but neither of those Bills would, in his opinion, occupy much time. After a few words from Lord EDDISBURY, Subject dropped. LORD BEAUMONT moved the Second Reading of this Bill, which affects two officers of the Court of Common Pleas the senior master of that court as Registrar of Judgments, and the officer appointed for registering the acknowledgments of married women under the Act for the Abolition of Fines and Recoveries. The Bill would give a proper remuneration to those officers for the fees which they now received, and the surplus of those fees would be paid into the Treasury. It would also give compensation to the officers for any loss which they might sustain. LORD REDESDALE entertained considerable objections to the Bill, which was at present in a crude state, and suggested the propriety of postponing the second reading, to afford an opportunity for considering its provisions. After a few observations from Lord MONTEAGLE, who also entertained considerable objections to the Bill, LORD LANGDALE expressed himself in favour of the abolition of all fees in courts of justice. Justice ought to be administered without any expense to the suitors; and all persons engaged in its administration ought to be paid by salaries, and not by fees. This Bill left the fees as they now were, and made no mention of any salaries. LORD STANLEY thought that such Bills as the present ought to be introduced under the responsibility of Government. Individual Members ought not to be allowed to introduce Bills regulating offices, some on one principle, and another on another. Derby OF COMMONS Tuesday, May 28, 1850, ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. SIR B. HALL wished to ask the right hon. Home Secretary a question in reference to the ecclesiastical courts, and the returns which were ordered by the House a month ago. He was informed that a young lady of interesting appearance and prepossessing manners, had the honour of holding the office of registrar of one of the ecclesiastical courts in this country. He did not wish to impugn the morality of the dignitary who appointed that young lady; indeed, she had held the office ever since she was five years of age; but having heard that very few, if any, of the returns so ordered had been sent in, he begged to inquire whether it was likely that the returns would soon be ready to be laid on the table, in order that it might be seen whether there were any more female officials in the ecclesiastical courts? SIR G. GREY had had no notice with The hon, regard to this statement, and was totally uninformed with respect to it. Member wished to know whether there were "any more female officials" in these courts; he (Sir G. Grey) was not aware As to the returns, he that there was one. would repeat what he had stated on the previous night, that the collection of the particulars required from the several dioceses must take time; he was not aware whether any of the returns had come in, but would inquire. ADJOURNMENT OVER THE DERBY DAY. MAJOR BERESFORD said, that he believed there could be no opposition to the Motion of which he had given notice, as there was not a single Order of the Day or a single Motion set down for Wednesday. Whether that was owing to the desire of hon. Members to enjoy the pleaEARL GREY understood that this Bill sure and recreation of the day, or from a originated with a Committee of the other House, appointed to examine into the whole prophetic fear that a House would not be certain that, there being no business set question of fees and salaries. The chair-made, he could not say, but this much was man of that Committee had introduced the down in the paper, they might fairly ask Bill, and after its introduction it had been for a holiday. It would also be the 29th day of May, which was usually considered supported by the Solicitor General as a dea holiday. So that upon every view of the sirable measure. Bill read 2a, and committed to a Com-matter he could see no reason for objection mittee of the whole House on Thursday next. House adjourned to Thursday next. to the Motion. A right hon. Gentleman, who had been so constantly and indefatigably attentive to his duties as the Speaker, ought surely to be made certain that there the vacancy, a stipulation would be made would be no sitting upon the Wednesday. that the person appointed was to take it He had certainly well deserved a holiday subject to any decision respecting salary from the House. For the last three years which the House might adopt on the reit had been regularly voted, and although commendation of the Committee on Salaupon those occasions the adjournment had ries? been moved by more influential Members than he (Major Beresford) was, yet he trusted he would not be considered presumptuous in taking upon himself to move that the House at its rising should adjourn to Thursday. MR. BOUVERIE: I beg, Sir, also to ask, in case of the vacancy of the Great Seal, whether there will be a distinct understanding with regard to the officers (whose appointments are in the gift of the Keeper of the Great Seal, and whose fees and emoluments were reported upon by the Committee upon Fees in Courts of Law and Equity last year) that their ap condition that the tenure and existence of their offices, as well as their fees and emoluments, shall be subject to the review and determination of Parliament ? MR. W. S. CRAWFORD said, that he had always opposed the Motion. He did not think it creditable