attention. He understood that commercial affairs were much disturbed, in consequence of not knowing what amount of duty would be attached to each of the articles included in the tariff, and he was sure it was expected, that a correct list should be furnished as speedily as possible.

Mr. Gladstone, in reference to the question or rather the observations of the hon. Gentleman, ventured to say, that no unnecessary delay in fixing the duties to be laid on the different articles had taken place on the part of the Government. He could well believe, that any suspense on such a subject must have, as the hon. Gentleman represented, a distracting and paralysing effect on trade. He was exceedingly anxious, that it should be presented in an authentic form as soon as possible, but the correction of typographical errors, and of errors which they (the Government) had made, and which it was necessary to rectify, caused the delay which had occurred. But, from the number of representations to the Board of Trade, and to the different departments which had the regulation of those duties, it would be disrespectful to the persons making these communications if sufficient time were not taken to consider them. He fully anticipated that, during the Easter recess, all these representations and collateral suggestions would be determined upon; and that by the time the House met again, on Monday week, or thereabouts, a corrected tariff would be ready to be placed in the hands of Members.

TIMBER DUTIES.] Mr. P. M. Stewart begged to call the attention of the right hon. Baronet to a subject of the greatest importance to his constituents and to the country generally; he alluded to the alteration and reduction of the duties on timber, foreign and colonial, as affecting the interests of holders in this country. He believed the right hon. Baronet was aware, that at no former period was there such a quantity of duty-paid timber on hand, as at this moment. In London that such was the case, had, as he understood been represented to the right hon. Baronet; and in the Clyde, the Canadian timber now held, duty-paid, was greater in quantity than at any former period. He had had an interview with some of the holders of that stock this day, and they informed him that they were in

duced to take that large quantity on hand, because they thought they were sure that the differential duty would remain unaltered; and it was not the custom to bond Canadian timber. The question which he wished to ask was, whether it were the intention of the right hon. Baronet to relieve those parties, either by a remission or drawback of the duty (as had been done in former cases), or to give them time to get rid of their stock before the alteration of the duty came into effect.

Sir R. Peel said, he had received communications on this subject from a variety of quarters to the same effect as those which had been addressed to the hon. Gentleman. With respect to the peculiarly large amount of duty-paid timber now in the possession of British timber merchants, the hon. Member had mentioned one cause which he thought sufficient to explain the fact; but there was another reason which he had not adverted to, and which possibly would go still further to account for the very large stock on hand; he meant the notice which was given last year by the noble Lord (Lord J. Russell) of proposing a duty of 20s. a load on colonial timber, and one object of the parties might be to increase their stock and escape the larger duty; and in this predicament undoubtedly the proposed reduction had caught them, to use the very expressive phrase of the hon. Gentleman. He was asked, whether he would allow any drawback; his answer was certainly not. There were cases in which, upon articles subject to the jurisdiction of the Customs, a drawback had been allowed-on silk for instance; and they should operate as a decisive warning against the adoption of such a system in all time coming. He had good reason to know, within the last few days, what must be the fate of him who attempted great commercial reforms. One party charged him with an unwillingness to touch great interests, and another that he interfered with the stability of trade. The statements he had received from the dealers in timber in this country represented the great depression of trade-there was no demand for timber, and in consequence of that depression the price of timber had fallen considerably, so that it was impossible now to sell Canadian timber, even at prime cost. The answer he had to make to all such representations was, “Then

let us try to revive the demand by encouraging industry and opening new sources of employment." That would afford some compensation. At the same time he should be unwilling by precipitate changes to affect unjustly those who had paid the duty on their stocks. He did not, therefore, propose that the new duties should attach to timber so early as the 5th of April. He meant to allow a longer interval, the exact amount of which he would state immediately after the recess. Although the whole subject of the alterations in the tariff had occupied the attention of the Government, and those departments with which they had confidential intercourse, it was of course impossible to consult those engaged in the trade, and a vast variety of interests must necessarily be affected by those who undertook such extensive reforms. All the communications he had received convinced him that no proposition of greater value could be made than the main one of reducing greatly the duties on Baltic timber. To that he adhered, giving at the same time a full and complete protection to colonial timber. He was firmly convinced, that colonial timber would maintain its ground with Baltic timber, having regard to the scale of duties; but he would not give a single shilling of drawback. Without, however, postponing too long the claims of the consumer, he would endeavour as far as possible to lighten cases of individual injustice. The great compensation to the timber trade would be the prospect of an increased demand for timber, and a more profitable employment for capital invested in it.

ment of the right hon. Baronet of extending the time allowed, so as fairly to enable the holders of duty-paid timber to get rid of their stocks, would give very great satisfaction. There was another point he wished to recommend to the right hon. Baronet's notice- he meant the mode of taking the timber-duty. It was felt by the trade to be most desirable that the duty should be calculated on timber by tale instead of cubic measurement.

