LATEST ENGLISH INTELLIGENCE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 387, 4 August 1849, Page 89

LATEST ENGLISH INTELLIGENCE.

[From the Sydney Morning fterald, June 9.] By the arrivals of yesterday, English news to the Bth of March has reached the colony ; but owing to the ship Emigrant having been placed in quarantine, we have no complete files later than the 21st February. We commence our abstract of leading events with a summary of the proceedings in Parliament. On the sth February, Mr. Gibson proposed that no speaker should be allowed to address the House for more than one hour. The motion was negatived by 96 to 62. The remainder of the day was occupied in merely formal business. On the 6th February, Sir George Grey moved for leave to bring in a bill for contiuuing the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Irealand for six months. There was very little opposition to the motion, which was carried by a majority of 221 to 18. Mr. C. Anstey moved for leave to bring in a bill (the same as was negatived last session) to repeal enactments imposing certain disabilities on Roman Catholics, which was refused. On the 7th February, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved for a grant of £50,000, for the purpose of granting relief to certain Unions in the west of Ireland. The discussion lasted several hours, when it was postponed until the 12th. On the Bih February, Lord Campbell introduced a bill to abolish the punishment of transportation for simple larceny. In the House of Commons, Sir R. H. Inglis moved far and obtained a return of the communications respecting the rank of Roman Catholic prelates in the colonies. In the House of Lords, on the 9th February, a brief but interesting conversation occurred on the subject of emigration to Canada. The Marquis of Lansdowne then moved the appointment of a committee to inquire into the operation of the Irish Poor-law. The motion was agreed to, but Lord Stanley expressed his full conviction that the defects of the present law were so obvious, that Ministers ought at once to proceed to legislate on the subject. In tbe House of Commons, Mr. Labouchere gave notice that on Monday he should submit a resolution on the subject of tbe navigation laws. Mr. Robinson endeavoured to draw from Mr. Labouchere the nature of the alterations about to be proposed ; but the attempt was unsuccessful. The remainder of the sitting was occupied with a discussion on the bill for further suspending the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland. The Irish Liberal members were very wrathful on the occasion, but their speeches were "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." The second reading of the bill was carried by 275 to 33. The business of the House commenced on Monday, February 12, with the progress of the money bill in relief of Irish .distress, and called forth -the angry declamations of the Irish members ; all of them opposing the grant of £50,000 proposed, as a cruel mockery upon the actual amount of Irish distress : — " We want nothing of England f exclaimed Mr* Grattan] but the restoration of the money which you take from Ireland. You take in the first place £60,000 a year quit rents ; give us that, and we will raise by subscription another £60,000 to supply our own poor. Our absentee residents in England take out of our country £2,000,000 a year Irish rents ; impose a tax of ten per cent on them, and this will give us another £200,000. Talk of what we owe you, we owe you nothing. You have so blaaoned our obligations, that you have cancelled them; we want nothing of you but to give back what you have taken from us, and restore us our Irish gentry." " Mr. Stafford expressed his surprise that the Government shonld meet such an amount of starvation with such an insignificant sum in relief of it In England, the average cost of feeding a poor man, in or out of the Union-house, was 2s. 6d. per week. In Ireland, the most liberal supply was only Is. per week, end in many Unions only 6d. or <Bd. There were twenty-one Unions now in such a state of distress as to be wholly , unable to support their poor to the extent of 441,000 adults, and 100,000 children. In taking the average cost of supporting Irish paupers at 6d. per week, or 265. per head per annum, half a

million of money would be required to support these poor creaturei until February, 1850. What a mockery, therefore, to offer them this grant of one-tenth of the ram." Lord John Russell replied, that it was not too much to expect from Ireland in general to make some extraordinary effort in relief of the Urgent distress of their own kingdom, and to expect only a helping hand from England. Ministers were in the condition of persons who were proposing to take one man's money to relieve another's distress, and as the consent of the latter was necessary to part with his own property, so the Ministers, in proposals of this nature, were compelled to consider, not the extreme of what was required, hut how much they might reasonably expect to get. Mr. Muntz said this was indeed the main point, as, in consequence of free trade and foreign competition, our own trading towns were not in a condition to pay their own poor rates, and still less to pay those of Ireland. He had been at Birmingham on Saturday last, and was there told that all trade was in a flat and unprofitable state, and must so continue, in consequence of their having to compete with the foreign manufacturer. One of his own family had just returned from the north of Germany. His report was, that trade was there most -flourishing, but it was not trade with England ; the people manufactured their own goods much cheaper than the English could manufacture them. The Birmingham glass-makera and brass -founders had formerly called out for free trade ; they got it, and they were now calling out for a return to protection. The House then divided, on a motion of Mr. Hume's, and affirmed the Ministerial grant by a majority of 77 : the number being 22o for the Government, and 142 for Mr. Hume's amendment to refuse the grant altogether. On Tuesday (February 13), the business commenced with Mr. Anstey's motion for a committee to inquire into the state of the inland fisheries of Ireland, upon their capacity, under due management, to contribute most largely towards the support of the poor, and upon the illegal monopoly, similar to American appropriation by squatting, under which local landholders had seized upon these public rivers as private property. He commenced with explaining the difference between Irish and English fisheries. In England, nearly all fisheries were private property, and legally so. In Ireland, with very few exceptions, all were legally public right. Now, under the weakness of the people, and the absence of all Government superintendence, all these public rights had been so seized and usurped by powerful individuals on the spot, that in a country watered to the largest extent, and stocked with the finest fish, net one single fish was allowed to be taken beyond a certain mark, except under the permission of these monopolists. The loss to the Irish poor was estimated at £600,000 per annum. This monopoly also led to a kind of poaching or fishing at illegal times of the year, by which, in one stream alone, the Blackwater, upwards of 1,000 female fish, each fish producing 8,500 eggs, of which 800 came to maturity, were annually destroyed. " This," said Mr. Anstey, "is the ground of my motion." Sir W. Barron, Mr. O'Gorman Mahon, Mr. Fagan, and Sir W. Somerville, all expressed their approbation of the motion, and the latter said that the Government would concur in forwarding its object. Mr. Drummond next moved and obtained leave to bring in a bill for facilitating the transfer of real property, by establishing a course of practice which would enable purchasers to ascertain at once incumbrances, and to abridge the length of deeds by copying the statements in registries. His measure, therefore, comprehended three points — a county registry ; maps of the registered estates to be deposited at the time of registration ; and an easy and in* stant access to those registries upon the payment of a small fee. . f [„ Mr. Lewis, one of the Under Secretaries of State, then moved for a much more important measure — a bill to consolidate ana^ amend the laws relating to public roads in .

