THE POSITION OF THE INDIAN QUESTION.

Colonist, Issue 99, 1 October 1858, Page 3

THE POSITION OF THE INDIAN QUESTION.

Thr principal topic which engaged the attention of Parliament during the week preceding the departure of the Invincible (writes the Sydney Herald of September 18), was the government of India. After protracted discussions, the House arrived at a resolution which the Times considers tantamount to throwing back the question to its first stages. Several formal propositions, Were adopted—such as the elective constitution of the governing body and-the numbers composing it; but any attempt to fix the House to any actual scheme of election had failed. The plan of dealing with the subject by resolution was ultimately abandoned long before the numerous problems it involved were exhaus'ed, although a motion was carried that a bill should be prepared and brought in and based on the principles already "affirmed. Thus none ofthe actual difficulties of the case have been disposed of, and the work of legislation has practically to be begun again. Although this result is a negative one, there appears to be a feeling of satisfaction that the resolutions have been got rid of, and the more ordinary and legitimate mode of parliamentary action fallen back upon.

From the Times' leading article on the subject we quote the following:—" For a third time we have come to a full stop in the matter of Indian legislation, and found ourselves compelled to begin over again. Lord Palmerston's bill could not get on, because Lord Palmerston was turned out of office; Lord Derby's bill could not get on, because of its intrinsic absurdity; and now the resolutions, that were to have settled everything, have come, to a dead lock, and cannot by any means be induced to carry us a single step further. The waste of time that has been incurred is, we believe, unexampled, even in the annals of that most apt contrivance for the expenditure of human life —the House of Commons. With the same kind of dash with which it threw out the late Ministry, and fell spontaneously to pieces on the proposition to censure Lord Ellenborough's despatch, the House of Commons, which had previously allowed the introduction of two bills, resolved by.acclamation to drop them both, in order to relieve itself from the definiteness of the issue involved, and to expatiate freely on the -wider field of resolution. Everybody, except the House itself, saw at once the full effect of such a step. It relieved the Government from all responsibility, and threw it upon the House at large. It was to go into committee on a bill, the principle of which had not been decided upon. It was to come to a number of decisions, none of which were final or binding, and every one of which might be reconsidered when the real time for settling matters arrived. Let us see what ( we have got in exchange. That the government was to be vested in the Crown and placed in the hands of a responsible Minister was conceded before the debate began, so that on that point there was no difference on either side. The resolutions embodying these two propositions were therefore merely formal, and made no advance whatever. The first point decided was that the new Council should not be less than twelve, nor more than fifteen,—a whimsical conclusion, by which nobody feels himself bound, and which will probably be more heartily contested than any point in the forthcoming bill. The next proposition which the House has established is, that part of the members ofthe Council shall be nominative, and - part elective. This" proposition was accepted by the House in a fit of enthusiastic devotion to the will ofthe Minister, which, we must say, he had scarcely earned. This is but a sorry account of the labour of so many weeks, but.it is actually, all .that has been done—all the assistance that has been afforded towards the construction of the bill by many nights of debate upon th& resolutions. A number of members of Council has been declared by approximation which nobody seems inclined to adopt, and a principle of election has been laid down from whicli everybody distinctly dissents. Such are the solid foundations we have gained for the future bill. We are to have an election, only there is to be no constituent bt*ixy; and the Council itself seems likely to he rejectet__£i-om dislike to the principle of co-opta-tion, and also of-lection. It seems not improbable that the seven elected, members may disappear altogether for want of electors, and leave, us nothing but the eight nominated membcra of Lord Palmerston's bill. Such a result would be .worthy of the course hitherto taken. Let us, at. .any- rate,rejoice that we are at last free from these weary resolutions, and about to advance, however slowly, in the course of practical law-making, when, it is to be hoped, we shall have more of purpose and less of empty declamation."

War Department:—The total annual establishmenticharges of the departments now con-! solidated in that of " war" for the four years previous to their consolidation amounted to £117,107, £116,966, £127,660, and £164,501. The annual establishment charges in the two years since their consolidation amounted to £179,878, and £166,968. By this return it is seen that the expense of the consolidated waroffice in 1857-8 exceeds that of the departments in 1853-4 (the year preceding the Russian war) by £50,000. This additional expense is attributable to several causes, and comprises both permanent and temporary charges. The formation of a Secretary of State's office entailed additional appointments of superior officers, etc., and upon the consolidation of the offices connected wilh military administration the establishment vras .increased by transfers of business from the audit-office and home-office, and the formation of a large department for the business connected with the clothing of-the army. An increase of the establishment also became necessary to meet the increase of business caused by the R.ssian war ; and though in 1857 this number was in process of reduction, it was arrested by the outbreak of the Indian mutiny, causing a large increase of the army, and, consequently, in the business of the war-office. The total increased military force including militia, between the year 1853-4, and the year 1857-8, amounted to 99,805, viz., 6,905 in the line, 30,000 in the embodied militia, and 62,990 in the royal forces in the pay of the East India" Company.

New "Vessels Longer than the Leviathan. —While public attention has been attracted so strongly by. the unusual dimensions of the Leviathan that the n-me of tbatyessel.is in everybody's mouth, it happens singularly enough that two vessels-of greatir length and of a more remarkable character, hay* been advancing to completion ia Liverpool without the general public being even coghisantof their existence. These vessels are each sevei hundred feet long. They have been construct^ by Messrs. Vernon and Son for the Oriental iiland Steam Company, and are intended for he navigation of the Indian rivers. The Ourpose of- their peculiar features of constructan is to enable a large cargo to be carried at \ good rate of speed upon a light draught of waer. The great rivers of India, though penetraing far into the interior, and though containing_arge volumes of water, are nevertheless shallot during the dry season. The vessels navigating them must therefore float very light, and yetihey must have displacement enough to carry'a food cargo. -They must have strengh enough notto suffer injury if they should get aground, and hey must present such little resistance to the water as to be able to achieve a satisfactory r^e of progress against the stream. All these in .cations areadmirably fulfilled in these vessels. V

Advantage of Prom*piPayment.--A jolly old doctor said that peopleyho were prompt in their payments always revered in their sickness, as they were good c^tomers, and physicians could not afford to los ; them,