16 MARCH 1850, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

:TAXATION and Representation have been the leading subjects in Yarliamentthis week, though not strictly taken together.

Mr. Rumé "began it—ding dong bell!" The Secretary at War -moves the -Army Estimates ; Mr. Hume moves to cut down the number .of men by 10,000; and, after a debate of the kind such as Mr.-Hume has witnessed any time these fifty years, his amend- ment was negatived, by 223 to 50. The patriarch of economy was exceSsiiiely indignant—more so than usual : but surely these repeated. failures to olitaiir attention ought to suggest to him, if he is confident in the soundness of his object, that there must something • Wrong in his method. Is it because the House per- ceives that his rough and ready retrenchment is only shaped by the rule of thumb—that he has no grasp of the entire subject, so :that his advice-is not :safe ; or is it that he and his collaborateurs have too entirely neglected that important branch of the statesman's art the faculty of obtaining influence over other men's minds ? The House went on with its Army. Estimates, and then with its Navy Estimates, as little heeding the voice of Hume as if it had heen.--the wind throngh aleyhole. - Mr. Henry Diuminond'S unpractical motion and more faittasti- pal speech obtained far better attention. Mr. Drummond moved a resolution declaring, that whereas the present taxation depresses ,a11 classes by diininiShing the fund for productive employment, :therefore . the Government expenditure should be reduced. The bii6iW ;given, to . enigmatic aphorism by a Protectionist ItTreqiiires the 'genius of a Drummond to pack so many fallacies into so epigrammatic a form. You may count them on your 'fingers. -44 plaintive resolution: is the confessed sequel of measures to diminier taxation ! No practicable reduction in the -expenditure :could sensibly augment the "funds for pro- dietiVe employment' Taxation operates far less injuriously the gross ." fund" for that purpose, than by im- pedine indiistry in 'peculiar channels and peculiar processes—not hy:Lditainishing -labeur,firnds, :but by swelling cost till it exceed market value; , To reduce "expenditure" would not improve that incidence of taxation. There would be no end to the fallacies which might be exposed in Mr. Drunimand's case ; yet he won far mote 'Attention; than Mr.. Hume with his specific retrenchment. Because the spirit of Driimmoiid is better than the letter of Mune. Drummond excites attention for questions that stand at every nian's back ; and while his ,hearer_s readily reject his proposition, they. cannot choose .but follow the ilirection of his thoughts. Tory, Free-trader, quasi-Republican, or Protectionist, he never loses re- gard.' for his species, and keeps men in mind of the poor and. help- less: -Lerd Redesdale's catechetical complaint of Free-trade results, and . Lord. Malmesbury's attacks on ".that man" Mr. Cobden, f'.._chtuupion.of the:Manchester School," serve but one purpose—to show 'how utterly to seek the 'Protectionists in Parliament are When they tire'not acting under their leader for the nonce. If he is :Unwell, they are at si.tes and sevens. The great old Tory party has"corae to hang upon the presence of a Disraeli !

In its ulterior indications, the debate on Mr. Milner Gibson's County Rates Bill has been the most important of the week. Several Principles of great moment are involved in the 'measure. The county-rates are at present assessed and administered under the control of the County Magistrates—a party, Of gentlemen ap- pointed by the Crown, not selected for any special fitness in finance, and not in any degree responsible to the ratepayers. In lieu of that authority,-.Mr.-Milner Gibson proposes to substitute a board, mainly created: out of the Boards of Guardians, and thus inediately elected by the ratepayers. It thus extends to the local firxation " of counties the accompanying representation which is dogmatically said to be essential under the British constitution. ir John Pakifigton acted- as : champion for the vested interest [LATEST EDITION.] which Magistrates feel in continuing to be a Very unfit board; and, to defeat the bill by a side-wind, he inoved, as an amendment on the second reading, for the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into the subject generally. But although the bill was admitted to be full of imperfections, and Sir George Grey exult- ingly foresaw " difficulties " in the way of carrying out so de- sirable an object, the discussion developed an unexpected unani- mity in the House on the principle of the bill : it was read a :second time, and then referred to a Select Committee. The speeches of Sir James Graham and Sir Robert Peel are important in pledging the House to this extension of a _truly "English" prin- ciple to local taxation in counties. Sir James made one remark .pregnant with suggestive ideas. Sir John Pakington had objected to the "great change" contemplated by the bill : Sir James asked whether the House had of late years been unaccustomed to "great changes " ? and he instanced the reform of Municipal Corporations. He is prepared therefore for a "great change" in the reform of County Corporations. But once let these County-rate Boards be established, and the institiition will be made to- other purr poses. There has long been a talk of relieving Prliament of much local and " private " business, which could be best transacted by district councils ; and if County Boards were established under Mr. Milner Gibson's bill, they would be the genii of those district councils, to which business might be gradually transferred.

- As a friendly rival to Lord Granville's bill Tor the Audit of Rail- way Accounts, Lord Stanley has introduced a bill framed by per- sons in the interests of railway companies : both measures- are to be considered together. • . .

Lord Ashley has introduced a bill to settle the doubtful point as to the employment of relays or shifts in factories. . He somewhat overlaid his case :by old arguments in favour of Short Time; for his strength my in the facts,—the notorious intent of • the Legisla- ture, both in 1844 and 1847; the comparatively small number even of manufacturers who evade or resist the law, though their avoidance of it would ultimately induce others to follow the ex- ample ; and the perfect satisfaction which is felt by all classes where ihelaw has been thoroughly carried- out. The 'Home-See-re- tary cut an equivocal-figure in the debate: he professed not to be quite clear as to the intent of Parliament, and betrayed a disposition to reopen the question of short time ; but would express no &- aided opinion either Way. Sturdy Sir James Graham, who had objected to interference between master and man, would not see truth or act of Parliament evaded; and the babince of opinion ran strongly in favour of carrying out the law according to the first in- tention. • Lord Grey has had another sitting at his general transportation scheme, and has given it another" touching up "; this time not a bad one. He brings all the convict prisons of England, hulks and all, under one authority ; and he intimated that transportation would only be continued to the feeble colonies of Western Aus- tralia and only Diemen's Land.

: Mr. Ewart has carried the first reading of a bill to enable urban corporations to establish reading-rooms, libraries, and similar amenities, to be supported by a special rate of one halfpenny in the pound : a most useful measure. Indeed, the working classes are likely enough to be' in the mind and *widen to establish such institutions themselves ; but corporations Might .do it more effect- uallT, and in doing it might work off' some arrears in the way of earning the good-will of the humbler classes.

Lord Robert Grosvenor has made a request against which no sufficient reason has been shown : he asked for such a commence ment of the Easter holydays is would give Passion-week clear for those who desire to spend it in pious removal from the business of the world. But little real business is likely to be done on the two

odd days stolen by. the Commons from that week ; and the gain, whether to the serious sedusionists or the more ordinary holyday-

makers, would far exceed the loss of time. Lord John Russell's only plea for refusing was, that he had made his arrangements on a different understanding. But why not alter these arrangcmeets, as he his altered others ?