England and Wales. The new system proposed # by the bill consists chiefly in th^ee main points. First, under the present laws the parish maintains its roads by means of] a rate, the turnpike trust by means of a toll, and when the tolls are deficient, the charge is defrayed by a highway rate. Both these modes of taxation are to be abolished, and county taxation is to supply the place. Secondly, there is to be a county roads' court, which, after the 2.5 th March next, is to manage all the roads of the county, and to supply all deficiencies, for the current maintenance and repair of all parochial and public highways, by a county rate. Thirdly, as the debts to bondholders on toll trusts now exceed £8,000,000, the county roads' court is to take means to provide an " instalment pay fund," which in the course of twenty-seven years, viz., at the rate of about £7 per hundred yearly, is to pay off principal and interest of this debt. That part of this portion which is not supplied by tolls is to be raised by county rates. It will be seen that this is the point where the shoe will pinch. The business of the day coucluded with a notice of a new Government bill for amending the qualification of Irish parliamentary voters. The new points are the three following; first, the qualification to be not occupation, but that the land held should be rated in the parish books as being worth £8 per year; secondly, an annual revision of the registry as in England ; and, thirdly, an annual registration. On Wednesday the house was occupied with Mr. Labouchere's repeal of the navigation laws. The Government plan co mprehends a total repeal of the navigation laws, in their four divisions under the old act— the colonial trade, the carrying trade, the long voyage or intermediate trade (viz., foreign vessels bringing tropical produce from any European port, where it is held in depot), and lastly, the British coasting trade, into which it seems foreign vessels are now to be admitted, so far as respects the sale of their cargo, or part of it, in any British port on their course. Such vessels are not to trade backwards and forwards from such ports, but they may take every one in their line. For example, London to Portsmouth or Southampton, thence to Plymouth, &c, or from Plymouth onwards to Newcastle, Leith, Glasgow, &c. In the Lords, Earl Grey explained a new system of transportation. Those who are sentenced to transportation for seven, fourteen or a longer term of years, are to ba subjected to bard labour and a due reformatory discipline for the first twelve or eighteen months in an English gaol. They are then to he sent to hard labour on board ships, or in gangs on public works to Bermuda or Gibraltar. On Friday, there was no business transacted in the House of Lords. In the House of Commons, the sitting was principally occupied with discussions on the Irish Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, and the grant for the relief of Irish distress. The report on the former subject was agreed to, after an amendment, proposed by Mr. J. O'Connell, had been rejected by a large .majority. The report on the grant of fifty thousand pounds was eventually carried by 1 28 to 39. Leave was then given to bring in a bill founded on the resolution. In the House of Commons, on the 19th February, the Habeas Corpus Bill was read a third time, and passed by a majority of 16S to 13. Lord John Russell proposed that the House should go into committee to consider the following form of oath to be taken by members of Parliament : — " I, A. 8., swear, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to {her Majesty Queen Victoria, and that I will maintain the succession of the Crown, as established by an Act, intituled, " An Act for the further limitation of the Crown, and better securing the rights and liberties of the subjects ;" and that Ido not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other foreign prince, prelate, person, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have any temporal or civil jurisdiction, authority, or power within this realm ; and that I will defend, to the utmost of my power, the settlement of property within this realm, as established by the laws ; and Ido make this recognition, declaration, and promise heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the true faith of a Christian. — So help me God." In the case of Jews, the last seven words to be omitted. The motion was carried by 210 to 113. Mr. Bailie, in a most damaging speech, moved for a committee to enquire into the complaints of the colonies of Guiana and Ceylon ; and also to report whether any measures could be adopted for the better government of those dependencies. Mr. Hawes said Lord Grey courted enquiry, and the committee was granted. In the House of Lords, on the 23rd of February, the Bishop of Oxford moved for a select committee to enquire into the be«t

