5 JUNE 1852, Page 2

thatto aul( natthiugo iu Vartiamtut.

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS OP THE WEEX.

HOUR OP LORDS. Thursday, June 8. No business of interest. Friday. June 4. No business of interest.

House or Commons. Thursday, June 3. Public Business; Statement by the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer ; Sir James Graham's Statement—Committee of Supply : Miscellaneous Estimates—Commou-Law Procedure Bill, and Improvement of Equity Jurisdiction Bill, read a second time—Industrial and Provident Partnerships read a third time—Bishoprio of Christchurch, New Zealand Bill; second reading opposed, and debate adjourned till Monday—Protestant Dissenters Bill, read a second time.

Friday, June 4. Morning sitting. Committee of Supply : Miscellaneous Esti- mate.. Evening sitting. Crime and Outrage Committee ; Report brought up by Mr. Napier—New Zealand Government Bill : Sir John Pakington states changes : in Committee, progress to clause 73—Passengers Act Amendment Bill, as amended, considered in Committee.

The Lords.

TIME - TABLE.

Hour of Hour of

Thursday Meeting.

5h Adjournment, 51115m Thursday' Friday 6b .... 61t 15m Friday

Sittings this 'Week, 2; Time, oh 30m Sittings this Week, 3; Time, 22h Ont

this Session, 52; — 03h 30M — this Scallion. 54; — 449545,a

PUBLIC BUSINESS.

When the order of the day for going into Committee of Supply was read, on Thursday, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER made a few observations with reference to the conduct of public business."

He first explained an alteration in the arrangement previously made with ect to the Maynooth debate, which he had agreed to on representations

e on behalf of Members for Ireland that taking the debate on Friday morning past week] would not be fair to them. He had felt the force of their representations, and had agreed to yield the morning of next Tuesday for the Maynooth debate ; and he begged now to say that it would be im- possible for the Government to make any ulterior arrangement for that de- bate. The New Zealand Bill he would take on Friday evening. He then referred to the general mass of public business. That business is really not of the sort that a Ministry can throw over in the hope of resuming it at a future opportunity under happier auspices; but is of a very urgent and im- portant character, and includes measures to continue laws the expediency of which nobody can question. With the assistance of the House and by the use of becoming energy, he would not despair of completing the business be- fore them without interfering with the ulterior result at which they were all anxious to arrive ; but he suggested that this object would not be gained un- less gentlemen would generally be actuated by the feeling which had guided the Government in confining the matters which they put forward to those which they believe to be of urgent and permanent necessity; and he reminded the House' that on Enday last week, when they at- tempted to go into Committee of Supply, the whole evening was occupied by matters not of that urgent necessity which the House had recognized as those which ought, under the present circumstances, alone to be put forward. "It would greatly facilitate public business, and would materially assist that consummation which we all desire, if honourable gentlemen, with a becoming forbearance, and with an absegation which I assure them the Government would duly appreciate, would resolve not to bring forward, in the way of amendment or representation, in Committee of Supply, tomes which are not really.** ,very urgent character. I hope the House will excuse me for roakiar-lheVi §sprvations, and that they will assist her Majesty's Minis- ten i iht. a pregresa of public business. It is only by such a Oa% **led to close the session at the period we all de- ry those measures upon the paper which it is f the country should become law?' ,he was glad that he had been anticipated in ject ; which he proceeded to expound with a by Mr. Disraeli that some forbearance would be

The Obininons.

