The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-24 00:00:00

KLRKINTILLOCH RAILROAD.

The- Kirkintilloch Railroad Bill IN'as read a second time.
STANIIOPE AND TYNE RAILWAY. .

Mr. MITT presented a petition in farour of the Stan-
hope and Tyne Railway Bill ; also a petition from the
kime parties in favour of the Durham Junction Railway
Bill.
LONDON AND GR►EENWICII RAILWAY BILL.

Mr. BARNAIU) brought up the Report of the Com-
mittee on the petition for the London and Greenwich
Railway Bill ; and the Bill was brought in and read .a
fir4t time. . - .

CROYDON RAILWAY.
The HON. MEMBER then presented a petition, signOd
by Mr. Dyson, on behalf of the London and Greenwich
Railway Company, against the London and Croydon
Railway Bill.
WARTHWORTII HARBOUR BILL.

The Warthworth Harbour Bill was brought in and
read a first time.
BELFAST AND CAVE HILL RAILWAY.

The Belfast and Cave Hill Railway Bill was brough
in and read a first time,
• CLERKENWELL IMPROVEMENT.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE brought inithe Clerkenwell Im•
provement•Bill; which was read a first time.
' NOrrINGTIAM GAS.

Tile Nottingham Gas Bill was read a, third time, and
patsed.

LINCOLN ROADS

Colonel SIBTEIORP ,brought in the Lincoln Roads'
Lill, when it was read a first time.
STALEY BRIDGE GAS.
On the motion of Mr.• T. EGIaITO.N. the Lords'
Amendments to the Staley Bridge• Gas Bill were agreed to.
• LEEDS IMPROVF AIENTS' BILL.
Mr. W. BECKETT 1m0...0tt in the Leech Improve-
' tam& Bill, which was re-01 a first time.
INCLOSURE.
Thu Killniugton 'nclosure Bill was read a second
Liu;

, BRISTOL AND GLOUCESTER RAILWAY.
GRETA presented a petition from the Gloucester
and Birmif.tham Railway Company, against the Bristol
8.0 Gloucester Railway Bill, which was ordered to be
refi)rred tc; the Committee.
/ READING CEMETERY.
HON. MEMBER likewise presented a petition from
the x icars of Reading against the Reading Cemetery Bill.

ELECTION COMMITTEP.

Mr. PATRICK MAXWELL STEWART brought

• up a Report from the Weymouth Election Committee,
asking for permission to adjourn from Thursday next to
Wednesday. The Hon. Member then moved that leave
be granted to the Committee on the Weymouth Election
to adjourn from Thursday next, till Monday the 28th
.day of March.
. After, a few worth from Lord GRANYILLE SOMER-
the motion was agrt.ed to.
• NATIONAL EDUCATION (lII.2tAND.)
11Ir.• FFOLLIOTT presented a petition from Sligo
sc,,rainst -the system of National Education in Ireland,
aml.praying. for support to the schools of the Church
'• • Educational Society.
'Mr. CURRY presented a petition from Tyrone to:the
siikt.effect.
I'RESPATERIAN MIXED MARRIAGES.
HON, Ml:mnEn likewise presented a petition from
county, praying the House to legalise Preshy-
tAiterian Mixed itiarriages.
EXPOR DUTY ON COALS.
Mr. ORD presented a petition from Newcastle-upon-
,- True against the proposed export duty on coal.
ROYAL COMMISSION.
The 'Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod then :tr-
. pearcd. .and summoned the House to the Bar of the
HOusO of Peers, to hear the Royal assent given by Com-
. inission to certain Bills.

~~

The SPEAKER, accompanied by several Members, then.
• left the House, and proceeded to the Bar of the House of
• Lords for that purpose.
The SPEAKER shortly afterwards returned and in-
formed the House that the Royal assent had -been driven
by Commission to several Bills.—(For which see fords'
• Repnrt.)
Mr. SHAW presented petitions from Myddleton, and
other, places in the county of Cork, against the National
Education system in Ireland.
Mr. T.D:UNCOMBE' presented a petition from an

• individual in the metropolis iim'ainst the proposal
imposing direct taxation of parties who were not repre-
-, seated in that House, inastnuch', as they did not possess
the electoral franchise.
' Dr: BOWRING presented n petition, signed by up-
ards of 800 inhabitants of Rothsay' in the Isle of
Bute, prsying fora repent of the Corn-laws, free trade
a
nd a fall and fair representation of the people in Par-
tt liatthent.
Mr. HUTT presented a petition from the sit' owners
of Hull against the proposed duty upon coals.'l4-
:sir HOWARD DOUGLAS presented ,a petitiCM "to
the same' effect ; a. petition against
alteration in the dutylipint coffee. • the proposed
Mr. JOHNSTON'preented five petitions from placese
in Chester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, praying fora .
petitions fromr‘aiLortilAießCitoyrn-
BALDWlNpresented
placlSZbi she. county Jae,pqWa and. the sounty:of. A
trim, praying for a continuance of the protection-
the millers of Great Britain and Ireland. . .

