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    362 THE LEADER. LSatukday ,

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    IM&EMAf, PARLIAMENT. t Parliament resume...

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    Rphis Week Has Been A Crescendo Upon Las...

    usual way . Rothschild , however , has secured the cash , at an annuity of 14 s . 6 d . —and so that is safe . The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposes to introduce a clause into the Loan Act , binding the Government to pay off 1 , 000 , 000 / . every-year . The budget is , like th ^ rJ oa ^ ia-comproj » fese > bietween irreconcilable opinion s ^ The Chancelljsr of the Exchequer reports a df & cit of 23 , 000 ^ 0 ^ . sterling , for 16 , 000 , 000 / . of wfeieli he provides ^ by the loan , and 5 , 300 * 000 / . to life . * made up hy & n & taxes . These nev ^ v taxes , . besides somevti ^ fling additions to spirits and a penny stamp on bankers ' checks , rest chiefly on two grounds—2 d . in the pound more on the income-tax , 3 s . per cwt .

    on sugar , Id . per pound on ¦ coffee , and 3 d .. per pound on tea . The Budget-is -levelled .- at-ifteome and the grocer ' s shop . The income-tax will be unpleasant for those who have incomes ; the sugar touches a weak point , the article being at a terribly depressed price , both in the colony and in the shop , and the trade everywhere struggling ¦ with many difficulties . Why , while he was about it , could not Sir Coknewall meet the whole deficit by a loan ? And wh wMle he was about it ^ should not the loan haye been made , sufficient to purchase all the materials for carrying on the war with overwhelming effect , and- bringing it suddenly to a close—fifty millions if necessary ? Why ? Is it because Sir Coenewall and colleagues do not wish to carry on the war-effectually ?

    Parliament has but nibbled at its other duties this week—it has been paralysed by the Imperial visit . It reassembled on Monday , but only to go through matters of form , and the business each evening was trifling . Sir Benjamin Hall has carried the second reading of his London Municipality Bill , the discussion to stand over . Lord Uobert GxtogvENOR has introduced a bill to prevent Sunday trading in the metropolis , supported

    by Lord Ebrington—a curious- combination of subjects and names , " Colonel Boldero proposed a select committee on the medical department of the Navy and Army , rejected by the House of Commons , on the showing of the Ministers that the Sebastopol Committee had- better finish its work first . Irish Fisheries , Irkh and Tenant Compensation , and some other subjects have been suffered to take a stage without discussion , or have been rejected almost equally without discussion .

    The Sebastopol Committee has resumed its place as a feuilleton in the daily papers , with as strange stories as any . Sir Charles Trevelyan has been a witness before the Committee ; Commissary-General Filder has been the subject of inquiry ... Sir . Charles seemed to show- that Fildek . had almost no means of doing" th ~ " wHch he was required to do , and that he concentrated in himself an immense mass of failure . Fildeb . failed , but every other department besides Fildek ' s supplied the reasons why he ; should fail . He wanted 12 , 000 horses , he was allowed 6000 ; he wanted transports , andjiadnpne ; and so forth . It is " the system" again ; but the Committee has not yet had the System before it . The

    Committee keeps on , like a worn-out epicure , nibbling before a feast that turns his stomach , picking at morsels like Filder and Menzibs , and leaving untouched the great " pie . ee of resistance" that ought to be devoured . A public meeting has appointed a committee to arrange a testimonial to Lord Dudley Stuart . He . had already pointed out the nature of such a monument in the constantly-expressed wish that ho could either build an . asylum for the blind , or add a wing to the present buijding . The memorialists , in their preliminary conferences , spoke long and loud of the " virtues " Lord Dudley : we nave never heard him held up as a model man ; but , as usual , the proceeding as a whole is . wiser than the details into which oratorical eulogists will venture . Lord Dudley Stuart was not

    remarkable in any way , except in tho persevering efibrt to endow patriotism with tho liberal spirit of , sympathy for other nations , and to givo to wishes a substantial effect in action . He was the "friend of , Poland , " and therefore of Italy and of Hungary ; and the man whose generous and steadfast exertion ? render him the friend of nations , has in him n , largo amount of goodness , and does more for his kind than some who can turn n clever sentenco and refute themselves when they have done it by one still cleverer , or by actions that belie their words * For most of us can bo cleverer in , studied phrases than we can in those actions on which wp pledge our , own property , and life .

    362 The Leader. Lsatukday ,

    362 THE LEADER . LSatukday ,

    Im&Emaf, Parliament. T Parliament Resume...

