Although Parliament has not been silent, the substance of its
history for the week is interesting chiefly in the work accomplished. The Succession-Duties Bill has been got through the Commons Committee. The India Bill has been advanced to the fourteenth clause, with some important concessions : one, abolishing pro- perty qualification for the Directors ; a second, opening the Direc- torate to all persons who have lived ten years in India, without limiting the choice to public servants ; a third, striking out the clause against canvassing, as ineffective and of questionable expe- diency. A bill to amend the University Tests in Scotland, by substituting a simple promise not to disturb existing establishments or the national creed, has advanced to the second reading. Sir Alexander Cockburn's bill to define Newspapers in respect to size Ansi poriodicitv has passed the second reading. Sir Tames Graham has introduced two bills giving Parliamentary confirmation to the improved Navy regulations of the Acimiraltv, and authorizing the establishment of a Naval Volunteer Coast duard.
Some other progress has been made in relieving the overloaded list of measures ; not, however, in the barren shape of "a mas- sacre of the innocents." Mr. ifilner Gibson's County-Rates Bill has been withdrawn ; but the withdrawal has been accompanied by a promise from Lord Palmerston, that a county-representation in connexion with county-rates will be the principle of a measure to be introduced by Government. Mr. Hadfield's bill to transfer the jurisdiction in regard to the Probate of W9.1s from the Eccle- siastical to the Common TA': CZ)urts is withdrawn, with an under- -L t.1.z
zu,:ng tor uovernment by Lord Palmerston. Lord Shaftesbury's
bill to prevent Juvenile Mendicancy has passed through the Peers' Committee, with a limitation of it to the Metropolis instead of all large towns; but it is not expected to pass the Commons. A bill introduced by Mr. Adderley, with a cognate object, to establish Special Prisons for young offenders and Reformatory Schools, has been introduced, with the prospect of reaching its second reading this session but the whole subject of juvenile correction will no doubt stand over until after the long vacation. In the mean time the Lord Chancellor has passed a bill through the House of Lords authorizing, as a secondary punishment, "penal servitude" in lieu of "transportation"; thus placing law in accordance with practice. .
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