the United Kingdom.
COMMERCIAL TREATIES.

Mr. RICARDO gave notice of his intention of
bringing forward a motion relative to the commercial
treaties between this and other countries.

IMPORT DUTIES—ISLE OF MAN.
Dr. BOWRING said he had a question to put to the
Right Hon. the President of the Board of Trade, in re-
ference to the import duties payable in the Isle of Man.
He wished to ascertain whether the Right Hon. Gentle-
man intended to abolish the 2f per cent. import duty on
British manufactures payable in the Isle of Man ; and
whether he intended to supersede or modify the license
system in that island, of which so many complaints were
made.

Mr. GLADSTONE said, in answer to the Hon. Gen-
tleman, he could state that they had proceeded so far in
the examination of this subject, as to enable him to say that
in the course of the present session, he hoped to be able
to introduce a Bill which would certainly abolish the
2i per cent. duty, payable on British manufactures, and
which would also have the effect of very materially re-
stricting the licensing system, and exempting from its
operation many important commodities, as well as im-
proving in other respects the commercial arrangements
of the island.

On the motion of Mr. CHARLES WOOD and Mr.
VERNON SMITH, several unopposed returns were
ordered.

LIGHT GOLD.

Mr. GISBORNE said he had put a question the other
day to the Right Hon. the President of the Board of
Trade, on the subject of the light coinage which had
found its way back to the Mint, and that Gentleman
not being they prepared to answer it, had re-
quested that it might be repeated cn a future
occasion. He would now ask if the Govern-
ment were in a situation to give any information to the
House, whether the gold coin which had been called in
had been deteriorated by wear and tear alone, or whether
it had been subjected to sweating, or any other illegiti
mate process ?
Mr. GLADSTONE, on the part of the Government,
begged to say that they had no direct and positive
means of ascertaining the dates of all the light sove-
reigns sent in for re-coinage. Sovereigns of all dates
had been returned, but the great mass of them were of
the reigns of George the Third and the early part of
George the Fourth. Respecting the question, of which
the Hon. Member had been kind enough to give him
notice, whether or not the coin returned had been sub-
jected to the process of sweating or other illegi-
timate 'process, he could only say that the
Government had no means of ascertaining positively if
such were the case or not. As far, however, as a cor-
rect opinion could be founded, it was believed that the
returned coin had not been subjected to such process to
any great extent. The coin generally gave evi-
dence of very great wear, although, of course,
in particular cases, illegitimate means of causing
deterioration had been resorted to. The Honour•
able Member then gave notice that he would, that
day fortnight, move for a Select Committee to in-
quire into the deterioration of the gold coinage, and
whether any measures could be adopted for preventing
the loss arising therefrom from falling unjustly upon
the people.
Sir H. DOUGLAS begged to ask the Noble Lord,
the Member for Dorsetshire, whether he intended to
proceed with his motion respecting the affairs of Sinde,
on the day stated in the notice papers?
Lord ASHLEY said it was certainly his intention to
brine, forward his motion on that day.
Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN begged to ask the Right
Hon. Gentleman, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
whether he could give the House any explanation of
the discontinuance of the experiments on the Kingston
and Dalkey Atmospheric Railway in Ireland ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
the Right Hon. Gentleman was misinformed if he sup-
posed there had been anything more than a partial dis
continuance of the experiments. It was a part of the
original agreement that a sufficient portion of the trench
which ran along the Kingston Harbour should be
covered over, for the accommodation of the public ; the
railway was completed without that condition being ful-
filled ; and it was the process of covering over a certain
portion which had caused the occasional suspension.
Mr. WYSE begged to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman,
the Secretary of State for the Home Department, at
what period it was his intention to bring forward the
Registration Bill for Ireland, and what would be the
provisions of the measure?
Sir JAMES GRAHAM said he felt great pleasure
in answering the first question which the Right
Honourable Gentleman had put to him respecting
the period at which he should introduce the Bill.
It was his intention, on the part of the Government, to
move for leave to introduce a Bill to amend the law res-
pecting the registration of voters in Ireland before the
Easter recess. As to the particular provisions of the
measure, he hardly thought it could be expected of him
that he should then state what those provisions might be.
He was not aware, that under similar circumstances, it
had been expected of any Government.—(Hear, hear.)
THE RAILWAYS COMMITTEE.
Mr. WALLACE, seeing the Right Hon. Gentleman
the President of the Board of Trade in his place, he took
that opportunity of informing him that previous to the
Right Hon. Gentleman's coming into the House he had
given notice that on the motion for appointing the Com-
mittee on Railways, he would move a resolution to the
effect that no director or shareholder of any railway
company should be a member of that Committee. He
now begged to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman if amongst
the Members whom he intended to appoint upon that
Committee there was any railway director or shareholder.
• Mr. GLADSTONE said that ha was obliged to the
Hon. Member for Greenock for having communicated to
him the notice he had given, and he had no difficulty in