to do, would pass a Resolution which | Bill was to shut up the Queen's Bench would at once have the effect of repeal- Prison. The Prison of which the present ing the Order of the Lord Chancellor and building was the representative originated the other Chancery Judges. Petition to lie on the table. LANDED PROPERTY IMPROVEMENT (IRELAND) ACT AMENDMENT BILL. COMMITTEE. [BILL NO. 81.] House in Committee (according to Order) THE MARQUESS OF BATH complained of time being wasted in the discussion of these petty measures, which Session after Session were introduced. The Bill was intended to extend the powers of several Acts of Parliament, which had not been passed without the most mature consideration. THE EARL OF ST. GERMANS remarked, that the former Acts enabled the present owner of a settled estate to borrow of the Government sums, not exceeding £5,000, for the improvement of his property. The measures had worked perfectly well, and under its provisions great improvements had been effected in all parts of the kingdom, and the money advanced had been punctually repaid to the Government. The object of this Bill was to extend the operation of the existing Acts to those districts of Ireland in which distress prevailed, by increasing the lending powers of the Commissioners of Public Works to the additional amount of £3,000 over and above any sums they may have actually advanced, or be authorized to advance, under the provisions of those Acts. One result, it was hoped, would be to afford additional means for the employment of the people. After a few words from the Earl of DONOUGHMORE, Bill reported, without Amendment, and to be read 3a To-morrow. The in very early times; it was probably coeval with the Court of Queen's Bench itself. At a very early period there were three principal prisons in London-the Queen's Bench Prison, the Fleet Prison, and the Marshalsea. The Queen's Prison was appropriated to prisoners committed by the Court of Queen's Bench, the Court of Exchequer, and Court of Common Pleas. The Fleet Prison received prisoners from the Court of Chancery; and the Marshalsea from the Lord Steward's Court, the Palace Court, and the Admiralty. The first fruits of the measure passed in 1842 for the abolition of arrest for debt on mesne process was to enable Parliament to reduce the three prisons to one, the Queen's Prison being substituted for the Marshalsea and the Fleet. present Queen's Bench prison was erected in 1759; it had accommodation for 300 prisoners, and occupied an area of ground between two and three acres in extent. He understood that the value of this space of ground was estimated at between £200,000 and £300,000. It was therefore no mean gift to the nation if a property of this value could be converted to public purposes of greater utility. The sum hitherto voted by Parliament for maintaining this prison was between £3,000 and £4,000 a year, the whole of which would ultimately be saved to the country; although their Lordships were well aware that a measure of the kind could not be taken unaccompanied by some allowances and continuances of pay, which would prevent the whole of the money being at once available to the public exchequer. For the power of shutting up the prison they were indebted to the Bankruptcy Law Amendment Act of last year, the object of which was really to abolish imprisonment for debt, unless that debt were contracted fraudulently. How effectually the Act had accomplished that object might be seen from a comparison between the state of the three prisons in Middlesex and within the precincts of Westminster, in October, 1861, and at the present time. On the 1st October, 1861, when the Bankruptcy Amendment Act came into operation, the aggregate number of persons imprisoned for debt in the Queen's Bench, Horsemonger Lane, and Whitecross Street prisons was 324. By a return made on Saturday last it THE LORD CHANCELLOR said, he had entertained a sanguine hope that it would be possible that the site of the prison might have been made available for the purposes of St. Thomas's Hospital. He was sorry to say, however, there might be impediments in the way of so desirable an object, and he had therefore in the Bill merely placed the area and the building in the usual manner at the disposal of the Board of Works and the Government. Bill read 1 [Bill 115]. JURISDICTION IN HOMICIDES BILL. [BILL NO. 98.] SECOND READING. Order of the day for the Second Reading read. appeared that in the Queen's Bench-had forgotten to inform them what those omitting debtors who were confined for purposes were to be. having contracted debts fraudulently, and omitting also insolvents who had been remanded by the Insolvent Debtors Courtconsisting together of about fourteen persons-the number of prisoners for debt was six or seven; in Horsemonger Lane Gaol two; and in Whitecross Street fourteen or fifteen; and some of these would have been discharged but for the clause introduced into the Bankruptcy Act, that non-traders should not be entitled to discharge until after two months' imprisonment. Their Lordships would therefore see that the necessity for continuing the Queen's Bench had entirely ceased. The object of the present Bill was to transfer the few prisoners therein confined to Whitecross Street Prison, where there was admirable accommodation for a much greater number of persons than in all human