.means for extinguishing the slave trade. The Marquis of Lansdowne bad no objection to the committee, as he thought the subjectwas open to discussion. After some observation from Eail Aberdeen, Lord Stanley, and Earl Grey, the committee was appointed, and their lordships adjourned. In the House of Commons, Mr. S. Wortley obtained leave to bring in a bill for allowing marriage with a deceased wife's sister. Several members expressed an intention to oppose the second reading. Mr. Bouverie obtained leave to bring in a bill to exempt from penalties clergymen of the Church of England declaring themselves Dissenters. On the 28th February, the Marquis of Lansdowne moved the second reading of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill for Ireland. Lord Brougham only lamented that the bill was to be so limited in its duration. \ In the Commons, on the motion that the House should go into a Committee of Supply, Mr. Cobden moved — " That the increase of nearly ten millions be. tween the net expenditure of 1835 and that of 1848 having been caused principally by augmentations of warlike establishments and outlays for defensive armaments, which increase is not warranted by the present circumstances of - the country, whilst the taxes required to meet the present expenditure impede agriculture and manufactures, and diminish the funds applicable to productive industry, thereby adding to the burdens of the people, it is expedient to reduce the annual expenditure, with practicable speed, to the sum which in 1835 was sufficient to maintain the security, honour, and dignity of the nation." The motion was opposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and negatived by a majority of 275 to 78. On the Ist of March, Lord Ashley moved — " That a humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying her Majesty to appoint a commission to enquire into the practicability and mode of subdividing, into distinct and independent parishes, for all ecclesiastical purposes, all the densely-peopled parishes in England and Wales, in such manner that the population of each, except in particular case*, at the discretionfof the commissioners, shall not exceed four thousand souls." The motion was supported by Lord John Russell, and opposed by Messrs. Hume and Bright ; it was carried by 111 to 18 A motion for going into committee on a Bill for imposing a general rate of sixpence in the pound on every electoral district in Ireland, in aid of the poor-law, was carried by 195 to 96. These are the only matters of importance we notice in the debates which have come to hand. Several elections have taken place. Sir F. Baring (First Lord of the Admiralty) was re-elected for Portsmouth without opposition. Mr. F. Peel, son of Sir R. Peel, was elected for Leominster without opposition in the place of Mr. H. Barkly appointed Governor of .British Guiana. Mr. Baines, the new President of the Poorlaw Commission, was re-elected for Hull without opposition. For Bolton the candidates were Sir J. Walmsley and Mr. T. R. Bridson, bleacher, of Boston. The show of hands was in favour of Sir Joshua. Mr. Bridson demanded a poll, which took place on the following day, when the numbers at the close were — Walmsley (Liberal), 632 ; Bridson (Conservative), 567- There was no opposition to the election of Sir R. Lopes, for south Devon. Trade continued in an improving state, and we expect to find at the conclusion of the sales fthat the average increase on the price of wool was three-pence per pound. Tallow was about the same as our last quotations, 40s. It was reported that the Government were endeavouring to get consols up to par, when they would reduce the three per cents, to two and a half per cent. Sir H. L. Bulwer, late ambassador at the Spanish Court, has been appointed to succeed Sir R. Pakenham, as British Minister at Washington. Sir R. Pakenham, who is an old diplomatic servant of the Crown, will retire upon a pension. In France, the government of President Louis Napoleon appeared to be firmly established. No decisive steps had been taken by the Roman Catholic powers towards the re-establishment of Pope Pius at Rome. The Grand Duke of Tuscany had fled from his dominions. The Danish dispute respecting the Schleswig-Holstein question remains as unsettled as ever. There does not appear, however, to be the slightest reason for fearing that England will become involved, whatever ulay be the character of the Continental revolutions.

A Ctlifornian expedition has left Greenock, a number of " navies " accompanying it, armed with a due lupply of ipades and smelting pots.

TO CORRESPONDENTS. We have received a letter, signed A Working Man, requesting our opinion on the Ejection of Squatters' Ordinance, lately passed by the Provincial Council. This, with some other communications we have received on the same measure, will lead us to examine the whole subject of squatting in this settlement; and as the interests involved in it are very considerable, and require consideration, we crave the delay of another week to enable us to think a little more over it. We shall therefore withhold the publication of our correspondent's letter, as it will be best, we think, to let our observations accompany it. A very stupid blunder occurred last week in the advertisement signed " James Gregg," by which the advertiser was made to say what he had no intention of doing. fcWe] can^only express regret at the mistake, which we feel the more, as it was calculated to create pain. The advertisement, as now corrected, was the proper reading. The letter of J. CuTFiBLD^Esq., of Newj;Ply. mouth, reached us too late for insertion this week.

jtmdon March lydney July »ort Phillip Feb. Ldelaida June 19 Auckland June 9 7 Wellington July OT 14 Otago Juno 30 28 Hobart Town .... March 26