The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 443, 13 July 1850, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1 85 0.

The files of English papers received by the Fan if Queen furnish us with reports of the proceedings in Parliament, which are so long as to occupy a very large portion of their space.

We have already laid before our readers carefully prepared summaries of some of the most important debates, especially of those bearing on colonial concerns. We nowpiopose to follow up those summaries by a Similarly condensed account of such other proceedings in the Legislature as may be supposed to possess some general interest. In doing so, we have scarcely anything to add to our previous review of the transactions in the House of Lords, as their .Lordships have met seldom, and done littl,e up to our latest dates. But in the House I of Commons there was all the activity of business already commenced, and of the anticipation of much more. As usual, Irish affairs were early brought forward, and raised considerable discussion, with, however, (-is in the case of the Colonies) a greater prospect of some really efficient legislation resulting from the " war of words" than in former sessions. In committee of the whole House, Lord John Russell made a lengthened statement respecting the Unions in Ireland, and the course which the Government recommended with regard to the advances ma J e to that country by the Imperial Legislature. It appeared that since 1839 the loans and grants to Ireland amounted to £4,483,000. He proposed that this sum should be converted into [ consolidated annuities, to be repaid in forty years, with interest at the rate charged under the Acts of Parliament by which the several advances were made. He also proposed that a further sum of £300,000 should now be advanced, to enable the Guardians of tie Poor Law Uniens to pay off the debts incurred for food and clothing during the last fe\r years. After a debate, the resolutions which the noble lord founded on these propositions were passed without a division. The anti-Irish Times, in an article on this debate, says, " the grumblers of the House got up one after another, had their fling at some part or other of the Irish system, and were successively snubbed for their pains. What they said, however, was only too true. Every proverb of vicious economy that ever was uttered about throwing money into a ditch, about being penny wise and pound foolish, or about putting meat ino a bad skin, is fulfilled in Ireland. Into this great Sahara an ocean might flow and be lost." It is well for the wretched peasantry of Ireland that the " Leading Journal" has not been able to " lead" either Parliament or the benevolent people of England in this matter. Hid its hostility to the liberal extension of English aid to that poverty-stricken land been permitted to sway the public mind, the starving multitudes might have been left to perish comparatively unaided in the sorest seasons of 'the famine, disease, and prostrate destitution which within the last few years have so affaictively come upon them. But in such a case it is in the inmost nature and heart of generous Britain to rise above the maxims and pound shillings and pence calculations of a niggardly parsimony or a cold-bluodcjd political economy. William Somerville (the Irish Chief Secretary) had obtained leave to introduce a bill to restrain party processions in Ireland. He stated that the continuance of the collisions and animosities occasioned by those processions had made it the duty of Ministers to bring forward a special legislative measure to renew the act of 1832, and to render them altogether illegal, whatever party may be engaged in them. His bill would deal with such offences, as the original bill did, by summary jurisdiction, and it was intended to make the prohibition perpetual. The Solicitor-General had introduced no less than four measures of Law Reform for Ireland. The Common Law Process Bill would extend to that country the provisions of the Uniformity of Process Acts, which iemodeled the system of English common law procedure in the seventh year of the late King : — the Registration of Deeds Bill would amend the system of registration of Assurances of Land, so as to render unnecessary the voluminous and complicated deeds now requited in the conveyance of landed property, which would henceforth become a plain marketable commodity in the hands of the owner : — the Judgments in Ireland Bill would prevent any judgment creditor from having a lien on the lands in future, but would enable him to state to the court as to what specific portion of the estate he intended his judgment to apply, upon which the judgment would immediately take the effect of a mortgage-deed, with regard to the land thus specified : — and, the Court of Chancery (Ireland) Bill would simplify the proceedings in that Court, so as to get rid of the j present prolix system of pleading, and substitute a short statement of facts by way of petition, instead of the statement by bill, and also make other improve. nents. These mea- j sures were received with general approbation, especially that for reforming the proceedings in Chancery, which several members desired to see extended to England. Mr. Henley expressed I) is intention to take the sense of the House on the propriety of introducing the word " England " into the bill. The Times also warmly advocated the extension of a corresponding Chancery Reform to the English Court. "We find ourselves," says that journal, "raising the somewhat unusual cry of ' Justice for England.' Why is the Irish Court of Chancery to be reformed, and that part of the United Kingdom called England to