Hour of Hour of Meeting. Adjournment. 4h .(m) 2h Om Hoop .... dh Om Oh .(m) 2h Ona exercised towards the Government in reference to taking motions before going into Committee of Supply : Sir James, OH the other hand, thought Members generally were entitled to some forbearance on the part of the Go- verment in respect to the measures which they pressed on immediate con- sideration. It was become a question of primary importance to consider what are those measures which it is indispensable for them to discuss in the course of the remainder of the session. There were no fewer than twenty-seven " orders of the day" upon the paper for that day. There were four notices of motion to be made lbeforeMr. Speaker leave the chair on going into a Com. mittee of Supply. The practice was one to be regretted, as needlessly and disadvantageously occupying the time of the House, and as giving rise to an infinite variety of debates leading to no practical conclusion during the same evening ; but he was bound to say, on the part of independent Members, that just in proportion as the motion-days are diminished in number, and the opportunity afforded to independent Members for bringing subjects under consideration are thus curtailed, it must necessarily ensue that the practice of making motions upon going into Committee of Supply will be more gene- rally adopted. He called the attention of the House to the leading measures which they were now Imaged to decide upon. Some of them were undoubtedly urgent- but of others he denied that there was any urgent necessity for deciding upon them in the present session. He enumerated them in classes. In the branch of Law, there were, first, the Common-Law Procedure Bill, the Im- provement of Equity Jurisdiction Bill, and the Masters' Office Abolition Bill: one of these was a bill of two hundred and thirty clauses, on whose principle and detail they would have to decide ; and not a step had been taken with regard to either of those bills beyond its introduction. There was the New Zealand Bill ; a bill of such difficulty and importance that he bad stated to Sir John Pakington his strong objection to proceed with it at a morning sitting. [Mr. Disraeli's announcement shows that the objection had been made with effect.] Then the business up-stairs, before Committees, was if possible even more important than that before the House itself,—the Committee on the East India Company's Charter, and the Committee on the Crime and Outrage in Ireland. Before the House itself there were three bills with reference to the Church in the Colonies—the Colonial Bishops Bill, the Bishopric of Quebec Bill, trenching on a ques- tion exciting great interest in Canada, and the New Zealand Bishopric Bill; all bills of vast importance. Of renewal bills, really urgent, and impossible to avoid deciding upon this session, there were the two Poor-law Board Con- tinuance Bills, for England and Ireland ; the Act for the Prevention of °nine and Outrage in Ireland, which expires this session, and must be renewed, but on which no step has yet been taken ; the Encumbered Estates Act; and the Navy Pay Act, introduced by the Admiralty, and not yet explained, on a subject of importance and difficulty. Then the Attorney-General for Ireland had also given notice of a bill—not of renewal, but for coruaolidating and amending the Whiteboy Acts; a subject of the utmost difficulty and importance, and impossible to be investigated and concluded satisfactorily to Ireland this session. The department of the Woods and Forests have a bill of seventy-nine clauses to amend the Metropolis Buildings Act of two hundred and fifty clauses ; and on the question of Extramural Burial the First Commissioner has a bill, to subvert in all its most hn- portant points the scheme settled in a former session. There is the ques- tion of Water Supply unsettled ; and there are bills relative to the administration of the Woods and Forests. The Sewers Commission is also expiring, and the subject has not yet been brought before them. Then how do they stand with respect to Supply ? There were, he thought, about two hundred votes yet to be taken in Committee of Supply; and the honourable and learned Member for Youghal (Mr. Anstey) has given notice of opposing forty-six of those votes. Sir James continued—" We are on the 3d of June; it is announced that there is the utmost desire on the part of the Government and of the House to bring our labours to it close. But, though I will not weary the House with further details, I have not yet exhausted the list of subjects which wait for our consideration. Surely, the time has arrived when it is not unreasonable to ask the Government to consider and state on an early day—perhaps they would do it on Monday—what are the measures they will still press on our consideration, and in what order they will take them. (Loud cries of" Hear, hear ! 5) I feel strongly upon the matter. I have the greatest apprehen- sion, that if we do not take care, we shall bring representative government itself into disrepute. (Cries of" Hear, hear ! ") It will appear that we cannot transact business, and that even the business which is be- fore us and under debate we cannot close so as to come to a decision. I allude especially now to that motion which has been twice before us, and for which the Government has just proposed a day—the motion relating to Maynooth. The honourable Member who has made that motion avows that for any practical purpose it is useless, that any inquiry in the present session is impossible ; so that a proposition for an inquiry which must be fruitless, and the discussion of which, as I believe, being fruitless, is fraught with the greatest evil to the peace, tranquillity, and concord of the country, is kept open with the consent of her Majesty's Government, and in that state of affairs is still allowed to occupy our attention. I will not speak with disrespect of any regulation which the House has adopted ; but as for taking a question of that sort at a morning sitting, it appears to me that if you wished to come to no decision this is the exact course you would take; and the evil is greatly aggravated by the regulation adopted the other day, that at four o'clock the Speaker closes the morning sitting, and the business not then disposed of is to be put at the bottom of the list of orders of the day,—in point of fact, an adjournment,, in the present date of the session, sine die. If we are to have a debate upon the Maynooth question, and to come to a decision upon it—and I do not deprecate such a deci- sion, but what I would deprecate is endless discussion without a de- cision—I conceive that it can never, in the present state of the session, be determined at a morning sitting. It will occupy morning after morning ; the excitement created by it and the discord will go on and be aggravated ; the public will suffer from it, and no possible good can arise from it. If her Majesty's Government think it is for the public good that that question should be discussed and decided, I should say, let them, even in the present state of public business, give an evening sitting for the purpose. I am very sorry to have occupied the House at this length ; but, with the utmost re- spect and regard for the reputation of this representative assembly, I do feel that in the course which we are now pursuing, if we can come to no de- cision upon a question of the greatest public interest, this assembly, which has been the great landmark of representative government and the great ex- ample of representative assemblies throughout the world, will be brought into disrepute. (Loud cries of "Hear, hear !") I hope by Monday the right honourable gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be pre- pared to state what measures he intends still to press upon our attention, and in what order he will take them."

