The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-05 00:00:00

WEST INDIES.

Sir A. L. HAY gave notice that he would, on Thursday,
put a question to the Noble Lord the Secretary for the Co-
lonies to know whether it was the intention of her Majesty's
Government to afford. greater facilities for the introduction of
Chinese and other Aqiatic labourers into the West Indies ?
DUTIES ON MANUFACTURES.
Mr. EWART gave notice that on Thursday week he would
move for a repeal of t hie duties which press upon manufactures;
and also those which tend to encourage smuggling.
BUSINCESS OF THE HOUSE:

Mr. WILLIAMS rose to move, " That no motion, if op-
posed, shall be brouglit on and discussed in this House after
midnight." The Hon. Member said it was not his intention
to interfere with' those long party discussions which so often
occupied the time of the House to a very late and unseasonable
hour. He wished to confine his motion simply to the practical
business of the House, and he thought it must be evident to
every Hon. Member who had been in the habit of paying at-
tention to that subjecit, that the bringing forward of impor-
tant questions at a very late hour of the night was not only
most inconvenient, but highly detrimental to public in-
terest.—( Hear, hear-) The general system of trans-
acting public business was in many respects most
objectionable, and important alterations ought to be made
—and, in fact, mu, it be .made, before the business could
be conducted in ain anner beneficial to the country. On re-
ferring to the proceedings of last session, he found that the
Home had sat 119 nights. During those 119 nights the House
sat 10511 hours after midnight, being nearly one hour after mid-
night for each sitting. He bad often seen, for want of some
regulation of this kind, business of the greatest possible im-
portance forced upon the consideration of the House at one or
two o'clock in the morning, sometimes even later ; he had seen,
in defiance of every r emonstrance, measures brought forward at
those hours which affected most materially the rights, the liber-
ties, the lives, and the property of the people of this country.
He had also seen, in defiance of all remonstrance, millions of
the public money voted away without any consideration what-
ever, as to the existence of any necessity for such amounts to
the public interest of the country. At these unseasonable
hours he had seen gentlemen coming in to vote on important
questions affecting the lives, properties and liberties of the
parties,pe op
andf r from
voting
their balls,
withoutt h eai rn
y theatres,
knowledge
whatever as to whe-
ther their operas, and their
those measures were good or bad, with regard to the interests
of the country. Smch a state of things ought to be corrected,
and there was no other means of doing so than limiting the
hours of business to something like reasonableness. He had
no objection to the debates between the two great parties in
that House—one anxious to obtain power, and the other
anxious to keep it--being continued, as he had often witnessed,
till twilight peeped through the windows of the House, and
Members returned home, from what they call their
duties, by the light of the rising sun. But he did
object to public business being carried on at these hours.
Nature intended that Hon. Members, instead of wasting their
strength in that House, should refresh themselves by sleep.
The Right Hon. Baronet opposite smiled.—( Laughter.) He
was quite ready to bear his testimony to the Right Hon.
Baronet's attendance in that House, as well as that of the
Right Hon. Baronet at the Head :of the Government. They
were to be found in their places at the earliest and latest hours,
and they certainly displayed an amount of physical strength that
often astonished him.—( Hear, and laughter.) But he thought
a little more attention to their health and comfort, would be an
advantage. They might, at present, be able to attend to their
duties, but a time might come when their strength would fail
them ; and when these late hours would tell on their strength,
and the duration of their lives. If the good of the country are
consulted in these late hours, they might be tolerated, but the
reverse was the fact. Laws ara passed when Hon. Members
are fast asleep, or in .ssuch a state of drowsiness
that they hardly knew what they were about. The intention
of the Reform Bill was, that instead of Hon. Members coming
down at midnight, they should come there in a state of perfect
sobriety; Wheh he saw the time of the House consumed in
passing Acts to explain and amend other Acts of Parliament,
which if Hon. Members had not enacted at those unseasonable
hours, such a state of things would never have taken
place, he must say that it was discreditable to the
House. By keeping those unseasonable hours, when
they ought to be asleep, they passed laws which
were neither understood by Hon. Members themselves,
nor by the judges who were to administer them. There was
no country in Europe which adopted such an unreasonable course
of proceeding ; and yet, notwithstanding their late hours, many
of the grievances of the country were not redressed. Let
them look at the state of matters which Ireland presented.
Now what were the complaints and what were the grievances
of the people of Ireland ? The Hon. Member for Cork, the re-
presentative of all Ireland, had often stated in that House that
one of the great grievances of Ireland was, that'the same law
was not applied to that country which was applied to England;
he thought the laws for Ireland and England ought to be pre-
cisely the same.—( Hear, hear.) If they consulted in that
House the wants and wishes of the people, one-third of the
time of the House would be saved.—( Hear, hear.) Be had
no doubt that during the present session, one-fourth of
the time of that House would be consumed upon two
questions—the grievances of Ireland, and the Corn Laws.
It must be apparent to every one that the grievances of Ire-
land must be redressed, or that country would become a curse
instead of a blessing to England.—( Hear, hear.) It was evi-
dent, also, that the corn-laws must be put an end to. Why,
then, he would ask, were not some measures adopted
in order to settle those two questions ? The people
called upon them loudly to do so ; and if they
resisted that appeal, the worst results might be expected. He
believed that if these two questions were settled that one-fourth
of the time of the House would be saved. He advised Minis-
ters also to bring forward measures they intended to proceed
with at an early period of the session, and he entreated
them to discontinue the practice of bringing on Bills
which were never intended to be proceeded with