probability would ever be confined there for debt. Their Lordships were probably aware that even the present number of persons in the Queen's Bench would not have been so large but for the practise which had been introduced he could hardly tell why-under which any debtor in any prison throughout the country might be removed by writ of habeas to the Queen's Bench. Prisoners often availed themselves of this privilege, because in the Queen's Bench, owing to the spaciousness of the buildings, they had amusements-such as playing at ball and other games, by which time was wiled away-and he feared these allurements sometimes had led men to prefer imprisoment to making a discovery and surrender of their property for the benefit of their creditors. He confessed he had much pleasure in presenting this Bill to their Lordships as the first fruits of the Bankruptcy Amendment Act; and he might add, that when the Insolvent Debtors Court was closed, as it would be in a few days, even the present number of prisoners would be reduced; and, meanwhile, the Bill which he now asked leave to introduce would, he hoped, effectually accomplish the end desired. The noble and learned Lord then presented "A Bill for the Discontinuance of the Queen's Prison, and Removal of the Prisoners to Whitecross Street Prison." THE EARL OF DERBY reminded the noble and learned Lord that he had stated that the site of the Queen's Prison was to be appropriated to public purposes, but he VOL. CLXVII. [THIRD SERIES.] EARL DE GREY AND RIPON, in moving the second reading of the Bill, said, their Lordships would remember that a murder had been committed recently by a soldier, and that before the murderer could be tried at the ordinary assizes two or three similar outrages were committed. Persons competent to judge of the feelings of the men who had committed these offences, believed that they had been a good deal encouraged to commit them by the long period which had elapsed before the first offender was brought to justice, that these crimes had become almost a fashion, and that they would have been prevented if there had been a speedy and ready mode of punishing the first of fender. Abroad, as their Lordships would probably be aware, offences of this description, committed by soldiers, would be dealt with by court-martial; but in this country the offender was handed over to the civil tribunals. Important constitutional principles were involved in that state of the law, and the Government did not consider it desirable to make any change in that respect. As their Lordships were aware, at the time of the Palmer poisoning case an Act was passed providing for the removal of the offender from the county in which the offence was committed, and for bringing him up to London to be tried at the Central Criminal Court, which sat very frequently. The provisions of that Act, the 19 Vict., c. 16, could not be made available in this case, because it required that a Bill should be found by a grand jury before the prisoner could be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court. Of course, if it were necessary to 2 F wait for this, it would be necessary to wait for the assizes. The Government, therefore, proposed to deviate, to some extent, from the provisions of that Act, and the Bill proposed to confer upon the Court of Queen's Bench in term time, or any Judge of the Superior Courts in vacation, upon the application of the Secretary of State for War, upon his certificate in writing that it would contribute to the maintenance of good order and military discipline if a prisoner under the Mutiny Act charged with any murder or manslaughter were indicted and tried at the Central Criminal Court, power to order the prisoner to be tried at that Court. LORD CHELMSFORD suggested that an alteration in the preamble would be required, as it appeared that there was to be no distinction between cases of murder and cases of manslaughter. this. The parties were bound to make returns of profits and gains on a fair average of three years, and the district commissioners had power to examine the statements in support or correction of such return. The intention of Parliament was to place the matter in the hands of district commissioners, and he was not aware that there was any legal power on the part of the executive Government which obliged them to institute any particular investigation; but there was no doubt that it was their duty to do so, and he believed that duty was generally performed. But it sometimes happened that complaints were made to the Government with respect to the assessments and judg ments of the district commissioners, and not unfrequently the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, if they thought the district commissioners had gone wrong, directed the case to be again submitted to them, and matters were then generally brought to a satisfactory issue. It sometimes happened, that even after the final judgment of the district commissioners, an appeal was made to the Treasury or the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he did not consider that Parliament had given the Executive any authority to re-try the case. The only case in which the executive Government had authority to correct the proceedings of the assistant commissioners, was where there was a palpable error on their part, or where some new facts had come to light. But, undoubtedly, the determination of the assessments had been placed by Parliament under the power of the Commissioners, and it was the practice of the Government to re-try the cases, as he had already stated. There was no difference in 3° Lunacy (Scotland); Portsdown Fair Discon-practice so far as respected the amount of tinuance; Naval and Victualling Stores. After a few observations from the Duke of MANCHESTER, the Earl of DONOUGHMORE, EARL DE GREY, and Lord CRAN WORTH, Bill read 2, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Friday next. House adjourned at a quarter past HOUSE OF COMMONS, MINUTES.]