Mr. SPOONER said, he had admitted that the inquiry could not be en- tered upon ; but there was something besides that—

He wanted to have the determination of the House, ay or no, whether the subject was worthy of inquiry. He wished to have a division upon that point. The country called for that division ; and if gentlemen who had so often declared that they did not shrink from it would consent to end the debate next Tuesday, when he understood it was to come on, he for one

would throw no obstacle in the way, and would give up his right of reply. fie vrished the House to declare—was there a system of education carried on it hfaynooth which demanded inquiry ? Having " Ay " or "No" to that question was a practical result for which the country looked, and would be greatly disappointed if the House of Commons should be prevented coming to a decision. Lord JOHN RUSSELL hoped the Chancellor of the Exchequer would consider by the next day, or Monday, the statement made by Sir James Graham ; it deserved the moat serious consideration of the Government. - What Mr. Spooner said was not quite accurate. He said he wished to have i decision upon the question whether or not there should be an inquiry into the system of education adopted at Maynooth. That was not the question proposed. If he would propose such a question, the House might decide upon it; but what he was about to propose was, that on the 8th of June that House should resolve to inquire, by a Select Committee, into the system of education carried on at Maynooth. That was a totally different question. Ile should think it his duty on Tuesday to explain his reasons for consider- that that was not the question; and that, if there ought to be an in- quiry, the honourable Member proposed the very worst mode of conducting one.

The Crtarrexmort of the EXCHEQUER said, it was his intention to state next Monday the views of the Government with respect to the conduct of the business before the House; and he intimated that he had followed with regard to the Militia Bill, and should follow with regard to Supply, a policy suggested by Lord John Russell, of taking them continuously on every day at the disposal of the Government

CHANCERY REFORM.

On the motion to read a second time the Masters in Chancery Abolition Bill, Sir AIXICANDER COCKBURN said, that several Members connected with the Court of Chancery objected to the measure in its present shape : it had been mutilated and utterly spoilt by the Lord Chancellor ; and was now quite a different measure from the one recommended by the Chancery Commissioners.

