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"""" ^ r in which funds are raised y expendirfthereon- and moved that the House resolve itself ¦ no a committee , to consider an address praying her M ° tvTdirect hat measures may be taken for giving Eto the reco mmendation of the Select Committee f Liehthouses of 1845-namely , " that all expenses for ^ erection and maintenance of lighthouses , floating l £ bt buove , beacons , on the coast of the United Son ,, " be henceforth defrayed out of the public Sue" Our coasts are very badly lighted , at a mat expense , and without any uniform system , while fn Franci and in Scotland the expense is less and the result far better . He thought there should be a central board to attend to such matters , and that it should be under the immediate control of Parliament . Mr Henley wished that Lord Clarence had limited his motion to the management of the lights without touching die question as to who is to pay for them . The man agement of cur system of lights is not so bad as had been represented , though , possibly , under a central management the whole expenditure might be reduced . A change of system , however , would entail a large outlay for superannuations . The Government would willingly i 3 sue a Koyal Commission to look into the whole matter , with all its difficulties , which are not a few . Mr . Lindsay insisted on the injustice of taxing the shipping interest as a body for lights , which it is the duty of the nation to maintain . — Mr . Love agreed with Lord Clarence Paget that the cause of the great expenditure for lights is the double government of the Trinity House and the Board of Trade ; and so long as that double government exists , it will not be in the poiver of the Board materially to reduce the expenditure . Still , he disagreed wjth the motion , which he should O pp OSe . — Mr . Caudwell observed that a single Government means nothing less than that a large expenditure and the patronage it involves should be at once transferred to the Board of Trade . There is really no double Government and no divided responsibility . He should support the proposition for inquiry . —Mr . Bkstlnck recommended Lord Clarence Paget to adopt the suggestion of Mr . Henley . —Lord Palmerston joined in the same recommendation . Further inquiry he conceived to be necessary before any steps were taken . —Mr . White contended that the whole cost of the lighthouses should be transferred to the Consolidated Fund . Other nations set them the example of exempting their ships from light dues , and he thought they should follow it . —Mr . A . Smith regretted that the accounts laid on the table of the House with regard to the expenditure by Trinityhouse were not as complete as they should be . There should be some reform in the constitution of that body . —Mr . R . N . Pjulii-s said he began to tremble for the Consolidated Fund , when he heard the proposal to transfer the cost of lights to it . If the system of transferring charges to it were to be continued , he feared it would " thaw and resolve itself into a dew . " { L . mit jhter . ' )—Mr . Cowan suggested that one of the reasons why the system of lights upon the French coast is superior to our own may be found in the fact that the compact nature of its shores renders the facilities for the erection of lighthouses much greater than can be the case in these kingdoms . —Mr . Ewaut could not concur in thinking it expedient that the whole of the proposed expenditure should be thrown upon the Consolidated Fund . It was , however , lie thought , a question well worthy of the consideration of the Government , whether it would not be desirable to free the coasting trade from the operation of those dues which press so heavily upon it , anil which amount to a sum of only 60 , 000 / . per annum- — Lord Clahexce Paget , feeling satisfied with the assurance given by Mr . Henley , withdrew his motion . TIUUUNAL 8 OF COMMKKCK . Mr . Ayrton rose to move the appointment of a select committee to inquire respecting the expediency of establishing Tribunals of Commerce . Tho honourable and learned gentleman said that ho should add to tho terms of the notice ho had given , the word . " , " and of otherwise improving the mode of procedure in actions and suits of ft commercial nature . " A tribunal of commerce in France consists of a body , including n judgu who ia a lawyer , and the chief magistrates of the district , ¦ who very much resemble a special jury in this country . This tribunal possesses sovereign powers in oases of commercial differe nce , and , in districts where such tribunals do not exist , a locul judge , resembling very much a county court judge , takos cogni / . anco of such matters . In cases exceeding CO / ., nn appeal ia given to the superior courts of tho country . Mr . Ayrton wan not prepared to say that this plan should bo carried out in all its details in this country ; but ho might montion that such a tribunal exists in London , and ho wished that other towns in England might , if they pleased , have- the same pnyityje . He did not desire to point out any particular means for carrying putiho object which he lmd in v » c \ v , "but naEeTfor "" the appointnw » t ~ o f"d ~ 571 o ? rcommlttcorto luviso means for conferring « great benefit , which is Important , not only to the City of London , but to every commercial town in tho kingdom . The Somcitou-Gknkral , though not opposing the motion for a committee , reminded the House that , through tho operation bf County CotirtH , suits had boon shortened to tho very smallest limits . Commercial men In tlue country would not bo satisfied with courts which