Sir R. Peel was aware that the constituents of the hon. Gentleman were deeply interested in this question, and he must do them the justice to say, they had not made those extravagant demands that some had made. His great object was to strike a balance between the interests of the consumer and the parties interested. He had attempted to do so as fairly as he could, but he could not hold out an expectation that a very long interval would be allowed to elapse before the remission of the duty took place; because, if a long interval did elapse; it would, in fact, constitute for the time, a monopoly, and there would also be a great suspension of trade. As to the other point, he had had great satisfaction in communicating with many timber dealers on the banks of the river, and he had completely discussed the subject with them. With respect to timber in the log, and all similar classes of timber, there would be no difficulty in estimating the duty by the cubic contents; but the difference of opinion arose as to deals. The grossest injustice had been done by the mode of taking the duty on deals; in fact, the system had wholly excluded the timber of different places in the Baltic. He was informed, however, that his objection might be obviated by another mode of applying the duty, at the same time, that no impediments were thrown in the way of commerce; and when the plan suggested for that purpose had been commu

Mr. Hawes had no doubt the announce

opinion of a most intelligent officer, his object being the prevention of any impediment to commerce or inconvenience to the trade, while he laid the duty fairly on all classes of timber of the same quality.

THE BISHOP OF JERUSALEM.] Dr. Bowring said, that although he had for the present withdrawn the notice he had given respecting the Bishop of Jerusalem, he was sorry to learn that some of the events he had apprehended had already

occurred, in consequence of the precipitate sending of Dr. Alexander to Jerusalem A report had reached him that the bishop had been received with much ill treatment. He wished to ask the right hon. Baronet whether such a report had reached the Government? and if so, whether the Government had taken any measures to protect the person of the bishop, or for his removal from a scene where it would be very difficult for him to guard against the hostilities of the various Christian sects, and of the Jews?

Sir R. Peel was aware, that in some parts of Syria efforts had been made to stir up hostilities against the mission, but no account whatever had reached the Government that the bishop had been ill treated. There might, no doubt, be a hostile feeling against the bishop, but he had received no account to the effect that his personal security had been endangered.

TEMPERANCE (IRELAND).] Mr. Caleb Powell begged leave to ask the right hon. Baronet, the First Lord of the Treasury, whether he was in possession of any official information from which he might infer that habits of temperance were or were not progressively extending among the people of Ireland.

Sir R. Peel said, that he was not in possession of any official information upon the subject, and he begged leave to add that he had not, on any former occasion, expressed an opinion on the matter. He had said, that there had been of late a considerable increase in the spirit duty in Ireland, but he dared say that the spirits were taken with a due regard to temperance.

CHURCH EXTENSION.] Mr. Hawes begged leave to ask the hon. Boronet, the Member for the University of Oxford, whether he intended to bring forward at an early day his motion on the subject of church extension?

Sir R. H. Inglis said, that he had stated, on a former occasion, that it was his intention to call the attention of the House to the subject after Easter; but he could not say whether he should be enabled to do so at an early period. He would, however, fix a day as soon as he might find convenient, and he would give the hon. Member and the House due notice on the bject.

TURNPIKE TRUSTS.] Mr. F. Maule said, that understanding the Government intended to bring forward a bill to regulate turnpike trusts, he wished to know whether the Government intended to take any measure with respect to the Private Turnpike Roads Bills which were now passing the House.

Sir J. Graham said, he had given notice a few days ago of the intention of her Majesty's Government to introduce a general turnpike act; and he thought that such a notice would act as sufficient warning to any parties who had bills before the House on that subject. But if they persevered, they did so at their peril.

