WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1851. The Parliamentary Session of 1850.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 508, 26 February 1851, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1851. The Parliamentary Session of 1850.

The retrospect of the business actually got through during the last session which we have already given, has afforded sufficient evidence

that — although we may think that Lord John Pvljssell went a little too far when he so coniplacpntly congratulated Parliament on its performances, and declared "his only sin prise to be that the House was enabled, with the proper attention given to e»ery subject, to get through so many bills, with all their difficult steps, in the couise of the session" — yet it is unjust to assert, as some influential London journals have done, that " thete never was perhaps a session of equal length passed to so little purpose," and that it was " the least practical ever laboured through by a Reformed Parliament." On the other hand, however, it is equally clear that much more might have been accomplished, had Ministers conducted the business which they undertook with sufficient information to enable them to meet the objections which men of very ordinary political sagacity might have foreseen would be started against their measures, and with that earnestness of purpose in all cases which they manifested in a jeiu, and which, whenever they did manifest it, brought them through successfully. The abandonment of no less than twentyeiijht of their own Bills, every one of which had been introduced with the prestige attaching to Government propositions, and recommenced by its proposer as important and necessary, and, moreover, against no one of which was there any powerful opposition organized either in Parliament or in the country, argues that there must have been a want of energy, a want of heart in their professed objects, or a want of business tact in conducting them— if not all three combined — on the part of their authors. The fate to which they were consigned seems especially unaccountable in such instances as those of the Bill for Abolishing the Loid Lieutenancy of Ireland, and the :-avings Ranks Bill. The former was approved by many, looked upon with apathetic indifference by many more, and (with a few exceptions of undoubted weight indeed) lesisted chiefly by the professional fault-finders who require little other reason for their hostility to any step of legislation for Ireland than that it proceeds from "the Saxon Parliament " This Bill was discussed for three nights, besides numerous incidental references to it ; the second reading was carried on the 17th of June by an overwhelming majority ; and yet the Bill was withdrawn on the 4th of July on the hackneyed plea that it was late in the session, with the additional but inconclusive excuse that some members had objected to the appointment of a fourth Secretary of State The case of the Savings Bank Bill was more notable than this, because the object which that Bill professed to secure was not only wholly nonpolitical, but of a more immediately practical nature, involving largely the interests of the operative classes. On proposing the measures the Chancellor of the Exchequer described it as " absolutely necessary," on account of " the importance of the interests, and the imperfect legislation hitherto attempted in the matter." These were amply sufficient reasons, borne out as they were by the facts stated by Sir Charles Wood himself, that ihe poor had deposited their earnings in the Savings Banks to tjie- amount of twenty-eight millions sterling ; that " dishonest practices and serious defaultings in those institutions had become frequent" and that " neither the Government nor the trustees are now liable for losses, as the Government cannot be answerable for officers it does not appoint, and the trustees are unanswerable for any body or anything." We need not stop now to examine the provisions of the till, especially as, for very shame if from no higher motive, it will probably be reproduced this year, and so be brought more immediately under notice ; but it was admitted on all hands to be a measure of very substantial value. And what was its fate 1 It was introduced on the 29th of April ; eleven times it stood on the business paper for the second reading, but was neglected or jostled aside ; and, finally, in the beginning of August it was consigned to the " waste bag" of the House. Although time enough could be found to pass such Bills as that granting an annuity of £ 1 2,000 a year certain, to the young Duke of Cambridge, in addition to the emoluments of any appointments that have been or may be given him, (and all for no conceivable reason than because he is his father's son and that father was a King's son), yet there was not time to pass an " absolutely necessary" Bill which would have given security to tens of thousands of poor and laborious, but frugal and prudent men, whose confidence in Savings Banks had been shaken by the scandalous instances of mismanagement and fraud recently brought to light. The proceedings on the subject of Sunday Labour in the Post Office were of so peculiar a character as to call for a separate paragraph here. For a considerable time an active movement was in progress to extend to the country officials the freedom from work on the Sabbath which was enjoyed by their brethren in London, where the non-delivery of letters on that day is borne almost without a murmur. Four thousand petitions, praying that this relief might be granted, were presented with signatures numbering nearly a million ; and, fortified by this expression of public opinion, Lord Ashley, on the 30th of May, moved two resolutions to the effect that an humble address be presented to Her Majesty praying her to