to the House to suspend public business for the purpose of at-pointments will be made on the express tending a race upon the Derby day. He had, he was sorry to say, upon other occasions very inefficiently opposed the Motion. Upon the present, there being no business set down for Wednesday, he would not divide the House against it. But he wished to enter his protest against it. He believed the reason why no orders had been set down for the Derby day was, that it was considered a hopeless case to attempt to oppose the Motion. MR. HUME felt himself in the same situation as his hon. Friend. He had always opposed the Motion, and had always been in a minority. But as there was nothing on the paper for Wednesday he would have no objection to take a holiday himself. MR. SLANEY hoped his hon. Friend would always find himself in a minority upon similar occasions. Motion agreed to. THE LORD CHANCELLOR. MR. W. PATTEN rose to ask a question respecting the salary of the Lord Chancellor, of which he had given notice. It appeared by the public prints that it was likely there would be a vacancy in the office of Lord Chancellor, and he had been directed, therefore, by the Committee on Salaries, to ask whether Government intended, in filling up the vacancy, to render the appointment subject to any decision which they might make on the recommendation of the Committee when their report should be before the House? It had been thought possible, in considering the subject of the office and the nature of its duties, that it might come into discussion whether it might not be advisable to recommend a separation of the judicial and political offices of the Lord Chancellor; and he wished also to ask whether, in filling up LORD J. RUSSELL: Sir, in answer to the question put to me by the hon. Gentlemen, I have to state, with very great regret, that the Lord Chancellor has found the state of his health to be such that it will not be possible for him to continue the performance of those duties which he has discharged with such credit to himself and advantage to the country. I have to state, therefore, that as soon as the Lord Chancellor shall have given his judgment on various cases which have been under his consideration, he will feel himself called upon to resign the Great Seal. I have further to state, that in filling up the office, I shall have it understood that any person taking the Great Seal shall have to take it subject to any regulation which Parliament may adopt on the report of the Committee. With respect to the fees of any officer appointed by the Lord Chancellor, which should become vacant when the Lord Chancellor resigns the Great Seal, persons shall be appointed with fees and salaries subject to the determination of Parliament. With regard to the further question the hon. Member has asked, as to the separation of the judicial and political functions of the Lord Chancellor, I can only say it is a subject which has engaged the attention of Her Majesty's Government. It is, however, a question of very considerable difficulty. I have no doubt, myself, that the object is one very desirable to attain, and I trust we may be able to propose a measure to Parliament on the subject. But, considering the nature of the office-considering how closely connected it has been with the political history of this countryhow much it has been connected with our political administration, and with the performance of the highest functions in the State, it is a subject on which I should be loth to propose any measure without very serious consideration. MR. HUME asked if the retiring pension of 5,000l. a year was to be considered also subject to revision? LORD J. RUSSELL: I think that any person accepting the Great Seal must take it subject to the decision of Parliament with respect to the amount of the pension. At the same time, without saying that 5,000l. a year is the exact pension to be continued, I must certainly say that I shall think it my duty to resist a reduction of the pension to such an amount as would prevent persons of the highest legal talent in the country from accepting the office of Lord Chancellor. Subject dropped. THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS. SIR G. GREY said, that as a wish had been expressed on the part of many hon. Members to make a trial of the New House of Parliament, and as he learnt that the weather was now favourable for such trial, he proposed that the House should hold a morning sitting in the new chamber on Thursday. He did not propose that their sitting should be prolonged, and therefore proposed to take the Elections (Ireland) Bill, which he thought would probably take only a short time. He proposed that the House should reassemble in their present chamber at Five o'clock on the same day. EMIGRATION OF ORPHAN CHILDREN. MR. W. MILES presented a petition from the board of guardians of the union of Berwick-upon-Tweed, praying the House to adopt some measure to promote the emigration of young females to the colonies. He believed that the comfort, and in some cases the subsistence, of the poorer classes depended upon the speedy settlement of the question whether or no emigration was to depend solely upon the fund derived from the sale of Crown lands in Australia, or whether the Government would come forward and support the fund by an annual grant, and thus benefit the colony and confer a great advantage on the mother country, where, on account of the competition, both