The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-15 00:00:00

INVALID OFFICERS.

Sir R. ANS TRUTHER asked the Secretary of State
for War whether the travelling allowance of officers in-
valided home from Abyssinia had been disallowed; and, if
so, for what reason ?
S ir.J.PAKIN GT ON said he regretted the terms in which

the hon and gallant gentleman had put his question, because
it might mislead some persons, and create an impression
that officers returning from foreign service come home at
their own cost, or that officers invalided home had been
treated different from any other officers returning from
other parts of the world. The War-office had, in fact, no

o*ianja the matter, as officOrs came home under strict
.The officer did not' come home at his own ex-

pense, but was landed free of cost in his own country.
The only circumstances he thought the question
related to was the detention on the voyage,
and tho cost of land travelling from the port
at which they were landed to their own homes. He thought
the rule did bear hardly upon those officers who return
home in ill health, who, he thought, ought to be sent free
of cost to their own homes. (Hear, hear.) He had to
inform the hon. and gallant member that a new rule was
at present under consideration which would effect such
an object.
CORRUPT PRACTICES AT ELECTIONS BILL.
The house then went into committee on this bill, com-

mencing at clause 17.
Mr MILL moved to add to the end of the clause the
following words :—"And it shall be competent for any
. _

such commission to inquire into corrupt practices at pre-
vious municipal elections within the county or borough as
fully as into corrupt practices at previous parliamentary
elections."
Mr. DODSON said the amendment could not be enter-
tained, as the bill related to parliamentary and not muni-
cipal elections.

The amendment was then altered by the hon. gentleman
to the effect that the commission might inquire how far
corrupt practices at previous municipal elections had con-
duced to the corrupt practices at parliamentary elections.
Mr. DODSON suggested that the most convenient course
for the hon. gentleman would be to bring forward the
clause on the bringing up of the report, which was agreed
to.

Mr. BOUVERIE, on clause 18, moved as an amendment
.hat it should rest with the judge who tried the petition

to say whether, bribery and corruption having been com-
mitted, a commission of inquiry ought to issue; and, if
such should be done, then the commission should at once
be appointed.
The SOLICITOR-GE.NERAL opposed the amendment,
but said it would be quite op,,m to the hon. member to raise

the question upon the bringing up of the report.
Mr. MONTAGU CHAMBERS and Mr. NEATE both thought
it was throwing a very unpleasant duty upon the judges.
They, however, thought the sending out of a commission
ought to depend on the result of the inquiry.

The amendment was negatived without a division.
On clause 23 being proposed, which sot forth the mode
of service of the petition,
Mr. BOUVERIE asked whether the service of the
petition was to be by tapping on the shoulder, like the
service of a writ. (Laughter.)
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said he never knew
that the tapping on the shoulder was necessary to the ser-
vice of any writ.
The clause was agreed to.
On clause 23,

Mr. M. CHAMBERS moved an amendment to set aside
the monopoly of Messrs. Gurney in the shorthand-
writing of the House of Commons.
Mr. GLADSTONE supported the clause as it stood,
as he thought the work at present very well done. He
would, however, suggest to the right hon. gentleman
the propriety of making the bill one for a limited period
of time.

Mr. DISRAELI said that was the intention of the Go-
vernment. They proposed that it should be limited in
its operation to three years.
Mr. M. CHAMBERS said his object in moving the
amendment he had given notice of was that the gentle-
men who actually performed the work should get the
whole of the remuneration paid for it, without a profit
being made out of their labour by other parties.
The clause was ultimately agreed to, as was the next
three clauses.

On clause 30 being proposed,
Mr. LOWTIIER said he thought that where the result
of any inquiry should be thought frivolous and vexatious
the cost should be thrown on the petitioner ; but if cor-
ruption was proved, then the cost should be upon the
locality. He moved an amendment to that effect.

The houso divided, when there appeared—
For the amendment 67
Against it
Majority against
Clauses up to 42 were agreed to with soma verbal
amendments.

Upon clause 43 being proposed,
Mr. MILL moved the following amendment:—" And in
the case of any such petition where any corrupt practice
is charged to have taken place, and where the court or
judge has decided that any corrupt practice has been
proved, the court or judge shag have power to order
any portion or the whole of the costs, charges, and
expenses to be defrayed by any party or parties who
may have been proved guilty of corrupt practices, or by
the county or borough, in the same manner as expenses
incurred in the registration of voters for the county or
borough, regard being had to the importance of securing
the best efforts of the county or borough for repression of
corrupt practices.*
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL opposed the amendment,
as by it a person actually hundreds of miles away might
be charged with bribery, and cast in costs without his being
aware that the charge had been made. Such a principle
was most objectionable.
The amendment was negatived.

Mr. MILL then moved that the words "corrupt prac-
tices" be inserted in the clause instead of the word
" bribery."
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said it was a most im-
portant amendment, and ho could not consent to inflict
the heavy penalties enacted by the bill upon persons who
might merely be found guilty of treating or undue in-
fluence. _

Mr. Sergeant GASELEE hoped the Government would
not consent to the amendment, as a man might as well be
transported for seven years as sent from that house for
seven years.for giving a vozer a glass Of ale. (Laughter.)
Mr. FAWCETT hoped the hon. member would per-
severe with his amendment. He looked upon treating as
bad as bribery, and undue influ,:mce much worse, because
it was so wean.

