17 JULY 1869, Page 3

Mr. Locke King brought on his annual motion for the

abolition of primogeniture on Wednesday, and it was carried for the first time by a vote of 169 to 144. Those numbers, however, are very small for this House, where members attend to their business as if they were paid for it, and the debate, which we have criticized elsewhere, was languid. The Solicitor-General supported the Bill on behalf of Government, but evidently thought the measure too small to do much good, while opinion was not yet ripe for a larger one. We venture to differ, and believe, with Mr. Cobden, that the public apathy on the matter is the result of the pettiness of the bills brought forward. Who cared for the sliding scale ? and who did not care for free-trade ?