—PUBLIC BILLS.-1° Consolidated Fund (£10,000,000). 20 Coal Mines; African Slave Trade Treaty ; Poor Removal; Chancery Regulation (Ireland); Sheep (Ireland). INCOME TAX.-QUESTION. MR. DOULTON said, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether the Commissioners of Income Tax have authority, in cases of Appeal based upon a three years' statement of profits, to dismiss the Appeal without investigating such statement; and whether, in the event of such dismissal (the assessment being under £150 per annum), the Appellant has any remedy by application to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, the Treasury, or other person or body? THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER said, the state of the case was income. Parties having incomes under £150 a year were in the same position as those whose incomes were larger. SEATS IN THE PARKS.-QUESTION. MR. W. EWART said, he wished to ask the First Commissioner of Public Works, Whether the public are to be accommodated by the restoration of the old, and by a greater number of new seats in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, especially round the larger trees. therein? MR. COWPER said, it was the practice of the Department to restore the old seats when necessary, and to provide new ones in such places as the convenience of the public might require. This year about twenty-five new seats would be placed in the Parks to which the hon. Gentleman alluded. INDIAN CAMEL CORPS.-QUESTION. MR. E. P. BOUVERIE said, in the absence of his gallant relative (General Buckley), he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Why the Officers and Men of the Rifle Brigade who composed the Camel Corps in India, commanded by Colonel Ross during the late Mutiny (having received a medal and clasps for services with Sir Hugh Rose's force in Central India), have not received a share of Prize Money? SIR GEORGE LEWIS said, he was not yet in possession of the information requisite to enable him to answer the Question, and would therefore request the right hon. Gentleman to repeat it on a future occasion. IRISH BUSINESS.-QUESTION. MR. SCULLY said, he wished to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether he intends to proceed on Friday next with the five Irish Bills that stand on the Paper for that day, and in what order he intends taking them? SIR ROBERT PEEL stated, that on Friday, at the morning sitting, he proposed to take up the remaining clauses of the Poor Law Bill; and, having got through these, he hoped at an early hour to proceed with the County Surveyors Bill and the Weights and Measures Bill. MARRIAGES (IRELAND) BILL. QUESTION. MR. GREGORY said, in the absence of the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Belfast (Sir H. Cairns) he wished to ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for the University of Dublin, Whether it is intended to proceed with the Marriages (Ireland) Bill? MR. WHITESIDE said, there had been no opportunity of conferring with his right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Belfast, but he apprehended that the state of public business would render it impossible to press the measure this Session. COLONEL FRENCH hoped his right hon. and learned Friend would not object to say when he proposed to go on with the Judgments (Ireland) Bill. MR. WHITESIDE said, it had been referred to a Select Committee. FAIRS AND MARKETS (IRELAND) BILL. QUESTION. MR. VANCE said, that several of his knowing, Whether the Fairs and Markets constituents were very much interested in (Ireland) Bill was to be proceeded with? SIR ROBERT PEEL said, it was the intention of the Government to proceed with it. He hoped to obtain a morning sitting next week for that purpose. DISTRESS IN IRELAND.-QUESTION. In reply to Mr. MAGUIRE, SIR ROBERT PEEL stated, that he had received a communication from the noble Lord at the head of the Government, expressing his willingness to lay on the table of the House the whole of the Correspondence with reference to the Skibbereen and Castletown Unions since the month of November, 1861. FORTIFICATIONS AND WORKS. COMMITTEE. Order for Committee read. SIR GEORGE LEWIS: Mr. Massey, mittee the Resolution of which I have Sir, in rising to bring before the Comgiven notice, I shall probably find it necestopics not strictly contained within the sary to advert, I trust briefly, to some limits of that Resolution. The subject of fortifications is a part of the more general subject, the defences of the country. It is the characteristic of our naval and military system, unlike that of many other countries, that it exists exclusively for defensive purposes-a fact which I think hon. Gentlemen sometimes overlook, and which has been overlooked in some recent