direct that the rest on the Lord's Day afforded in the London Poet Office should be extended to the provincial towns ; and, further, that inquiry should be made how far, without injury to the public service, the transmission of the mails on the Sabbath might be diminished or entirely suspended. These Resolutions were carried by a majority of 95 over 70 ; in due time a reply to the address assured the House that the Queen would give the desired directions ; and the cessa'ion of labour accordingly took place on the 23rd of June. This issue was received with lively gratification by (he . religious classes who maintain that the Fourth Commandment is of as perpetual and universal obligation as any other part of the Decalogue, and by those who, without adverting particularly to the religious character of the Sabbath, see in social and physical considerations abundant reason for setting apart a seventh day for rest ; while the persons most immediately concerned hailed the boon as a signal blessing, and in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, and other towns, the Post Office clerks and the letter carriers went in piocession to church on the first Sunday after it was granted, " to return thanks to Almighty God for their freedom from Sabbath labour." But a vehement opposition to the new arrangement was instantly raised, and fomented by a portion of the press, especially by the Sund iy journals whose interests were affected by it ; and the Government did all in their power, by pointed observations in Parliameut, to inflame this hostility. Indeed the Chancellor of the Exchequer in so many words expressed his hope that the country would be so moved as to induce the House to rescind its vote. Mr. Locke accordingly brought forward, on the 9th of July, a proposition that the former decision should be reversed ; but the House, by a majority of 233 over 92, refused thus formally to stultify its former proceeding ; at the same time, however, adopting, on Lord John Russell's recommendation, an amendment asking for further in» quiry, This was followed up by the appointment of the Marquis of Clanricari>e and Messrs. H. Labouchere and G. Cornewall Lewis to investigate the subject. Their Report to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, which was presented just before the prorogation, censured the recent restriction as both inexpedient and ineffectual for its main purpose, and recommended that that arrangement should be rescinded, but that at the same time every effort should be made to reduce Sunday labour in the Post Office to the lowest point consistent with the absolute necessities of the public service. The Povtmastcr-General shortly after issued an order founded upon this Report, and thus, so far, tetminated a movement which had been more or less formally under the notice of Parliament for three or four months, and in which Ministers played a part that showed little firmness of principle on either side of the very interesting questions which it involved. A fact too remarkable to be overlooked in such a review as this is the frequent instances in which Ministers have been left in a minority during the Session. The Times thus sums up a. portion of these disasters ;—; — Among other defeats may be instanced two rnajori* ties gained by Lord Naas in the Commoas for a project of the Scotch distillers ; Lord Ashley's addreis to the Queen against Sunday work in the Post-office; the Registrar'i-office Bill, referred, on the motion of Mr. Henley, to a select committee ; Various defeats and surrenders on the Stamp Duties Bill ; the vote of the Lurds, ou the motion of Lord Pnwis, against the union of the common and the episcopal fund ; the narrow escape ef Government on Lord Duncans motion for the re,teal of the window-tax ; the County Courts Extension Bill, introduced and carried in the face of the Attorney. General ; the temporary fueceis of Lord Robert Grosvenor's motion for abolishing the stamp on attorney's certificates ; the Duke of Argyle's successful motion in behalf of Mr. Ryland, the clerk to the Canadian Executive, dismissed without compensation ; the rote of (he Commons virtually annulling the contract made with Mr. Landseer for decorating the Peers' refreshment-room ; besides other casualties of a like nature already referred to in the course of these remarks. The truth is, that the House of Commons has shown throughout the whole of hi-> teision a restless* capricious and refractory spiritr ; ever rejoicing to assist its liberty of action when it saw an opportunity or an excuse. Near akin to a defeat — indeed, so far as the vote of the House of Lords was concerned, % more important discomfiture than those here referred to taken altogether — was the expression of the judgment of Parliament respecting the Greek quarrel, — a matter in which we adhere to our opinion, that Lord Palmerston adopted course which, however it may be defended or even eulogised now by bis own party, will not be regarded by the future historian as honourable to his own statesmanship, or conducive to the dignity of the country. Here again we quote from the Times :—: — It was on a Thursday that her Majesty assured us we were at '• peace and amity" with all the world. On the Monday after, Lord Palmerston, in reply to a question, was forced to admit that we were about to blockade, and had indeed blockaded, the principal port o( the independent kingdom of Greece. For certain fabulous clnims, hitherto wholly unknown in this country, and which have only become known to pas& into a proverb, the busy Foreign Secretary had demanded, with the overwhelming power of this country, the instant submission of the feeblest though uot the least sensitive state m Europe. The French tendered their good offices and they were accepted. A long negotiation ensued on an uncertain understanding, and with imperfect correspondence, here and at Athens. There was an unaccountable delay. The re suit was that Otho submitted to our arms, and the Fiench AmbaiSador was recalled. Tins was rather too much, for the world were spectators So we had

