Parliament has done little during the week but talk. It
has dis- cussed the Indian Council Bill, but without making improvements;_ education, but without coming to any resolution; church rates, but only to reject all bills whatsoever. The proposal to prohibit the use of the term "savings bank" by any private bank has been ne- gatived, and the bill making vaccination compulsory passed com- mittee despite strong opposition from Mr. Duncombe, who' seems afraid lest small-pox should be extirpated from the country. Lord Palmerston has carried his pet project of building the Foreign and India Offices in the Italian rather than the Gothic
style, after a speech which bristle* with point ,and genuine humour, and the mediaevalists will probably acquiesce in their fate. •The only important measure Which has advanced a stage, is Mr. Vilfines's reducing the claim few a settlemeat under the Poor-law fsom five years to three, and making the claim good against the union instead of the parish. This measure abolishes the system of driving the poor into neighbouring parishes in order to keep down rates, which has been widely prevalent.