foreign and domestic, a large portion of the population are sinking to a famine level. He could never contemplate our possessions in America, Australia, and New Zealand, so fertile a soil, and so con genial to the residence of Europeans, without feeling thankful to the Great Disposer of events for having given those possessions to a country so circumscribed as England. The object of colonisation ought to be to encourage a proper class of emigrants, and to take care to afford them a ready supply of labour. The emigrants comprise a considerable number of small farmers and capitalists, who with their wives have been accustomed to have their menial occupations performed by domestic servants, and who before leaving this country generally take the precaution to insure proper attendance by paying for the passage of those persons from whom they expect to derive the benefit of servitude on their arrival in the colony; but it frequently happened that in the course of a few months they were deprived of the services on which they had relied. He wished to confine his statements and arguments to the wants and requirements of New South Wales, and, therefore, would not travel over bygone reports, but would call the attention of the House to official documents recently issued to show the want of female domestics in that part of the world. In a paper, delivered in February, entitled "Emigration to the Australian Colonies," he found a return from the 63 magisterial divisions of Sydney, and from the six magisterial divisions of Port Phillip, stating the want of labourers and domestic servants. In 33 out of the 63 districts, the want of female domestic servants was very great. would not trouble the House by referring to the returns at any length, but would merely give a few extracts : He "Carcoar. - Domestic servants, particularly female servants, are in request; they are not to be had at any wages. Liverpool.-Female houseservants are in great demand; they are not procurable in the district. Campbeltown.-Farm and domestic servants, male and female, are in urgent demand. Broulee.-Female servants-of-all-work are in request. Queenbeyan.-Domestic servants of all descriptions are much required in this distriet. Tumut.-The operations of the settlers dren from 8 years of age to 16 are engaged at are completely paralysed for want of labour; chilwages from 127. to 201. per annum. and nursemaids are much wanted. Newcastle.Female farm and domestic servants are in great demand." Housemaids He thought he had said enough to show the difficulties under which the colonists laboured in procuring female servants, and would now turn his attention to the question--is England in a position to furnish those female servants under a guarantee that the colonists shall for some time be other evidence had been given confirmatory of what he had stated. He referred to the evidence of those gentlemen who had been sent out, he believed, by a Committee of the Privy Council, under the authority of the Poor Law Board, as commissioners, to determine as to the education of the schoolmasters, and as to the efficiency of the schools. When he stated the name of Mr. Tufnell as one of the five commissioners, he was sure the House would receive with deference any opinion he might have given. Mr. Tufnell stated – "It is a frequent remark of visitors to workhouse schools that the girls present a very superior appearance to the boys; while the former are healthy-looking and well-grown, the latter are boys. In general there is no difficulty in finding secure of their services? He conceived England to be in a position to find for those colonies an abundant supply of servants of both sexes quite sufficient for all their wants, with afterwards an abundant yearly supply, and nothing, so far as he knew, stood in the way of accomplishing that object, except the advance made to New South Wales of 300,000l. Soon after the information of the poor-law unions his attention was very much directed to one union, containing a population of 56,000 persons and three workhouses, in which were located the ablebodied, the aged, and the young; and on examining the pauper school, he was astonished at finding such a large number of children, many of whom were orphans and without protectors or friends. In consequence of the expense of maintaining three workhouses, the inmates were transferred to one large establish-lar; but I am now persuaded that it is owing to ment, where the children, up to the age of 15, were kept apart from the elder paupers, not being allowed to enter the general ward. After that time they were occasionally employed in the women's ward; but he was sorry to say, from the description of persons with whom they then associated, they frequently became contaminated. At the age of 16 they were considered ablebodied, and could leave the house at any time, on giving 24 hours' notice; and he could mention numerous instances of the demoralisation and crime which resulted from these orphan girls being suddenly cast upon the world. It had been stated that a general disinclination existed in the colonies, particularly in Australia, to the reception of pauper labour; and in that respect he thought they were right, because so far as ablebodied men and women were concerned, they were neither efficient labourers nor servants; but with respect to children the case was far different, and he would endeavour to show the result of their industrial training, because