to submit in our turn to France, and admit her as umpire between us and Greece. So far as the country was concerned, the stigma of these transactions was to a pertain extent averted by a censure passed, with a large mnjonty, in a full House of Lords, which even a counter minority in the Commons, after a long defcate and a brilliant defence by the Foreign Sene'ary, could n'H wholly retrieve. For th^ proof and result of our influence in the affairs of Europe after nil this squabbling, we need only look across the German Ocean, to the opposite shores of Denmark and Schleswiff H ilstein, where England has been enj^grd for two years in mediating between the two belligertn'S. The facts which have appeared most prominent through these remarks, viz. the indecision of Ministers leading, to indefinite delays and the final withdrawal of a number of their measures, and the defeats which they sustained from incongruously constituted bands of opponents on particular questions, may be principally traced to the disorganized state of pohtic.l parties by which the late session was characterised beyond all former example. Had the Conservatives been united amongst themselves, they would have formed a phalanx against which the Russell Cabinet, with its " family party " and its motley groups of hangers-on rather than adherents, could not have maintained an efficient stand. But Sir Robert Peel's conversion to Free Trade principals had so broken their ranks, and turned one against another men who in many former battl- s fought side by side against the common political adversary that their efforts were powerless to effect anything worthy the name of a triumph. As the Spectator says, — " The residuary opposition, the remnant of the Tory or Protectionist party, was not obstinate in its aggressions for a threefold reason — it had no well-defined policy of its own ; it was less jealous of the Whigs than of Sir Robert Peel who had suffered the Whigs to supersede him ; and at the very commencement of the session the divisions on the Address had exposed its weakness." The Radicals, on the other hand, evinced the same absence of combination and want of plan. Their only rallying point seemed to be a desire to prevent the destruction of a " Libeial " Cabinet ; but this, while it seemed their votes in any case so critical as to involve the existence of the Administtation, left them so loosely attached on all minor questions that it was frequently impossible to predict what proportion, of them would divide with or against the Government. On the whole the retention of office by the Russell Cabinet was owing so much less to its own strength than to the disunion of the opposition, that its fate in the new session (which doubtless has ere this commenced) must mainly be detei mined by the solution of the political problem which at our last dates was engaging anxious speculation, — whether, now that one source of internal strife has been removed from the Conservative ranks by the death of their once idolized ieader but their subsequent " betrayer ", (as the Protectionist section of the party were wont to stigmatize Sir Robert Peel), they will agree to merge their points of variance, for the sake of coalescing in an aggressive movement on behalf of the principles which, through all their collisions, they have continued to hold in common 1 ? The Britannia gives an outline of the conditions on which such an union might be cemented, which, in conclusion, we shall quote. It is worth attention as a " contemporary opinion" ghowing how the Conservative wind blew from some quarters. We the rather make the extract as it includes an additional evidence of the growing importance which politicians at home attach to colonial affairs, — an importance which no party aspiring to power can now venture to ignore or treat with disrespect : — "Conservatism ii the prevailing feeling of the mass in the country ; it wants only organisation to make it the ruling power. That united organisation so much required need be no longer delayed ; the time is come, and the giounds of union clear and comprehensive. They are these — the equalisation of taxation, and the imposition of such moderate fixed duties on foreign produce as will, together with the relief from especial burdens, render national trade fair trade, and not merely free trade— the carelul revision of the expendituie of the country, and its adaptation to the altered prices of commodities and expense of living— the modification of the mc me*tax so as to meet the real value of fluctu aiing life incomes — the abolition of the window-tax, and the substitution, if required, of a moderate house tax— the gradual extinction of excise duties, so hurtful to native industry — the entire remodelling of the stamp laws and their duties, abolishing those miserable temptations to invalidate deeds in order to save a few pounds, by a great reduction ; and at the same time creating a large revenue by extending the security of a stamp to every kind of meicantile papei — fiee trade, in deed as well as name, between the colonies and the mother country, and the fostering of colonial local government in its widest sense, consistent with the safety of the empiie and the development of the resources of the colony — emigration as a national movement, and no longer committed to the unconnected exeitions of beparate and often conflicting associations — jieace and non-inteiference with the internal concerns of foreign nations, and a firm and decided conduct towards them, whether poweilul or weak, when the occasion is worthy of the interference oi so great a nation — a fleet and «m army for real work and not for show, well tr ined, ] v»ell found, well educated, and well cared for. By such measures our tnasury would present the pleasant view of a suie and steady surplus, applicable year by year to the reduction of the debt. On these giounds a great and a powerful party will arise, if party that can be called which will include four-fifths of ihe nation; and a Government can be formed which will have the sense and experience to frame, the ability to advocate and recommend, and the power to carry measures absolutely requisite for the maintenance oi the peace and power of the empire.