be left saddled with the heavy burden of the Court of Chancery with its present forms of procedure'? Ireland already enjoys an exemption from reptiles and vermin ; is she to be freed also from Equity Pleadings and Bills of Revivor and Supplement? v t. Patrick and the Solicitor-General are too much for one division of the empire. It is time that something should be done for Englishmen also." Three other measures for Ireland had been brought in by Government. Sir W. Somerville re-introduced, with some modifications, his last year's bill to amend the laws and regulate the qualification and registration of Parliamentary voters; and also introduced a hill to shorten the duration of elections in Ireland ; and the Solicitor-General obtained leave to bring in a bill to enable persons having limited interests in land in Ireland to make building and impioving leases. Two propositions made by private Irish members were rejected. Mr. W. Fagan moved for a committee of the whole House to take into consideration the law relating to the tax called " ministers money" in Ireland, which he characterised as an obnoxious and unjust impost, especially on Roman Catholics. Sir George Grey moved the previous question, which was carried by a majority of 96 over 76, so the motion was 105t.... Mr. Anstey moved for leave to bring in a bill for the lepeal of certain penal acts against Roman Catholics which still remain on the statute book. It was substantially the same as a bill brought in the year before last. R. H. Inglis opposed it, asking the Home Secretary whether or not he would support it, as if he would not, it would be a great saving of time to stop it in the very r\r-t stage. Mr. Law followed to the same effect, appealing to Sir G. Grey to save the Honse from the " nuisance, the torture, and the afiliction"of listening to Mr. Anstey's speeches for several succeeding Wednesdays. Sir George Grey said he did not attach much importance to the bill, nor did the Roman Catholic members themselves ; but as he was not opposed to the principle of it, he would not resist its introduction. He thought, however, there was very little prospect of its receiving the sanction of the house, and if Mr. Anstey took his advice he would not press it. On a division there appeared a majority against the introduction of the bill of 77 against 72. The truth is, Mr. Anstey has made himself so insufferable a bore that the House is pre-disposed to avail itself of almost any means to obtain even a partial and temporary relief from his tedious and pertinacious prolixity. A. conversation of some importance on the Transportation question was raised by Mr. Adderley, who moved for leave to bring in a bill to transfer to Parliament the power at present exercised by Her Majesty in Council, to appoint places to which felons should be transported. He desired to preserve other colonies from the odium and injury of being made receptacles for convicts, from which the Cape had just escaped. The motion was supported by !*ir Wm. Molesworth, Mr. Aglionby, and Mr. Hume ; and opposed by Sir George Grey and Loid John Russell, who contended that supposing Lord Grey's conduct had been wrong, it was illogical to argue from particulars to generals, and conclude that all Secretaries of State would act in the same manner. Ultimately, the motion was negatived by 110 voles against 32. Mr. Labouchere again brought forward the subject of our Mercantile Marine, to which he had called such marked attention last session. He submitted three bills to the House. The first was designed to improve the condition of masters, mates, and seamen of merchant ships, by counteracting the existing evils of the notorious incapacity of some masters, the want of discipline in the crews, and the objectionable manner in which contracts are entered into between owners and mariners. He proposed, as in his former bill, to establish a mercantile marine department of the Board of Trade — a system of examination of masters and mates — and public offices at the sea-port towns, where government functionaries should superintend the making of contracts between sailors and their employers, and have power to adjudicate in money questions, provided both parties consented. The Bill would also introduce improved machinery into the system of registration — make advance notes recoverable by legal process — give first-class captains a power of imprisonment — and make acts of misconduct causing loss of the ship or of life, a misdemeanour. A provision was added that, on application to a Consul or Commander of a Queen's ship, in a foreign porf, a naval court might be formed to try grave charges of misconduct, with summary power in cases of emergency. . .The second Bill was designed to place the Merchant Seaman's Fund in a more satisfactory condition. It was i intended to subject this fund to one central management, vested in the Trinity House, in coujunction with two mercantile members of the new Board of Trade. It was proposed also ' that no seaman should have a less pension than 6d. a day ; that the payment to the fund should be raised from Is. to Is. 6'd. per month, and that the sum npcessary to restore the Fund to solvency—£3o,ooo a year— should be granted by the State. . .The third Bill would confer a benefit on the shipping interest by introducing a new system of measurement, by which the real