Mr. GIBSON CRAIG presented a petition from
Swansea, praying tor a repeal of the Corn-laws, Vote by
Ballot, and an Extension of the Franchise.
Mr. HAWES presented a petition from an individual
in Birmingham, praying for the total abolition of tithes.
Mr. WAKLEY presented a pctition.from Archdeacon
Bathurst, complaining that no measure had been brought
in by her Majesty's Government for the settlement of
the question of Church-rates, and suggesting three modes
of effecting that object ; first, by the entire abolition of
Church•rates, and the establishment of 'the voluntary
principle ; secondly, by levying Church-rates for
reasonable repairs ; and, thirdly, by enabling the
parishioners to ascertain the necessary amount an-
nually, and- paying it out of the Treasury. The
Hon. Member also presented a petition from the
journeymen cork-cutters of Edinburgh and Leith, stat-
ing that, by the proposed reduction of duty on tbreign
corks, they would be completely ruined ; and, as: no
person had complained of the old duty, they entreated
that that part of the new tariff might not be adopted. Thti-
Hon. Member also presented a petition from Steplimi
architect, residing in the New-road, complaining
of the defective state of the present regulations with
respect to buildings, and requesting to be examined
in Committee on the subject. The requesting
also
presented a petition from Alexander Brady, of the parish
of Clerkenwell, complaining of the practice of making
long•speeehes err almost every motion submitted to thii
House. The petitioner said that those speeches had
never conferred any benefit upon him, and he questiOne4
if they had conferred any benefit upon the public. He,
thought it very desirable that some rule should be adopt
ed for remedying the evil, and would suggest that nal
member should be allowed to speak on any subject for a 4
longer period than twenty minutes.- —(Loud laughter.)
The Hon. Member also presented a petition from twenty
one journeymen smiths in the parish of St. George's 4
Bloomsbury,- praying for a total and immediate repeal of
the duties on the importation of foreign corn ; and alsol
a paition from James Gill, of Edinburgh, complaining
of the practice in- the Court of Sessions of Scotland of
giving decrees to prisoners in the absence of the defenders.
Mr. O'BRIEN presented a petition from the county oi
flown, praying that her Majesty's Government would
direct their attention to the reclaiming of waste 'an*.
Lord SANDON presented a petition from the Alein;
bers of. ar,Literary and Scientific Society in Liverpool,
cAlling the attention of the House to the burden under
which literary and scientific institutions laboured in being
subject to the window-tax, if they had a person within
the walls for the purpose of taking charge of their pro-,
perty ; they, therefore, prayed that the House `would
take measures for the exemption of such institutioo
from local and assessed taxes.

The second readings of the Lunatic Asylums' Bill, and
the Bonded Corn Bill- which were fixed for to-morrow,
were postponed tillafterthe recess.

ERRORS IN THE TARIFF.

Mr. HAWES, seeing the Right Hon. the Vice-Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade in his place, begged to call
his attention to the subject of a conversation which took
place the other evening across the table, relating to the
typographical errors which had found their way into the
printed copies of the amended tariff. Those errors had
occasioned great uncertainty, and no small anxiety,
in different branches of trade, as it was impossible to
know in what respects the intended duties were
correctly stated, and in what instances they were
printed erroneously. He begged to ask, when did the
Right Hon. Gentleman expect to let the public have a
correct copy ? He thought the country was entitled to
have the correct information as early as possible.
Mr. GLADSTONE would venture to say that ne
unnecessary delay should take place.—(Hoar.) He was
exceedingly anxious that no time should be lost in
correcting the errors of the tariff, both those that
were merely typographical, and those which had been
committed by the framers of the tariff themselves; and he
was confident that the corrections would be made during
the recess. It was certainly impossible to make the
amendments without great consideration ; but he fully
expected that the approaching Easter recess would be
sufficient to enable him to have a correct copy of the
tariff in the hands of Members.
TIMBER DUTIES.