    IM & EMAf , PARLIAMENT . t Parliament resumed its work , after the Easter holidays , o » Monday . The day being the same as that . on . winch the Emperor of the French entered the' mgfceeppHs , and the hour of assembj ^ g ; being abowfcfthe t «» e when -tfe » barrival of hisJVf ^ jestar was expstjbed , itfepittitl not be . jWondered at that the aJtfendanc ^ was ve ^ bare , t ^ W the ., interest excitij & was verjM ) light , ta » d that li « # h ? buafeess was don e ^ Sufficie ^ mei ^ torsarrived ^ bowe ^ r , to form " aJiiuse ) , ' both via JtafeiL-Drds audtjCtomeaeas .

    CHARITABLE TRUSTS ( 1855 ) BILLS . The Lord Chancellor moved the second reading of this J ) ill .. He said the first object of the . bill would be to increase the powers of the Charitable Commisskmers , so as to enable ... them to do more good than was possible hitherto- A charge had been , brought against the commissioners that they had done very little good : the fact , however , was ; , that they had done a great deal ; but they required further powers , which it was the object of this bill to confer . "Within the last year , about 1100 applications had been made

    to the . board by parties connected with charities , and the important functions of the board were to advise the trustees and others connected with charities . If such parties acted upon the advice given them , they would be indemnified . —Lord St . IiEOkakds said the alterations in the bill had been considered with unusual care , and he had no doubt they were perfectly correct ; still they would require consideration ; and therefore he would vote for the second reading , upon the understanding that the bill should be referred to a select committee . —This was agreed to , and the bill was read a second time .

    lUKTItOPOLITAN LOCAL MANAGEMENT BILL .. On Sir Benjamin Hall moving the second reading of this bill , Mr . Mackinnon opposed it , on the ground that it would give too much power to vestries . —Mr . W . Williams thought that a great amount of confusion would arise amongst thethirtj ' - six districts into which the metropolis is to be divided . With respect to the sewerage , he thought it better to confide its management to a central board , throwing the expense as far as possible on the landlords . He would not , however , offer any opposition to the second reading of a bill which contained so much that is valuable , and for which the House and the country should feel indebted to Sir Benjamin the bill had

    Hall . —Mr . Pellatt , conceiving that a centralising tendency , proposed that it should be referred to a select committee ; but this suggestion was declined by Sir Benjamin Hall . —Mr . Duncombe offered to support the bill if the provisions of Hobhouse ' s Act were extended to all the metropolitan parishes , without which , the act wo uld be very despotic . —Mr . Butler , Mr . Beady , and Sir Djb Lacy Evans , spoke in favour of the measure ; and Sir George Grey , in answer to Mr . Labouchrke , said it was the intention of the Government this session to introduce a bill for the improvement of the City . THe debate , wliiclrwas of a very slight and desultory character , concluded with the second reading of the bill , which was ordered to be committed on the 30 th

    msfc . SUPPLY , On the House going into Committee of Supply , Mr . Williams protested against the sum of 135 , 162 / . for public gardens and royal palaces . Hampton Court , he said , was kept up solely for the sake of the pauper members of the aristocracy ; and he denounced the payment of 1665 / . for the repair of the Duke of Cambridge ' s apartments in St . James ' s Palace , considering the immense income which his Royal Highness draws from the country . He thought it would not bo right to attempt to pass these estimates on the present occasion , when the House was of course very thinly attended . As he could not move that they should be referred to a select committee , he would move that the chairman should report progress . Mr . Wilson said , that as late as 1848 a these estimatesand

    select committee bad sat on , made an elaborate report on them . Ho hopod , therefore , that Mr . Williams would not persevere in his motion , as the session would elapse before they could have a report from another select committee . —Mr . Spooneii and Mr . Macartney contended that the estimates should have been printed earlier , and that it would be unfair to press them now . In reply to a question from Sir H . Willoucsiujy , Sir W . Molks-• worth said that tho total cost of the Houses of Parliament , up to tho present time , was about 1 , 690 , 000 / ,, to which would bo added about 190 , 000 / . for the completion of the works alroady sanctioned by Parliament . To complete tho whole of the plnns of Sir Charles Barry there would bo required 650 , 000 / ,, making in tho wholo , in round numbers , 2 , 500 , 000 / . Several votes woro then agreed to .