power of a vessel to carry cargo could be ac^ curately ascertained . . Leave was given to bring in these Bills severally, though not without considerable discussion on various of their details. Undaunted by former failures, Mr. Stuart Wortley had resumed with fresh vigour his endeavours to procure a repeal of the law" prohibiting the marriage of a widower with his deceased wife's sister, The present bill included two alterations— one rendering valid such marriages as hail been recently contracted j the other removing from the clergy the compulsion to celebrate those marriages which it was designed to legalize Sir It. H. lNGus ; as heretofore, was vehemently hostile to the measure which he denounced as opposed to the law of the land, the law of the church, and the law of Goo. Leave to bring in the bill was given, however, by a majority of H 9 to 65. .... Out of doors the question was agitated with augmented earnestness. We observe in the Nonconformist a Resolution of the Congregational Board expressing its conviction of the "' impolicy, inefficacy, and moral mischief of the Act commonly known by the title of ' Lord Lyndiiurst's Act,' in so far as it relates especially to the prohibition of the marriage of a widower with his deceased wife's sister or niece/ and pledging itself to use its influence for the repeal of that law. The Times has letters (published as advertisements) from " A Jew," denying that the ancient or modern Jewish interpretation of the passages in the 18th chapter of Leviticus, which have been insisted on in the controversy, is at all in favor of the existing law, and referring to the authority of the Chief Rabbi Abler in support of his statement ;— and from " Catholicus," who, — admitting the high authority of the Protestant divines who have declared their belief that the Scripture does not forbid such marriages — yet cites, as more authoritative in his church, the judgment of the Roman Catholic Primate, Dr. Wiseman, who in his evidence before Her Majesty's Commissioners stated distinctly that the Church did not regard them as prohibited by Scripture, but simply as matter of ecclesiastical legislation — thej marriages being in no degree improper provided the Church gave permission to contract them. Earnestly as Mr. Stuart Wortley's Bill will be resisted, we should not be su i prised if, this session, his persevering labours should at length be crowned with success. Mr. Horsman, the indomitable champion of Church Reform, had returned to the charge against the Ecclesiastical Commission, the sins anJ negligences of which he depicted in colours not more lively th-m truth confessedly warranted. His motion for the appointment of three paid Commissioners to manage the church property (as formerly recommended by a committee of the House,) was, after a warm discussion, withdrawn, on the representation of Sir G Grey that,— a bill onthesubject having been introduced in the House of Lords, — gentlemen should not fetter themselves by passtng any resolutions until that bill came regularly befote them for consideration. ' . Incidentally to this debate a matter turned up which led to one or t\vo remarkable scenes in the House. Some time before the meeting of Parliament, Mr. Horsham had addressed a letter to his constituents of Cockermouth, in which he broadly accused Ministers of official fraud, alleging that Lord John Russell had promised to introduce certain clauses in the bill last year,— had so gained time till near the end of the session, — and had then, at the close of a night's proceedings, when little attention was paid to what was going forward, caused clauses to be inserted which were altogether different from those which he had engaged to introduce. It was added that Sir G. Grey had co-operated with him in this evasion of his promise. Sir George, during the discussion on Mr. Horsham's motion, referred to this letter, stating, however, that he need not condescend to reply to it "as the hon. member had not ventured to repeat it in his presence." Mr. Horsham stood by the letter, but said he was, willing to let the matter drop. Mr. Roebuck, however, was determined that it should not rest, and on a subsequent evening demanded an explanation. Mr. Horsham reiterated his charges with great deliberation ; Sir George Grey and Lord John Russell gave explanations which were regarded as showing more warmth of temper than clearness in vindication. Afterwards Mr. Horsham gave notice of a motion for a committee to inquire into the accusations ; but when the evening fixed for this motion came, the " lame and impotent conclusion" of all his strength of assertion was "af ank disavowal of any intention of atttibuting bad motives to Lord John Russell," and a withdrawal of any possible imputation on the honour of the noble lord or of Sir George Grey. Sir R. H. Inglis, in moving for papers connected with the Arctic Expedition, uiged upon the Government the duty of continued exertion in the search for Sir John Franklin and his companions in enterprise, and pronounced a high and merited eulogy on Lady Franklin's* devoted and self-denying efforts. Sir F. T. Baring, in reply, announced the intention of Government to send out an expedition for the purpose from the eastward of Lancaster Sound. He thought there still remained a degree of