decide on a case in a day or two . They deisire to have their differences decided by superior courts , and would not consent to submit them to a private tribunal . —Lord John Russell believed that some good might arise from investigating the subject , though he was very much of the opinion of the Solicitor-General that those tribunals would not be satisfactory in this country , so that he was not very sanguine as to the result of the inquiry . —Mr . J . D . Fitzgkralo did riot expect to be able to import these tribunals from foreign countries , but thought that some of their principles and forms of procedure might enable us to improve our administration of commercial law . —Colonel Syki ; s alluded to the outline of a plan drawn up in Calcutta by the free merchants and the native community , stating that in" this scheme a decision would be obtained in twenty-four hours as to whether goods delivered corresponded with samples . This he thought a great advantage to commerce , and , considering that some such system could be beneficially introduced into this country , he gave his hearty support to the motion before the House . —Mr . M'Maiion agreed with the Solicitor-General that the continental system of tribunals of commerce is a remnant of barbarous ages , and not suited to our jurisprudence . These tribunals had been tried in this country for centuries , and had proved an utter failure : but he approved of the inquiry in the hope that means would be devised for removing the necessity for an appeal from law to equity . —Mr . Blake denied , from personal experience , that tribunals of commerce in this country had proved a failure . —Mr . Collier supported the motion , believing that it would lead to more frequent circuits , and to judgesvisiting towns not visitedat present-Mr . Buchanan considered that great advantage would arise from the establishment of tribunals of commerce , which would give decisions upon rivd voce statements within twenty-four hours . — Mr . Horsfall did not think that tribunals of commerce would have the advantages which Mr . Ayrton appeared to anticipate , but thought that a satisfactory county court system , based upon the tribunals of commerce , might be framed by the select committee to which the subject was to be . referred . —Mr . Ayrton then briefly replied , and the motion was agreed to . TUK COURT OF ClIA-NCEKY . The Solicitou-General moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend the course of procedure in . the Court of Chancery . The objects of the bill are two , both having one end—to enable a suitor to obtain in one court the complete relief he required . One object is to empower < the Court of Chancery , in applications for an injunction , or for specific performance , to award damages ; the other object is to obviate a difficulty in that Court in try - ing questions of fact , byauthorizing it to call a jury to try such questions , instead of sending an issue to a court of law , the witnesses being examined in open court . He proposed that for the present this power should be not compulsory , but discretionary , in the judge . —After a short conversation , leave was given to introduce the bill . Lord John Manners obtained leave to bring in a bill to confirm a contract for the sale , by the Commissioners of her Majesty ' s Works , of certain lands to the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital . The House adjourned at eleven o'clock . s
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PUBLIC MEETINGS . THE COTTON SUPPLY ASSOCIATION . The strangers present at the annual meeting of this association were entcr < i » ined at dinner at the Queen ' s Hotel , Manchester , on tho evening of Friduy week . Mr . Cheetham , M . I ' ., presided , and Mr . Ashwortli , in proposing " Success to tho cultivation of Cotton in India , " made somo observations on that important subject . He remarked : — " They should expect better things from India than bad hitherto come from it . Tho land tenure is the leading question . Hitherto it has been vested in the Company , and it has been next to impossible for Europeans or natives to obtain n ynrd of land that they could call their own . How is it possible to expect that India can be cultivated by servants at will , any more than wo can expect large cultivation in England by capitalists or fanners who are tenants at will ? But , worse thnu that , whilst in England oven tenants at will have got some sort of nominal rent which they have reason to expect will satisfy the landlord , in India that description of rent which will satisfy tho landlord is just what the collector chooses to take . Ilenco the poor Hindoo labourer on the soil has never known what ia his own 5 tho little capital ho onco possossod has been carried away piecemeal , from year to year , until 111 last tho men who began life with a good house over their heads , end in a mud hut with scarcely food to keep himself alive . It might be naked , Is there any 0110 left to buy land , now wo have exhausted the people ? ' After tho potato famine in Ireland , and tho pnssing ~ of .-thoJi : nQWnJt ! or . e 4 ^ that Irishmen bought tho chief part of tho estates ; ana , perhaps , it might bo found , after all , thut there are pooplo in India who possess tho moans to buy land when oft ' ored them . The East India Company have often boon in want of money ; they have something like o 0 , 0 () 0 , 000 / . of debt , and ho believed a largo portion of that belongs to India . If tho Americans had followed our example , they would not have been Bending us
