Star.
London, England, 1819-12-16 00:00:00

PA R 1 M MEN TAR y PROCEEDING,S.

•
_ f '..‘l&

, I

;~

I! •

•OE
' .N.' t i
1.
i. N
,
:
h
-

'

s

-

lIOUSIN OF LORDS, DECEMBER IS.
The Earl of *III ANEf pres..qued a l'ctition from the Car-
yoration of the City of Rochester against the new measures
row pending. 'File Petition being read, was ordered to He on
the table.
The Duke of DF.VONSHIRE presented a Petition from an
Indi-idual, Mr. Thomas Flanagan, complaining of certain injuri-
eel practices with respect to the Tolls and other Imposts in the
Town of Sligo, and praying relief.—Ordered to lie on the table.
Their Lordships, in a Committee, went through the Malt and
Pensions Daty Bill, which was reported without any amend-
ment.—Adjourned sill to-morrow.
HOUSE OF COMMONS. •
Mr. B. W I LnnATIA Al presented a Petition from a Mr. W.
Salisbury, a Gentleman who bad devoted much of his time to
finding beneficial employment for the Parish Poor. This plan
had hem successfully acted upon in several Parishes, and the
Poor hi various places were now employed in manufacturing
articles from fiaz, and in growing that plant. lite Petitioner
did not pray for any pecuni..ry grant, but conceiving himself to
have succeeded in the object lie had in view, he called upon the
House to institute an inquiry into its merits.
• The Petition was then read. It set forth the importance of
employing the Parish Poor, and prayed that the Petitioner
might he allowed an opportunity of proving the merits of his
discos% ry.
Mr. R. WILBR AIIA M moved that the Petition should be
referred to a Committee.
Lord F. OSBORNE inquired of a Bight Hon. Gentleman
opposite (Mr. S. Bourne), if it were intended to revive the Com-
ntittee en the Poor Laws?
Mr. S. BOURNE said be had not yet made up his mind on
the subject.
Mr. Alderman WOOD knew that the plan of the Petitioner
had been adopted with success in one of the Houses of Correc-
tion in the City of London. As far as the experiments bad gone
they met with the approbation of the Magistrates. The ques-
tion arising on this Petition would, be thought, be compre-
hended in the motion to be brought forward to-morrow by an
Honourable Baronet (Sir W. De Crespigny). Ile would there-
fore submit it to the consideration of the Honourable Gentle-
man, whether it would not be as well to let this motion stand
over till that of the Honourable Baronet had been decided, in
or th. r to avoid burdening the house with too many Committees?
Mr, B. WI LBRA HAM had no particular objection to act
on the suggestion of the worthy Alderman, but the object of the
two motions being different, he thought it might be as well to
move for the nominal appointment of a Committee, with an un-
derstanding that it should not sit till after the recess.
Sir W. DE CRESPIGNY said, he should be extremely de-
sirous of supporting any plan of this kind, as the experiments
which had been made had proved very successful, and would,
if carried on to a great extent, be most beneficial to the countty.
Ilis motion, however, went on a larger plan, and would call the
attention of the House to the advantages that might be expected
to result from encouraging spade husbandry.
A desultory conversation followed, in which Mr. hlztusn,
Mr. S. Minus, Lord F. OSBORNZ, Mr. llositssou. Sir. W. Da
CKEirIGNT, Mr. J. SIMPI, Mr. B. WILIZAMAI4, Mr. Alderman
Wool), Sir C. Bugatti, Mr. Lvrrti:ox, and Mr. Wu.agaroacr,
participated ; after which the motion for referring the Petition
to a Committee was withdrawn, and it was ordered to fie on
the table.
Sir C. BURRELL said it was the opinion of some of his
friends, that the bringing up of the Report of the Penryn Bii-
bery Prevention Bin would be better postponed till it could be
k-own what course was taken with the Borough of Gram-
pi,und. He complied with their wishes with pleasure, and
would accordingly move that the bringing up of the Report
should be postponed till Friday, when, if necessary, he could
n-eve that it should be further postponed.
Sir C. MONCK inquired if the Honourable Baronet had
considered the possibility of giving the elective franchise to the
adjoining Hundred?
Sir C. BURRELL thought that course would be inconve•
-
ni.r.t. If adopted, the voters would not thank the House for it.
4.5 it would give them a minor benefit, while it took from them
a major. It would take from them a vote for a County Mem-
ber, and give them in its stead a vote for a Borough. Ile was
proceeding to point out the view which might be expected should
be taken of this change, when
The SPEAKEjt interfered, by remarking, that such a line
