The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-06 00:00:00

BARRISTERS (ikELAND).
Sir V. BLAKE moved for leave to bring in a Bill to
alter the law relating to the admission of barristers in
Ireland.
Lord ELIOT, in consenting to. the motion, wished to
guard himself against any misconstruction. He had
received no rep.vsentation whatever on the subject, and
he trusted that his consenting to the present motion would
not be construed into an expression of his approbation of
the measure. - He did not think the measure was called
for, but he should reserve his opinion until the Bill
should be before the House.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
ANNUAL INDEMNITY BILL.

On the motion of Sir G. CLERK, have was given to
bring in the Annual Indemnity Bill.
THE FLOATING BREAKWATER.

Lord INGESTIIIE, in rising to bring forward the
motion, of which he had given notice, for a copy
of the letters patent for England, granted on the 4th
July, 1838, to Joseph Needham Taylor, and also for re-
printing the minute or paper presented by Mr. Bentham
to the Navy Board, on the subject of the BreakWaii,r at
Plymouth, ordered by the House to be printed Feb. 18,
1.812, said that it would not be necessary to trouble the
Howe at any great length. The. Bill to which the motion
referred, viz., a Bill for the Formation of . u Floating
Breakwater, on the principle for which Capt. Taylor
had obtained a patent, had been referred to a Committee
up stairs. He (Lord Ingestre) understopd that the
grounds on which that patent had been obtained were
fallacious, and the widow and residuary legatee of
Mr. Bentham asserted that the principle had
been announced by that gentieman to the Navy
Board in the year 1811. With regard to the
latter part of the motion he should not press it, as he
understood that a sufficient number uf copies of that
minute were already in existence. lle should, there-
fore, merely move for a copy of the patent granted
to Captain Taylor, and a statement of the grounds on
which such patent was granted.
Captain PECHELL did not know what was the Noble
Lord's object in bringing forward this motion. If it was
to show that Captain Taylor was not the original
inventor of the plan, or that the plan itself was not a
good one, it became him to make some farther statement
to. the House, in order that those who advocated the
formation of these floating breakwaters might knew
what his objections were. He found that in 1811,
Mr. Bentham, feeling annoyed at not being employed in
the construction of the' Stone Breakwater at Plymouth,
suggested the plan of a floating breakwater on the same
principle as Captain Taylor's. The recommendation
was made to the Board of Admiralty 'of the day, and
consequently was not attended Co. He thought that, in-
stead.of crying down and putting aside the plan of Capt.
Taylor, the Noble Lord, as a brother officer otCapt. Taylor
should have, promoted it. Mr. Bentham did originate
a plan that would have'cost a million less than the Ply-
mouth Breakwater, but Captain Taylor's was by no
means a copy of it. He hoped that the Noble Lord
would not press. the motion.
Lord DIG ESTRE had no object whatever but to elicit
the truth. From what he understood, Sir Samuel Ben-

thain being, in 1811, Civil Engineer to the Admiralty,
was asked to give his opinion on the project of erecting
a breakwater in Plymouth Sound. Sir Samuel furnished
two plans; one of them was a plan of a floating break-
water, being similar to that proposed by Captain Taylor.
Now, the representatives of Sir Samuel Bentham were
of opinion that Captain Taylor had obtained his
patent on false grounds, not having been the
original suggeStor of the floating brakwater. The
object of the present motion was , to enable the House,
before a Bill that was now before a Committee, passed,
to form an opinion as to which was the original inventor
of the breakwater. He (Lord I.) meant no disre-
pect to the service in withholding his titles from
Capt. Taylor, for he (Lord I.) believed the usual form
was merely to mention Christian names anti surnames.
He repeated that in moving for a copy of the patent, his
object was only to obtain those details which would show
the facts connected with the case in dispute between the
parties.
Mr. LABOUCHERE thought that this was a subject
which the House could not entertain, for they had no
jurisdiction over patents, If the parties spoken of •by
the-Noble. Lord thought that they were the representa-
tives of the original inventor, their remedy was, not to
appeal to that House, -but to proceed by action in a
Court of Law. It was evident, therefore, that if the
Noble Lord earried his motion, 116 still could not ad-
vance his object, for the opinion of that House could not
decide any disputel right between the parties.
Lord INGESTIUE did not want the Muse tojudge
between the. parties. He only wanted the House to
know who was the real inventor of the breakwater
before it was called upon to assent to a Bill to carry Cap-
tain Taylor's plan into effect.
Sir CHARLES DOUGLAS, in supporting the me•-
tion, said that a Company had been formed upon the pa-
tent which Captain Taylor hal obtained; and there - was
now a Bill of Incorporation before a Committe up stairs.
Now, as the House would have to adopt or reject the Bill,
he thought they should have before thetwevery important
fact co'inected with the case, and those facts. his Noble
Friend's motion would produce. .
The motion was then agreed to. -
ORDERS OF THE DAY.

Sir EDWARD KNATCHBULL having moved that
the Orders of the Day be now read,. the I'arieh
Property Bill was read a third time; some clauses were
added, and the Bill passed.
Sir G. CLERK brought up the. Annual Indemnity Bill,
which was read a first time,
CORN IMPORTATION BILL.

the House then resolved itself into a Committee of the
whole House upon - the 'corn :Importation Bill, Mr.
GREENE in the chair.