Mr. WALPOLE defended the bill, as fully, fairly, and substantially carry- ing out the recommendations of the Commissioners. When Sir James Graham had [in the course of his review of the public business, early in the evening] alluded to some slight deviations from the recommendations of the Commission, Mr. Walpole went and made reference to the Lord Chancellor on the subject ; and he now stated, that neither the Lord Chancellor nor the Government would make a stand upon such varia- tions in case the House should think fit to change the bill in those respects. Si; JAMES GRAHAM said, he was sanguine, after this announcement, that before the bill went into Committee the subject would receive the fullest consideration, and that the members of the Commission, as well as the House, would be satisfied with the shape that the bill would take. In these circumstances, it would be desirable to give it a second reading, and he would still rejoice in the expectation that a great and substantial reform of the Courts of Equity would be effected during the present ses- sion.

The bill was read a second time; the Committee to be fixed on Monday. The Improvement of the Jurisdiction in Equity Bill, and the Common- Law Procedure Bill, were each read a second time. MISCELLANBOUS ESTIMATES.

In the Committee of Supply, forty-eight votes of money on Miscella- neous Estimates were agreed to, with only one division, and without any very striking debate.

The single division was taken by Mr. Wrusara WILLIAMS, against the proposal to grant 32731. "to defray a portion of the expenses of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England" ; Mr. Williams holding that these charges ought to be defrayed out of the revenues of the Church. For the grant, 45; against it, 28; majority for the grant, 17. In a discussion on the vote for fifteen Queen's plates to be run for in Ireland, Sir Josue Tacoaors informed Mr. STANFORD, that the subject of "betting-offices" in London has occupied the attention of the Govern- ment, who are considering how a remedy can be applied to an evil tending so much against the happiness and morality of the lower classes. On the vote of 32,0001. for her Majesty's Foreign and Secret Service, Colonel Srwrnoise said, that the people who pay this "secret service" money have a right to know what becomes of it. The Ciratecer.ton of the Ex- CHEQUER defended the vote on the usual grounds ; and observed, in re- ply to a remark by Mr. SCULLY, that the Government have no intention to make any such investment in "support of law and order" as was made in the case of the Irish newspaper the World.

The vote of 160,0001. for Public Education in Great Britain was passed "unanimously."

On the vote of 167,0001. for Publie Education in Ireland, Mr. WAL- POLE was cross-examined on the intentions of Government with reference to the system of National Education in Ireland. Mr. W. J. Fox opened the subject ; and the answers he obtained not affording much new light, he was backed by Sir JAMBS GRAHAM and Mr. LABOUCHERE. Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S last questioning shows the vague character of the answers before given. Would Mr. Walpole state what tom intended by Government ? He had told the House what was not intended ; but in a matter of this great import- ance affecting as it did in the highest degree the feelings of the people of Ireland, it was desirable to know exactly what was intended. He had un- derstood the right honourable gentleman to say, that in his opinion, as now distributed under the mixed system, there was an injustice, and that that in-

justice ought to be remedied. It was not unreasonable, therefore, to ask the Secretary of State, if he is of opinion that there is a practical injustice, to what extent he intended to adhere to the system, and how he intended to in- clude the members of the Established Church in the participation of this grant, the mixed system being retained.

Mr. WALPOLE said, he could not do better than repeat the information be had given to Lord John Russell [some time since].

He said then, it was worthy of consideration whether some portion of that

grant might not be applied to those members of the Established Church and Others—for there were others in Ireland who objected equally with them— whether some portion of that grant might not be applied to those who, from conscientious motives, object to the present mode of distribution. (" Hear, hear!") He had never intimated that there was any plan on the part of the Government as to the way in which it should be done, but he had said simply that it was a matter deserving of consideration. The other objection, be said, which was urged by the members of the Established Church and others, was against an injustice which he did think they had a right to com- plain of. The remedy to be applied to that objection was that the patronage should be distributed fairly to persons who agreed to or who dissented from the grant ; and he believed the patronage had been so distributed since the Present Government had come into office.