Sudden Death. — On Saturday morning last, Mr. John Thompson, — a young gentleman of highly lespectable connexions in the

North of Ireland, who arrived in this colony by the Jane Catherine in 1849— was found dead in his Led at his residence, Mr. Brighams, Queen-street, He had retired to his room, about five o'clock the preceding evening, and was seen there by John Robinson, a person in Mr. Brighams employment, as late as eight or nine o'clock, when he appeared to be in his usual health. Death had probably taken place early in the night, as Dr. Philson who was called in as soon as the melancholy fact was discovered, was of opinion that life had been quite extinct for some time. An Inquest was held on Saturday at the Crown and Anchor Inn, before Dr. Davies, Coroner. It being clear from the evidence of Dr. Dalliston, who had made a post mortem examination, that death had resulted from Apoplexy, the Jury immediately returned a verdict to that effect.

The Band of H M. 58th Regt. (by the permission of Lieutenant-Colonel "Wynyavd, C.8.), will perform in the grounds in front of old Government House, to-morrow afternoon from four till six o'clock. PROGRAMME. Overture—" De Semiiamis ou d'lvanhoe." Rossinni Melange— Op. " Haydee". . Auber. Duetto Grand— Op, " Lucia di Lammermoor." Donizetti. Aria.— ct Pro Peceatis" (Stabat Matei)... Rossini. Ballad — " Gloomy Winter s now awa," (Scotch Melody)., "Waltz — " The Ravenswood.".. Jullien. Quadrille — "The Prince of W.iles.".. Glover ( Ballad—" The Angel's Whisper" (Irish Melody).. Lover.