The house then divided, when there appeared—
For the amendment
Against it 175
Majority against

Mr. POWELL then moved an amendment to the effect
that in place of a candidate being convicted of bribery or
undue influence being condemned as incapable of sitting
in the House of Commons for seven years, he should be
precluded from sitting in the House of Commons for such
county or borough daring the Parliament then in exist-
ence. He was not disposed to give such extensive powers
to a single judge. A man ought not to be subjected to such
horrible phni§bizeut -(laughter)—nd be sleprind pi 01),

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that made life worth living f or—(laughter)—a seat in Parla-
ment. (Laughter.) He really did not see the cause
for the mirth of the house (laughter) —ho hoped
those who seemed to enjoy the matter would not vote
against his amendment.
Sir R. PALMER said that by the bill a candidate was
by the present clause made irresponsible for the acts of
his agents. He slnuld like to know if that was the inten-
tion of the framers of the present-Clause to prevent a can-
didate being found guilty of bribery by his agents—
(hear, hear)—ii not, it was absolutely necessary to have
it so stated in the bill.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said there was no inten-
tion to repeal the law with respect to a candidate being
found guilty of bib3ry by his agents. He would see
that that omission was remedied before the report was

brought up.
The house remained in committee on the bill up to
seven o'clock, at which hour the 'sitting was suspended
until nine.
The evening sitting, by previous arrangement, had been
devoted to the remaining Civil Service Estimates, but the
first hcur and a half was occupied by the usual prelimi-
nary discussions, and these, as this was understood to bo
the last supply night of the session, appeared in great
force on the notice paper, though most of them were with-

drawn. The fin:land most important related to the extent,
cost, and classification of the Civil Service, which was
canvassed by

Mr. CHILDERS in an interesting speech. From the
numerous statistics which he quoted, it appears that we pay
in salaries to the strictly Civil Services £10,839,000 (ex-
clusive of £1,601,000 for superannuations), and this he
showed to be £2,600,000 more than the salaries of the
Army and Navy Departments, and considerably higher
than the corresponding expenditure in the French
and American Budgets. After illustrating the rapid in-
crease in the cost of our Civil Service by a comparison of
the present strength of the principal departments with the
year 1853, and premising that he looked for reduction, not
in diminution of salaries, but in reduction of staff, Mr
Childers indicated what he held to be the chief defects in
our present system. First of all, came the entire want of
classification of salaries: next, the absence of distinction
between those who worked with their hands and with
their brains ; next, the want of systematic control over the
expenditure of the departments; and, lastly, the un-
sound system of superannuation. Under the second
head he hinted a doubt whether the system of com-
petitive examination had not been carried so far that
in the lower grades we occasionally got men. who
were too good for their work, which ended in a demand
and an ultimate concession of higher salaries. For reme-
dial measures he suggested a better system of classifica-
tion, and superannuations (which he held were often
granted to men who would serve just as readily without
them); a clear intimation to the public servants that if
they would agree to a reduction their salaries would be
improved, and a more effective Parliamentary support of
the Treasury in its attempts to carry out financial reforms
in the departments would be given.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER excused
himself for not going at length into the subject by the
necessity of getting through supply as rapidly as possible,
but while agreeing with much of Mr. Childers's speech,
he pointed in extenuation of the increased cost of the
Civil Service to the many new duties which had been
imposed on it. It was also necessary to take into ac-
count the march of luxury and refinement, which led
both to increase of salaries, and increase in the num-
bers of persons employed. Another cause was the luke-
warm support the Treasury got from the house in its en-
deavours to control the other departments, and he con-
curred entirely with Mr. Childers that competitive exami-
nation in the lower grades occasionally brought in men
who were above their work. As to the system of classifi-
cation, Mr. Hunt feared that with due regard to vested
interests it could not be carried out for a generation. By
that time some new idea might have sprung up, an i per-
haps, on the whole, it would be best to let well alone.
Sir J. C. JERVOISE made a motion which he did not
press, to.abolish the departments of Public Health, Cattle
Plague, and Quarantine, to which the Chancellor of the
Exchequer replied that the Treasury was considering the
possibility of reducing the veterinary department, and if
the Foreign Cattle Market Bill were passed no doubt con-
siderable economies would be feasible.

The position of the Royal Irish Academy and some
other minor subjects were mentioned, and the house then
went into committee of supply.

Class 2 of the Civil Service Estimates was agreed to, as
were also Supplementary Estimates to cover the Portpa-
trtck Railway Compensation, the comp3nsation for the
destruction of property by the Clerkenwall Explosion
(£20,500), and the expenses of accelerating the Registra-
tion (£10,000). The only rem-dning vote for the Army
Retirement Scheme was postponed until Thursday.
The Pr.blic Schools Bill was considered, and Mr. Wal-
pole introduced some new amendments in it. Some other
bills were forwarded a stage, and the house adjourned at
five minutas past two o'clock.