discussions on this question. The essence of defence is purely negative; it is intended merely to guard against invasion or attack. Defence is of the nature of an insurance, and insurance against a probable danger may be a prudent act, although subsequent experience shows that the precaution was, in fact, unnecessary. A person who insures his house or his ship is not condemned for folly, although his ship may not be wrecked. and his house may not be burnt. That is true with regard to those species of insurance which are intended merely to mitigate an evil, but do not tend to prevent it. be impossible to maintain the general efficiency of the department without maintaining the existing expenditure, or to increase its efficiency without increasing that expenditure. And there is one point on which I am anxious to do justice to some gentlemen with whom I have the honour to act in an official capacity. It is, I know, an impression on the minds of many gentlemen in this House, and on the minds of many persons in the country, that a large portion of the present expenditure for the army has been, as it were, forced on the Government by pressure from the Commander in Chief, the Horse Guards, and the permanent officers of the War Department. Now, Sir, that supposi very reverse of being true. The increased expenditure of the War Department has emanated exclusively, or almost exclusively, from the influence of the political head of the department, urged by the opinions of his colleagues, by the opinions of the House, and by the opinions of the public. That expenditure has not been adopted contrary to the convictions of those who were at the head of the department for the time being, but it is an expenditure which has been adopted, indifferently, by the executive Government for the time being in deference to what they believed to be the opinions of the public and the exigencies of the public service. However, with regard to those species of insurance in which military and naval precautions consist, they have a tendency to prevent the evil which is the object of the insurance. In that respect they resemble the precautions which we are familiar with in the shape of internal police. The presence of a policeman may prevent a robbery; the existence of an army may prevent the invasion of a country; the cxistence of fortifications may prevent an attack on a town. Well, Sir, that is the view taken by those who maintain that the extensive precautions adopted within the last few years in this country have not been extravagant; that though England has not been invaded, though no hostile army may have been prepared for landing tion is not only not true, but it is the on our shores, this circumstance does not prove our precautions to have been superAluous, or that if they had been omitted the danger against which we have guarded might not have actually occurred. There are other circumstances which the Committee will bear in mind with respect to the provision which has been made of late years for the defences of the country. During the Crimean war, and also subsequently under the Indian mutiny, the jealousy of the public was almost exclusively directed against what was considered the insufficiency of the army and the inefficiency of the military department. The consequence has been that of late years almost the exclusive attention of the military department has been directed to the I do not wish to detain the Committee improvement of our military system, and by going into matters not strictly conthe increase of its efficiency. But, Sir, nected with this Resolution; but, in conefficiency as those who have had charge sequence of references which have been of the finances of the country are well made in this House of late to the supaware-efficiency is only another term for posed extravagant expenditure for the increased expense. I put it to any one army which is now going on, and to the who has had any experience in the matter great increase which that expenditure is whether increased efficiency-in whatever asserted to have undergone within a redepartment it may be, whether civil, mili- cent period, I wish to lay before the Comtary, or naval-when it comes to be trans-mittee-which I think I can do in a small lated into practice, is not always equiva- compass comparisons, under different lent to increased expenditure? I know heads of the military expenditure of the there are some gentlemen who believe, present year with that for 1858-9, which that by some hitherto never defined im- year I think the right hon. Gentleman provement in the organization of our mili- opposite (Mr. Disraeli) on a recent occatary system, it would be possible to in- sion selected as the year for comparison. crease its efficiency without adding to its The Estimates for 1858-9 were prepared expense. I have made most careful in- by Lord Panmure, who was Secretary of quiries on this subject since I have been State under the Government of my noble at the War Department, and I have come Friend at the head of the present Governto the conclusion, that though by a very ment, and signed and introduced in this jealous and close scrutiny it would be pos- House by the right hon. and gallant Gensible to make small reductions in different tleman opposite (General Pcel). The total portions of that large department, it would charge in the Estimates of that year for |