COPYRIGHT.] Sir R. Peel, in moving that the Orders of the day be read, appealed to his noble Friend (Viscount Mahon) to allow the Government precedence, in order that the resolution with respect to the Income-tax might be brought forward. He had no right to interfere with his noble Friend's privilege to move the committee on the Copyright-bill as the first business of the evening, but he thought it would be for the public convenience if he were allowed to proceed with the important subject of the Income-tax.

Viscount Mahon felt great reluctance in postponing his measure, especially when he recollected that, in former Sessions, postponement and delay were the principal causes of the failure of a similar measure; but, considering the great importance of the question which the right hon. Baronet desired to bring forward, and the present state of that question, he thought he should best consult his own sense of duty, and the feelings of the House, by complying with the right hon. Baronet's request. He should therefore only propose that his bill be committed pro forma that evening, with the view of having it reprinted with some amendments; and he should then fix a day after Easter for its consider

ation.

Lord J. Russell lamented that the bills on this subject had never been in a shape which could induce the House to agree to them, and he did hope that his noble Friend who had the conduct of the present measure would take every means in his power to prevail upon the parties who took an interest in the bill to concur in their views, so that there might be some prospect of its passing. In the object of

Viscount Mahon said, he had been in communication with several parties, and he hoped that the changes he proposed to have printed would materially obviate those objections which at different periods had been taken against such a measure. He should be most happy to attend to any suggestions that might be offered.

Orders of the day read, and the House resolved into committee on the Copyright bill pro forma. Amendments made, and bill ordered to be printed.

FORGERY OF EXCHEQUER-BILLS.] Mr. C. Buller asked, what course the Government intended to pursue with respect to the Forged Exchequer-bills Bill? No opposition was, he believed, intended to be offered to the measure, and it was very hard that it should be postponed. It should be recollected that there was a number of individuals whose fortunes and characters were depending on the settlement of the measure.

Sir R. Peel said, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been anxiously seeking for an opportunity to bring on the bill, but none had presented itself, although the House had sat every day until halfpast one or two o'clock. It was necessary that the bill should be brought on at an early hour, because the late Solicitorgeneral had given notice of his intention to move some amendments.

Lord J. Russell said, it was true that his learned Friend the Member for Worcester intended to move some amendments to the bill, and, therefore, it was desirable that it should, if possible, be brought on some day at an early hour. The amendments were confined to a particular point, and would not give rise to a general discussion. He wished to ask the right hon. Baronet a question upon another point. The right hon. Baronet had referred to the machinery established under the Property-tax Act of 1806, as being the model for that which he intended to introduce into his bill. Now it would be very desirable that the House should have an opportunity of comparing that act with the right hon. Baronet's bill; and he, therefore, wished to know whether the right hon. Baronet would have any objection to the reprinting of the act of 1806?

Sir R. Peel thought, it might be pro

reprinted, and it should be done.

Sir G. Clerk said, that probably there might happen to be a sufficient number of copies of the act at the Queen's stationers, in which case it would be unnecessary to reprint it.

Sir R. Inglis asked when the Exchequer-bills Bill would be proceeded with? Sir R. Peel said, he could not do better than propose that the bill should come on at five o'clock on Monday the 4th of April.

INCOME TAX.] Sir R. Peel moved the Order of the Day for the House to resolve itself into a committee of Ways and Means to consider the resolution for a property and Income-tax.

Order of the Day was read, on the question that the Speaker do leave the Chair,

Mr. Blewitt said, he thought as he did on Monday night, that the proposal for an Income-tax was pressed forward with indecent haste, and that the right hon. Baronet relied upon the charity of the House for enabling him to carry the tax upon which the people of the country had had no opportunity of expressing their opinion. He thought that the right hon. Baronet was not acting in accordance with constitutional principles. He understood that the object of a committee of Ways and Means was to raise money to provide for the supplies; but the right hon. Baronet proposed an Income-tax in order to enable him to take off other taxes. That was not providing for supply to be granted to her Majesty. Being of opinion that the proposal for an Incometax was pressed forward with indecent haste, he would move then that another order of the day should be proceeded with. He accordingly moved that the Public Works Bill should be read a third time.

The Speaker said, the hon. Member could not make that motion, because the order for the House resolving itself into a committee of supply had already been read, and the question now before the House was, that the Speaker leave the chair.

Mr. Blewitt said, that he would move that the new tariff should be taken into consideration before the Income-tax.

The Speaker said, that that motion also was irregular and out of time.

Mr. Blewitt wished to know in what respect the motion was irregular.