    OUUUCJl RATKS . Earl Ghey , on Tuesday , presented several petitions praying for tho abolition of church rates . Ho romarlced , however , that ho did not look upon church rates as a hardship now that it hud bvon decided that ajninority could not make a rutc . A conversation

    thejetrensued between the Bishop of Exeter * and the ' LpSifcCH . AJSCELLOR , in the course of which tta latter ototarieed that there is no power to oblige ves tries to njwnjtain the church , though it is their dutv to do so $ > -. to which the former replied , that ex communication stULremains in force . —In the House of Commons ,- on thje same night , Sir George Gbey said it was not * the intention of the Government to intao 4 uQS ; , a-bill on the subject of church rates , leave having bften given to a private member to do so

    INCOME TAX OF OFFICERS . Mr " . P-pELfc ivk . answep * to Colonel North , said that no deduction * vt *) uld be '¦* made , on account of income tax , frojn the amount awarded as gratuity for wounds received by officers in the Crimea . RETURN OF LORD JOHN RUSSELL . Sir GrBOJKGE Grey , in answer to Sir J . Pakixg ton , said he expected Lord John Russell would be in England by the 27 th or 28 th ihst . at latest .

    ARMX AND NAVY MEDICAL DEPARTMENTS . Colonel Boldero moved for a select committee to inquire into the state of the medical departments of each of the two services . TIie * eolonel dwelt at considerable length on the great deficiencies of the hospital accommodation , the shortcomings of the commissariat department , and the ineffective manner in which medicines and medical comforts had been supplied to those who . needed them . He quoted largely from the evidence taken by the Sebastopol Committee to prove the necessity of an inquiry . He directed particular attention to the low qualifications of naval assistant-surgeons , and contended that the service sustained deep injury from that circumstance .

    —Sir John Trollope , in seconding the motion , objected to the immense power which is placed io th e medical department of the . army , and said that Dr . Andrew Smith had rudely rejected the services of Dr . John Davy , though they had been offered gratuitously . —Mr . Brady observed that . the Admiralty is now employing perfectly incompetent young men as surgeons ; and he charged Admiral Berkeley with causing this state of things , by removing all inducements for good medical officers to remain in the service . — Admiral Berkeley indignantly denied these accusations , and asserted that the navy requires a higher qualification for surgeon * than the army . There is now , he said , one-third

    more medical assistants in the navy than during the last war . — Colonel North ,. Mr . E . Ellice , Mr . Muntz , Mr . M . Chambers ,, and Admiral Pechell , spoke in favour of inquiry ; but Mr . F . Peel , on the part of the Government , said that , as the Sebastopol Committee was even now inquiring into the subject , it would be extremely inconvenient to have another Committee appointed for the same purpose . The Government were taking steps to reorganise the medical department of the army . With regard to Dr . Andrew Smith possessing too despotic a power , he said it must be recollected that that gentleman was in many respects greatly trammelled . Upon a question of expense , the doctor was obliged tpgo to Jthe War Office ; on that of promotion , he was ^ Hlged ' to ^^ to ~ th ^ H ^ rse ~ G ' ujirdisf ;"" if'it "" W ' ere " a question of supplies , he was compelled to go to the

    Ordnance department ; and if one relating to the transport of stores , he was forced to go to the Admiralty . Dr . A . Smith was thus greatly impeded in the discharge of his duties . The remedy for all this was the concentration of all the authorities which regulated the army . This had already been effected by the creation of the office of another Secretary of State . That Minister had power over the various offices alluded to . not hitherto possessed by any one department . Mr . Peel , therefore , hoped that all the evils which had been so much complained of werew the course of removal . It was the intention of the Government to employ a civilian in conjunction with the medical head of the army , which was the real cause of the resignation of Dr . Smith , who did not wish to share that power which ho had so long lieia undivided . —Colonel Boldebo still pressed his motion , and upon a division there appeared—For , r > 9 ; against , 73 . This bare majority of 4 elicited loud cheers . SUNDAY TRADING ! . Lord Kobert Grosvunor brought in his bill upon this subject . It was read a first time , and the debate was postponed till the second reading . EDUCATION OF I'AUPER CIULDREN . Mr . ' E . Denison rose to move for leave to introduce a bill to provido for tho education of tho children of poor persons in the receipt of in-door relief . Ilw bill was not so much a now measure aa a supplementary measure to other bills which had already ^ been proposed to the House . Ho had boon urged to pcrj voro with his bill by tho introducers of tl c other bills . Tho object of his bill was to enable educn on to bo given to poor children , but not , aB a conditiono relief to thopavonts , and not making iticonipulson o » children to attend any particular kind of schoo 1 .. lu . should have been glad to introduce a clauso U > n n » j a portion of tho & po , » a full upon the ^ jnjo gg Fund ; but on a communication with tho Ch . uitiuo of tho Exchequer ho was informed that tlio stato

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 21, 1855, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21041855/page/2/