of argument could not conveniently be pursued, where an Order
of the Day was moved merely for the purpose of postponing it.
The Report was postponed till Friday.
Sir IL PEEL moved the second reading of the Cotton Fac-
tories Amendment Bill.
Mr. HUME did not rise to oppose the third reading of this
Bill, but he called the attention of the House to the frequent
instances which had recently occurred. of legislatitn between
master and man. in some instances be thought the humanity
of the Rowe had carried them too far in such cases. The Bill
of last Session respecting Cotton Factories having passed, he
did not intend opposing this, which was to amend that Act, but
he hoped the House would act with caution In such cases for
the time to come.—The Bill was read a third time and passed.
Mr. VYNN gave notice that he would, to-morrow, move
f,r leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Act relating to Irish
Elections, pissed in the last Session of Parliament.
Mr. L FORSTER postponed, till after the recess, his Mo-
tion on the State of Education among the Poor in Ireland.
INSOLVENT DEBTORS.
Lord ALTHORP, in rising pursuant to the no-
tice he had given, to move for leave to bring in a Bill
for the relief of Insolvent Debtors, felt it )necessary
to offer some explanation of his present object, and
of what had taken place in :the last Session of Par-
liament. He, in consequence of the Report of a
Committee, had, in the last Session, brought in a
Bill to alter the law with respect to Insolvent
Debtors. The great alteration which that Bill made
was to subject the Debtor to ah examination before
he came into Court, and to compel him to take the
benefit of the Act (if at all) within a given time. It
was propoied that.he should be examined, in the first
place, before three Commissioners, and to surrender
all his property to be applied to the benefit of his ere.
ditors. This Bill passed that House, but in conse-
quence of objections raised against it in another
place, the measure was ultimately lost. In conse-
quence of this circumstance, an Honourable Friend
of his had brought in another Bill to renew the old
Insolvent Debtors Law for a short time. He (Lord
Althorp) was out of town when this was proposed to
the 'House, or he should certainly have felt it to be
his duty to offer all the opposition in his power to a
return to the old law, for the present system he held
to be such, that it was impossible for the Commis-
soner (he meant not to throw any imputation on the
Commissioner, or on any other person belonging to
tie Court) to conduct the business in a manner that
Mould be satisfactory to the Public. He understood
that a new Commissioner had been appointed, and
that Government had removed not merely the old
Commissioner, but every Clerk (with the exception of
or,e) that had belonged to the Court. In this instance,'
1% ithout wishing to say any thing against the charac-
ti r of the late Commissioner (Mr. Serjeant Running-
ton), he must say, that Government had acted most
proi_erly ; for what had passed in that Court had
taken from the Piiblic all confidence in it, so that
the change which had been made was absolutely ne-
cessary, and the effect of that change was every
thing that could be wished for under the present sys-

'Ling win cuulu tx ',1:41%-u iws I.IIIUGI 1.11 pi W:11. ay mon or a Jury, to he innoxious, does not legitimate the rain- deavour :
.: G -
sa- need sale thereof, but that the same defendant is subject to pro- measure
I . tern, by persons in trade. He was, nevertheless,
secution for each subsequent act of publication of the same ". .
. - tisfied, that without an alteration in the law, it, was
work, and in doubtful cases is liable to probable eventual eon- P,..uwicatu
eictinn and punishment; and that a prosecution for Libel, even of
politic
impossible for the present Commissioner, however,
great his integrity or activity might be, to do justice in enies of acquittal, does, therefore, generally operate to restrain which he
descriptia
[ll • 1 Ili betiimen all parties. But the effect of his good con- the Continued circulation of the offensive work, and in some
cas,es, to suppress the same altogether.
' That as general Booksellers ard Publishers, we are more tions of a
t 1 - duct had been such, that it enabled him to propose
eepecially affected by the proposed Act, and that the more ex- retest: ; I
. that the Court should be under one Commissioner,
;:r ii:stead of three, as he had before recommended..-- tensive and respectable the trade earned on is, the more pro- ,hoed at
t * .
~ •