hope sufficient to warrant perseverance for some time longer in the search. We have now brought to a close our digest of the Parliamentary proceedings reported in the recent arrivals, having omitted only topics which would not be likely to interest any considerable number of our readers. The space which this has occupied precludes our entering to-day upon any summary which would be satisfactory of the other intelligence — Home and Foreign — which is now before us ; and as the news is not urgent, (though some of it is well worth notice) we deem it better to defer it till our next, than to slur it over crudely and hastily in our present issue.

The " Arrogant," — Captain Fitzßoy. — The following extract, which we transfer from the Times, will be read with interest, It is satisfactory to find that a British war steamer can more than compete in rapidity of sailing 1 with that very vessel of which the French have vaunted as pre-eminently a triumph in naval , architecture. It will also gratify the curious to hear of a newspaper written and printed altogether on board ship. And, here, the statements will be additionally interesting from the circumstance that the vessel so distinguished is commanded by a former Governor of New Zealand, Captain FitzUoy. The following is from the Ariogant Journal of the 18'h ultimo, a newspaper got up entirety (printinfr included) on beard the Arrogant, 46, Captain Fitzßoy prmnpliy by the wardroom officers, one of whom (Lieutenant A. D. Dundas) has his name affixed as the sole proprietor : — •' ARROGANT Y. POMONE. "Fate ht» decreed that the Arrogant should be pitct.ed against that very ship of alt others which has been held up as a pattern to our naval architect! and a terror to tue Admirality, and under such peculiar eircnmstances as clearly to demonstrate th-»t il the French Government should posses* '20 more' 6uch »esselt as the Pomone, a very much smaller proportion of the Arrogant clais would suffice to compete with then. la the pre ent achievements of the screw we see but the dawn of a new era in uav«l warfare — fir greater expectations yet remain to be realised. Still, it must be gratifying to everyone, and to noue less than the greatest advocate* of peace and order, to observe in the instance before u» the confident ability to meet any sudden emergency, which is the best guarantee of a peaceful staie of society. " The Moorish authorities ill-treat the Conml of France at Mogador, and news reaches Gibrnlter that a French screw-fri^a'e has been despatched ro cl.astise the offenders and obtain red ress— that screw fnga'e is the Pomone. Britiah interests are at stake. An English frigate opportunely arrive*, likewise a screw —that frigate i» the Arrogant ; she is despatched forthwith, mid although '20 hours hwe elapied, arrives off the port of Mogndor ere her competitor has picked out a s -ft place to let go hr r anchor. We neither preach intervention or non intervention ; nor do we for a moment wish to insinuate that the would-be bsllignenti were at all staggeied at the Arrogant appari tion in ihe rffing j but suffice it to siy that affaiis were amicably arranged in a wonderfully short space of time, and a tnutu«l exchange or friendly salutes publicly announced the fact. 1 his of Useli is a lesion, bnt we have ye more to relate. By noon of the day in question, the Pomone had'again taken her departure from Mogador ; in two hours more the Arrogant was in her wuke , at 45 minutt s past 8 the «arne evening the rival frigates wer- neck and neck «nd it was now • Who'll be first at Gibralter ?' Behaving most nobly, and without at all exerting her utmost, or even • turning a hair,' the Arrogant reached the goal 22 hours bef >re her adversary, thui beating her a long 24 houts on the return voyage alone (a distance of 330 mile*)- As*t is only by compamon that we arrive at a certain amount of perfection, so we must leave our readers to judge of the reipective qualities of the two vessels. We vui'ed the Pomone ere she ag;ai<i pirttd company. The contrast wai certainly most striking, and we returned to the Airrgant congratulating the Government on their now possessing a wnr steamer in real earnest, oongra'u'ating the builder and tie engineer by whose joint efforts such a noble vessel bad been constructed ; and lastly congratulating ourselves on belonging to the finest ship in Her Majesty's lervicr." This p»per, we believe, is the f,rst ever printed and published on board ship, and coma ns many piquant articles and paragraphs upon general subjects coming under the n« tice of the officers on board the 6hip. and a h'ghly interesting narrative of a visit to the great volcano of Kiranea (Sandwich Llaud-). by Dr, Reei, the surgeon,