three millions of bales of cotton . The Americans sell their land in fee simple , and provide roads , railways , and canals . Why , therefore , should we hesitate to demand that India should follow the example ? And no doubt , if the example were followed , India would in due course of time supply cotton to an extent that would satisfy reasonable wants ; They who made these demands asked for ho protection ; they asked only that obstacles should be removed . " Mr . A . J . Otway responded , and spoke in a similar strain . He denied some statements that had been made by Colonel Sykes , to the effect that large sums of money had been expended by the East India Company on roads . He believed that the roads are in a wretched state , and that the expenditure under the head of Public Works was chiefly for barracks and other military erections . The House of Commons , however , is now giving some attention to Indian affairs , owing to " the eloquence , vigour , and earnestness of one great man—Mr . Bright . " Other speakers addressed the meeting , and one of them—Mr . A . N . Shaw , late revenue commissioner for the north of India—asserted , in opposition to statements by the East India Company , that American cotton can be grown successfully in India , and that that country is the only one which can compete successfully with the UnitedStates . Sir James Brooke , K . C . B ., in responding to the toast of " Our Colonies and Dependencies as additional fields of cotton culture , " said he was totally unqualified to speak 011 the subjects of cotton supply and cotton manufacture , but wished to call the attention of the meeting to the fact , that , whereas slavery exists in the cottonproducing districts of America , there is no compulsory labour in India . The natives of that country might refuse to cultivate cotton ; they might prefer to cultivate sugar , or coffee , or anything else . " It would never do 1 to speak merely of the enormous area on which cotton ¦ can be grown , " and assume that cotton would be grown ' in consequence , because such was really not the fact . AVherever we could go in India , we should choose the best points—those most accustomed to our presence . ¦ There are plenty of them , and we should content ourselves with some of those districts longest settled , and where the tenure is least opposed to change . Probably 1 some of the indigo districts in Bengal and Madras , ¦ where Europeans have been long resident , would supply j an enormous quantity of cotton with the least violent ! changes . " MR . LYSDSAT , 31 P ., AT TVKOIOUTH . Mr . Lvndsay has been addressing his constituents inthe Albion Assembly Room ; the Mayor iu the chair . Alluding to the two India Bills before Parliament , he observed : —" Lord Palmerston ' s bill said there should be eight , members of the council elected by the Queen ; Lord Derby ' s said eighteen . From what he knew of the business of the East India Company , he wf . s of opinion that eight are too few and eighteen too many , and that twelve would be a better number . With the qualifications he could not agree . As a man of business he knew them to be utterly impracticable and altogether absurd . For instance , one of them was that a man should have manufactured goods for , or shipped goods to , India to be eligible . Xow a man might be enguged all his life in manufacturing goods for India , and know nothing at all about that country , (// eor , hear . ~ ) ~ il \ s friend the chairman manufactured a great many iron cables and chains , which were probably used in India ; but did he thereby know more about thut country than be would have done otherwise ? Then another qualification was a residence of ten years in India , and there wjis a restriction as to districts . The residence he did not find fault with—he thought it essential ; but he would not confine the selection to particular localities , for , if he could find a hotter man in Bengal than in Madras , he would at once take him . Ho would sweep uwnv "' I these minute details , which would make the bill utterly unworkable , an d would adopt the proposal to have men named in the bill as the members , and when thev went out of oflico by rotation , ho would have them appointed by tho executive . Over the persons appointed ho wouldpnt a check to this extent : that an address from Loth Houses of Parliament should at any moment ; , if they were not attentive to their duties , supersede them , and ho would tnko away from them altogether that great stumbling-block of patronage . Tlioro was one cluuso in tho bill of tho present Government in which ho heartily agreed : that was the one providing for tho appointment of a committeo to inquire Into tho finances of lnciiu , " VOTK 1 > Y IIALLOT . A soirvti was held nt tho Freemasons' Tavern , on Wednesday evening , iu honour of Mr . Nicholson , the founder of tho system of voting by ballot in tho colony of Victoria \ Mr . Henry Berkeley in tho chair . Sir Arthur Ilnllam Elton moved the adoption of a coniplim « ntar >^ addreB ^ , ~ whl « U- \ v . H ( j « HitfW . eMJi X ^ f « iJj ^ . 1 « JSi : »__ . Mr G roto , Mr . Bright , Mr . Cobden , Mr . Milncr Gibson , Mr . W . J . l '' ox , Mr . Miall , Sir Arthur HaUam Elton , and others . Mr . Nicholson then addressed tho company , and thanked them for tho honour that had been conferred on him . Speeches were afterwards delivered by Mr . Morloy , Mr . Ayrton , Mr . Wyld , Mr . Koupoll , &o ., aud tho party broke up .
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to the f ¦ : 9 No . 421 , Arm . 17 , 1856 . ] THE LEADE / it , 36 B
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Leader (1850-1860), April 17, 1858, page 365, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2239/page/5/
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