The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-07 00:00:00

BOARD OF HEALTH.

Mr.l4`. FRENCH gave notice of the following motion :
" Returns of the number of Boards of Health, esta-
blished since 1818, pursuant to the Act 50
George 111., c. 47, with names of localities where
such were formed, and name of requisitionist to the
Lord-Lieutenant ;—order of Lord-Lieutenant, au-
thorising formation of Board ;—names and num-
ber of Commissioners, acting pursuant to said
order, together with dates of said requisition, and the
order of appointment in each locality respectively ;
of all monies advanced from Consolidated Fund to
such Board of Health, specifying the period at which
such sums were severally applied for and advanced, and
of all monies, repaid to Consolidated Fund in consi-
deration of such advances, specifying the period of
such repayments severally, and the balances,
if any, remaining unpaid ;—of all weekly Re-
ports from the Commissioners forming such
Boards during the continuance of power (as re-
quired by the said Act) to the Lord-Lieutenant,
' with the names of Commissioners signing such weekly
Reports ;—of any Report or other evidence, pursuant
to which the Lord-Lieutenant caused the powers of
any such Boards to cease, specifying the date at which
each Board consequently ceased to act, and the date of
the order to that effect from the Lord-Lieutenant."
WEST INDIAN BARRACKS.

Major VIVIAN said the Noble Lord, the Member
for Sunderland, having cast some reflections on the
disgraceful state of the barracks in the West Indies,
though no blame was attached to a Noble Relative of
his, yet that no slur might be supposed to
be cast on him, he begged to move for a return of an
Order of January 1836, addressed to the respective
officers on that station, relating to the superintendence
of the barracks.

Captain BOLDERO said it would take a long time
to prepare the returns for England and Ireland.
Major VIVIAN was understood to say that he
would confine his motion for returns relative to the
West Indies.

CANTON RANSOM.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL wished to know if, in the
accounts of the revenue made up for the quarter
ending the sth inst., any sum was included in re-
spect of the money received by us from the Chinese,
for the evacuation of Canton ?
Sir R. PEEL said that there was a sum included
in the accounts under the head alluded to. He could
not state the exact figures, but from general recollec-
tion, he thought that the sum was 340,0001. which
would of course increase the revenue to that amount.
COPYRIGHT BILL.

On the Order of the Day for the further considera-
tion of the Report on this Bill being read,
Lord MAHON said he wished to recall the
attention of the House to the understanding come to
on a former occasion. It was understood that a
full and free discussion on this' Bill should
take place when it should be re-committed. He
now, therefore, begged to move that the Bill be re-
committed.

The motion was then carried, and the House re-
solved itself into a Committee, Mr. GREENE in the
Chair.

The Preamble was postponed, and on the motion
that clause 1 stand part of the Bill,
Lord DIAIION rose and said, that in propos-
ing a measure on the subject of copyright for
the consideration of the House, he could not but re-
gret the absence of that accomplished scholar and
advocate, Mr. Serjeant Talfourd, and he was sure that
there was no Hon. Member, whatever his party feeling,
but must regret that the House no longer enjoyed
the benefit of his talents and acquirements, who
though he had a great majority of political opponents,
had not one personal enemy. In the absence of that
Gentleman, however, he (Lord Mahon) had under-
taken at his request to bring this measure before the
House. He intended, in the first place, to direct the
attention of the House to the progress of legislation
on this subject up to the present ttme, and then
ito detail the changes which he proposed to
make in the existing laws on this subject.
The practice and precepts of former times, a reference
to which was sometimes so useful in matters of
doubtful legislation, did not apply in the present case.
For two centuries after the discovery of printing
readers were so few and far
.between, that it was
almost impossible that any question of copyright could
arise. The small sum for which the copyright of
" Paradise Lost" was sold proved rather the paucity in
the number of readers than the want of taste in
the purchasers I
of books. The readers of that day
might be divided into two classes;the gay courtiers of
Charles 11. who only purchased works of a light and fri-
volous tendency, and the readers of works of theological
controversy. This want of a public institution was,
however, in a great measure supplied by the sys-