Clause 9 having been put,
- Mr. BARCLAY rose to move, pursuant to notice, that
it was not expedient to make, any addition to the number
of towns from which returns are now, made for the cal-
culation of the averages. The Hoe. Member said that he
d;d not mean to expres; any opposition to the -principle Of
the measure of the Right Hon. Baronet ; and his only
object was to alter one of its details. lie did not think
it was necessary for the purpose df attaining the ob-.
jects which the Right Hon. Baronet had in view, that
any addition should be made to the 163 towns from
which the averages had . hitherto been taken ; and ifno.
such. necessity • existed, it appeared to him that it
would be better to make no alteratiou in that part
of the existing plan. The only object of the Right Hon.
Baronet in introducing the change was to prevent frauds
in the returns. But the Right Hon. Baronet bildself had
stated that those frauds had been very greatly exagge-
rated ; and he (Mr. Barclay) agreed with him in that
opinion. He believed further that there had been frauds
on more than one side ; and that if souse parties had
attempted to raise the price in ordeQ to reduce
the duties, there had been others who attempted
to depress the price of corn in order to raise the duty.
He believed that the frauds which had been committed'
had been caused by the expectation of high profits, by
the parties snaking large purchases, but still those pur-
chases were beau fide, and could only` be made at
considerable risk to tbe parties.—(Hear, hear.)
He was confirmed in his opinion with respect to the
proposal of the Rigjst Honourable Baronet, by the
speech of the Honourable Member for North Lin-
colnshire, that Honourable Member having stated
that in the opinion of many the introduction;
of these towns would cause a depression equal to SS. it
quarter, whilst, in his own opinion, it-would cause a
depression of 2s. From a statement of the average prices
of wheat in 15 agrieultut al and 15 manufacturing towns,
it appeared, that out of 54 woaks the average price was
much higher in the towns connected with commerce and
manufactures, than in those connected with agriculture.
If, as he strongly believed, any addition to the towns at which
the averages were taken was not necessary to prevent frauds,
and as the addition was calculated to excite some suspicion
that on one side the average prices might be depressed, and
on the other hand that they might be raised, he asked whether
it would be desirable, under those circumstances, to make,the
proposed addition. If the effect of the addition of 139 towns
would be.to depress the average prices to the extent of 2s. per
quarter, it was clear that to that extent the clergy would suffer,
whose income would he regulated. by the former averages.
He would ask the Right Hon, Baronet how he would propose
to settle accounts with the clergy under these circumstances?
Would he adopt the old system or the new one, or would he
adopt a two-fold plan, based partly on the former system of
averages, end partly on the present. system, whereby 139 towns
were to be added to the present number ? Every dif-
ficulty would be removed if the Hight Honourable
Gentleman would strike out the •139 towns from
the schedule which he proiosed to add. - lie was not. actuated
by any hostility towards the .Right Hon. Gentleman's measure
in making his present proposition, but while he would bow to
the decision of the House on the general principle of the mea-
sure, he could not alter then the view which he had before
expressed of a fixed duty being much prefera.ble to any that
should be regulated by a sliding scale. He would conclude by
moving, " That it is not expedient to make any addition to
the number of towns from which returns are now made, for
the calculation of the average prices."
Mr. GREENE said that the motion of the Hon. Member
was informal, as it must be brought forward when the schedule
was under consideration.
The motion was then withdrawn.

Mr. CHILDERS said, that as he had a motion relative to the
averages he would now move it. He did no. mean to obstruct
the Bill, but he thought the point was one worthy the conside •
ration of the Right Hon. Baronet and the House. Ile did
not wish to prevent a greater number of towns from taking the
averages, if by that means they would be rendered more sound,
fair, and just; but as these averages, if once liaised, may never
be recalled, he thought it would be well to consider the subject
at that time. His object was that those towns should be intro-
duced into the new schedules, and that the averages should be
taken from those towns immediately, hut that they should not
proceed to act upon those averages for the next twelve months,
bat that the importation of corn should be regulated according
to the old system, so that they might he able to compare the two
systems, and discover if there were any substantial difference
between the two. It had been stated by lion. Members on
bqth sides of the House that the introduction of these new towns
would reduce the auptial overage pripe of pqrn in this country,
and it would be most important fa areertain that point. The
Hon. Member for Somersetshire had stated that in his opinion
the change in the method of taking the averages would lower
the annual averages by at least 31. to 45., and that Hon. Mem-
ber was, from his connexion both with the agricultural and
trading interest, in the best possible position to term an Pitinion
on the subject. In his opinion the duty would be .found very
heavy when they came to the higher rates of prices ; but if by
a lower rate of averages thp difference should be still farther
increased, the inflietim wqqld 1?e fqupd almost intoleFable;
He could not perceive any
,reasnn for retaining the
high figures of 70s. and 735., unless it was that being
the same prices as under the old system, the farmers
would bp oleic ready to support the new one. Another
advantage of 'taking the averages, as he proposed, was this,
that if before next harvest they should reqhiri4 i large supply
of foreign corn, they would see whether there was any ten-
dency to act particularly in those towns where the averages
were taken, rather than those towns where averages were not
taken, and would be able to detect whether there was any
tampering with the averages when prices were rising. It was
proposed that `to Ifif;drpe cease its operation in
three years, and should titer; L a g,•earfilia4ge in the cp.rn-
laws, be thought, by an analogy, there ought to be a power to
averages at the end of a year. With these obser-
uja amendment:—" In substitution of
• 4,; Bills up to the Ist of
crn

change I,—
vatictiV he would move ...
clause 29, That from the passing o.
May, 1843, the duty to be paid on the importation of —4,