on that training depended their usefulness to the colonists. Mr. Cooper, in a report made to the Emigration Commissioners, said that the children brought up in properly-managed workhouses are more intelligent, and equally as able to earn their livelihood by labour as when brought up by their parents; and he believed that under the existing circumstances of the colonies, they would prove more desirable emigrants than persons of the same age who have not had the advantages of the education given to children in the workhouses. Since the period at which that report was written, "The girls usually sew and knit, frequently do house-work, and more rarely bake, wash, and cut out linen." Mr. Bowyer stated— "The industrial training of the girls is better provided for, as the making and mending of the clothing and linen of the house afford them a constant and appropriate occupation. They are always employed for two hours of the afternoon places accomplished needlewomen. They always in knitting and sewing, and become in some make their own beds, sweep and wash their own floors, and generally also those of a great part of the workhouse. They help to serve the dinner for the house, and the elder girls assist in the kitchen and wait upon the master and matron, preparatory to being placed in service. In some of the larger and best-regulated workhouses they even possess a separate laundry." Mr. Ruddock gave similar evidence. Having shown that the industrial and moral training of the workhouse girls was well looked to up to a certain period of life, he should now call the attention of the House to the return moved for in 1848 by the late lamented President of the Poor Law Board. Though that return was not so complete as one that had been since made, it was sufficiently full to enable them to make a subdivision of the workhouse girls into three classes-those under three years of age-those between three and seven-and those between seven and sixteen. It was impossible, however, for the public | taken by Earl Grey on this subject. Into understand from this subdivision the deed it was a subject which had been taken number of girls who quitted the work- up by the Government, and was more a house to compete with other children for question of theirs than of his. In his delabour. Last autumn he had issued cir-spatch of the 26th June, 1848, to Sir C. culars in the county which he represented, Fitzroy, Earl Grey expressed his concurto the different union workhouses for in- rence in the report of the Commissioners, formation on this point, and he had ascer- and directed him to take measures to give tained that in twelve workhouses the num- effect to their recommendations with reber of boys and girls capable of entering gard to workhouse children, and for service was no less than 273. He had placing them in a respectable position in likewise inquired of the different boards of the colony. In one of their letters the guardians whether they would contribute Commissioners of Colonial Emigration not only to the outfit of the children, and to gave it as their opinion that the emigrasend them to the port of embarkation, but tion of these children was for the interest also to the expenses of the voyage. The of the colony, and of the greatest benefit answers which he had received from the to the girls, but that they were unwilling twelve unions were decidedly in the affir- to undertake it on a large scale until suffimative, and to the effect that the guardians cient preparation was made in the colony would consent to do so if the Government for their proper employment and distribucame forward with some assistance. They tion. The Emigration Committee, having had also assured him, from the knowledge been requested to report as to the prospect they possessed of the different parishes, of placing these emigrants in eligible sithat they would have no difficulty in carry-tuations, stated in answer that female ing on emigration on such terms. Early emigrants from the English work houses in the Session of 1849, he had an interview with the Under Secretary of the Colonies and the President of the Poor Law Board on the subject, and he believed that both of those hon. Members concurred in much of what he had stated, and objected only on the question of expense. In that Session the hon. Member for Dovor had moved for a return similar to that moved for by the late President of the Poor Law Board. He wished to direct the attention of the House to that return, to show the number of workhouse children capable of service. According to that return the number of children in the workhouses each year was 56,323. Of these the number of boys capable of entering service was 4,579; of girls, 3,694-total, 8,273. The number of male orphans capable of service was 1,578; female, 1,171-total, 2,749 about one-third of the children capable of entering service. He thought there were other classes of children who might be benefited by emigrating, and they were children of widows who were not in the workhouse; children of widows who were in the workhouse; children of widowers who were not in the workhouse; children of widowers who were in the workhouse. These, he thought, with consent of their parents, might emigrate with advantage. It was his intention last Session to have called attention to this subject, but he did not regret the delay that had occurred, as the returns since made showed the interest Hav would be acceptable to the colonists, and |