A Government Gazette was published on Wednesday. We subjoin a summary of its principal contents. A Land Sale is proclaimed for the 13th of August. It is to include fifteen lots of section 32, and fourteen lots of section 33 in Barrack Street ;— one lot of section 28 in Grey Street ; — four lots of section 20, in Victoria Street, West ; eleven lots of section 20 in Nelson Street ;— nine lots in the village of Onehunga ; —four lots on the Banks of the Waiatarua Lake ; — one lot in the parish of Manurewa, at the source of the Tamaki ;— and forty-three lots in the parish of Takapuna (North Shore, near the Flag-staff Hill). The Bishop of New Zealand desires the necessary erasure, by the clergy and 1 ycatechists and teachers, of the Queen Dowager's name in the Books of Common Prayer. The Governor-in-Chief has made the following appointments : — Mr. Philip Augustus Deck to be commander of Her Majesty's Colonial biig Victoria, vice Mr. Pulham, resigned; — William Gisborne, Esq., to be a Commissioner of Land Claims j— James Reddy Clendon, Esq., to be a Resident Magistrate j— and P. Wilson, Esq., to be Coroner for the distri' t of New Plymouth. Tenders are invited for Hospital Clothing, consisting of blue woollen shirts, woollen trowsers ; night caps ; woollen stockings ; calico sheets ; pillow cases ; towels ; shoes ; and darning worsted ;— the tenders to be received at the Colonial Secretary's Office until Thnrsday the 18th inst. An Xron Safe is also

I advertised for ; tender to be sent in by the 1 17thinst. A Supplementary Bye Law and Notice for the Hundred of Onehunga is published, — to come into operation on the 9th August. There is also a series of Rules for the Hundred of Pupuke. Mr. D. Gr. Smale has been appointed Ranger for the hundred of Auckland, and also for the Southern Division cf Onehunga. The Colonial Trdasurer. reports as the proceeds of Sales of Crown Lands — on the 31st of May, £304 6s. lOd. : on the 10th of June, £312 10s. 6d. : for the three months ending the 30th of June, £688 10s. Id. : and in the same quarter, the sum of £171 ss. 4d. was received from Enrolled Pensioners for Crown Lands selected under their right of pre-emp-tion. The Immigrations at Auckland during the Quarter ending June 30, have been 110, — 8 Jrom California: — the emigrations 47, — 13 to California. The Notes of the Colonial Bank of Issue in circulation on the 29th of June, amounted to £ 1 ,309 ; the amount of Coin held by the Office on that day is returned as precisely the same sum.

B'> just and fear not : J>et all Hie i>ndi thou ahns't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, <md Truth's.