Mr. PATRICK M. STEWART wished to put a ques-
tion to the Right Honourable Baronet, the First 'Lord
of the Treasury, respecting the proposed duties on
colonial and other timber, and he considered the sub-
ject of his question one of great importance, not only to
those engaged in the timber trade, but to the public at
large. The Right Hon. Baronet was probably aware
that there never was so large a stock of duty-paid ,
timber in London as at this moment—(Hear, hear)
and in the Clyde, with which he was more immediately
connected, there was a very large stock on which the
duty. had been paid. He had had an interview with some
of the holders of that stock this day, and they informed
him that they were induced to take a large quantity :
on hand, because they thought they were sure of the 1
differential duty remaining unaltered; and it was not the
custom to bond - Canadian timber. The questiOn
which he wished to ask was, whether it was
the intention of the Right Hon. Baronet to relieve
those parties, either by . a remission or drawback c
of the duty, or by giving them time to get rid of that..
stock before the alteration of the duty came into effect.
Sir R. PEEL had received communicatio;,s to the
same effect, as to the peculiarly large amount of
timber which had paid duty, awis Was at present on
hand. The Honourable Gentleman mentioned one
cause of that accumulatio;,. But probably there was
another. The inteeti'on last year announced
,by the
Noble Lord opposite(Lord John Russell) to impose a
duty of 24s.;,per, load upon Canadian timber, led
those persus to speculate in taking in a large stock,
with tats hope of escaping the duty. if the duty
had been raised in the meantime, as they expected,
the increase would not be levied upon that timber.—
(Hear, and allaugh.) The Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Stewart)
asked whether it was his (Sir R. Peel's) intention to allow
a drawback on the duty paid ? His answer was-Mot
certainly not.—(Hear, hear.) There had been before
this a system of drawback in the Customs which ope-
rated as a warning against extending. it . to any new
arrangement of Customs' duties.—(Hear, hear.). He
(Sir R. Peel) had pretty good reason to know what were
the difficulties which attended commercial reforms.
He had received communications from several timber
Merchants, to the effect that trade was so much depressed
that there was no demand for timber, and. reductions of
price had taken place to the amount of 4d. or Ad. per load—
that even with that sacrifice it was impossible to sell Ca-
nadian timber. Now his answer to that was, that they
should look for a remedy in the general improvement of
trade which the reduction:of duties would effect. Ik had no.
intention of allowing a drawback, but he would give a.
gre4ter interval before the operation of the new duties
than he had at first contemplated. Although the va-
rious articles of the. tariff did severally occupy the atten-
tion of all the confidential advisers of the Government ,
connected with. the Customs, yet it was impossible, in
such large; reforms, that the arrangements could,
be compk&d at once, and exactly adjusted, in respect
to all. As to Baltic timber, all the communications
which he had received showed the importance of the
intended reform.—(Hear, hear.) But he was perfectly
1 convinced that colonial timber could hold its ground in
the market under the new duties.—(Hear, hear.)
: lie repeated, that he would not allow a drawback,
but that he would give as long an interval as would be
consistent with the interest of the consumer. He would
do his best to repair cases of individual wrong, but he
looked to the general improvement of trade as the surest
1 means of remedying the inconvenience complained of by
those merchants.
ADJOURNMENT OF TILE HOUSE.
On the reading of the Order of the Day for the Com-
mittee gni the Corn Duties Bill,
Sir R. PEEL said, that as he could not expect to make
any progress . in the Bill before the recess, so as to
scud it to the Lords, he should now (as he stated his
, intention last night to do) move the postponement of the
order to Monday, the 4th of April.
Mr. HAWES, with re:Tect to the timber duties, ex-
pressed his satisfaction .with the announcement of the
Right Hon. Gentleman's intention to allow a long inter-
val before the operation of the new duties. But he wished
to call the Right Hon. Gentleman's attention to the pre-
sent mode of taking the duty, which, in the opinion of
the trade, ought to be by bale, and not by measurement.
Sir R. PEEL said, he had to strike -a balance between
the consumer and the trade ; but he could not hold out
any' expectation of a long interval, which would have the
effect of conferring a temporary monopoly. upon those
whO had large stocks en hand, as well as causing a suspen-
sion of trade. As to the mode of taking the duty, there
was no difficulty in taking it by cubic measurement on
timber in the log ; but he thought that in the case of
deals there was the grossest injustice occasioned by that
mode of measurement, which had also the effect of exclud-
ing the timber of tome nations entirely from our market:
He had had tome communications with gentlemen on
the subject of presenting impediments to the revenue,
and affecting its collection on all classes of timber, and
the question was under his attentive consideration.
. . HAND-LOOM WEAVERS.
Mr. WOI)EHOUSE gave notice, that after Easter he
would draw the attention of the House to the Ileport of
the Commissioners in 1841 on the condition of'the hand-
loom weavers; also that he would move for certain re-
turns respecting poor-rates, county-rates, and other im-
posts.