when it was impossible at any one moment | Board of Health," would exercise over the to know what would be the state of the President himself. money market or the rate of interest. By this measure they would subject a large body of persons who were now exempt from those changes, without notice, to become liable to all the influences and fluctuations which would necessarily take place in the money market when the provisions of the Bill came into operation.

PUBLIC HEALTH BILL. Order for Committee read. House in Committee.

MR. APSLEY PELLATT said, he wished for some information as to the new head of the department, because the effi-, cient working of the machinery of the present Bill would depend very much upon the person who might be appointed to carry it out. He also wished to know whether the "small pipe" system of drainage was to be continued, and what influence the persons named in the Bill as constituting, with the President, "the General Mr. Spooner

prejudicial to health. Westminster Hall and that House received such a smell from the opposite graveyard of St. Margaret's that there was sometimes no bearing it. The state of things was worst at night, and the untrapped gratings added to the evil. Any one who walked over St. Margaret's might see holes for the rats and dogs. He put his umbrella into some of them. He measured the size of some, and found them to be eight inches by sixteen [Laughter.] This might be a laughing matter now, but they would not laugh when the cholera came home to them. On this very day there were nineteen deaths from cholera. The greatest number of deaths occurred in the filthiest part of the town. He had, therefore, felt it to be his duty to state these things to the House.

only where the General Board of Health | beggars, not even in Dublin, which was thought proper. The result was, in many the land of beggars. Then, again, the cases, a great depreciation of property, for graveyards in the metropolis were most the moment a town was placed under the Board of Health, there was a rumour that some pestilence prevailed there. It was a grievance also that local self-government was preserved only in appearance, for the 119th section of the Bill placed the whole of the local boards completely under the control of the General Board, so that they could not stir hand nor foot-could neither levy a rate nor even appoint a surveyor without the consent of that Board, which made what terms with them it pleased, and thus an engineering monopoly was created, most injurious to the sanitary improvement of the country. None of these evils had been redressed, or were proposed to be redressed, by this Bill. He thought the members of the local boards should be responsible, not to the General Board, but to the inhabitants of the district for which they were appointed to act. He considered the proposal of the Board of Health in reference to the water supply of the metropolis anything else than adequate for the purpose required, and he should conclude by expressing a hope that the inquiry which was promised next Session would lead to some better result than the addition of another to the number of Parliamentary "blue books." It would be well to give a ། careful consideration to the common law as bearing upon these subjects, and to see whether, by declaring the common law, allowing it to be carried out, and supplying what was defective, they might not do bet ter than they had done hitherto.

MR. MICHELL said, that the Bill gave the Board too much power over the local officers. Another objection was that it did not give power over the City of London. The deaths from cholera had increased from twenty six to 133 last week. He had no doubt the increase took place from this cause. The mud and filth which was caused after rain was swept up into heaps, where it was left to evaporate. When dry it became pulverised, and was again spread over the metropolis. Now, evaporation could not take place from those heaps without carrying with it malaria, and this was one of the frightful sources of cholera and other diseases. Some people thought a dirty state of the streets was healthy. He was told by a lady that fogs were good for health, but he did not believe it. In no other city or metropolis, except London, were the streets swept by

SIR GEORGE PECHELL said, it was right that the new Board should be made aware of the system which had been practised by the old Board, and of the feelings of the public with regard to its proceedings. It had been said that provisional orders, such as the old Board had issued, and which he considered inexpedient, were less expensive to the ratepayers than local Acts; but the local Acts which had been referred to in support of that proposition, such as the Brighton Act and the St. Pancras Paving Act, had nothing to do with the question. The expense of sending a man down merely to take a survey of Brighton previous to a provisional order had been 1981. During the last five years the Board had incurred very great, and, as he considered, unnecessary expenses, and had only applied the Act to a comparatively small number of places. He admitted that the principle of the present Bill was received with almost universal favour, but hoped that some inquiry would take place in order to show the new Board the faults which the old one had fallen into, so that it might avoid them. No town ought to be brought under the operation of an Act so stringent as that of 1848 without ascertaining the sense of a bona fide majority of its inhabitants; but if the present system of bringing it under the control of the Board on the petition of one-tenth of the number was to remain, no place would be safe.

MR. PHILIPPS said, he believed that a petition signed by one-tenth of the inha

bitants of a place could be got up for or against any subject, especially if the names of the persons signing the petition were not to be verified, and, in his opinion, no town ought to be bound by such a minority.

MR. COBBETT said, that all the petitions presented te that House, complaining of the conduct of the Board of Health, asked for an inquiry into the circumstances of their being brought under its operation, and alleging, at the same time, that it had been by deceptive means. He wished to have a complete understanding from the right hon. Baronet the First Commissioner of Works, as far as could be given, that the measure, during the year it would be in force, would not be brought into operation in any particular town unless the petition for it was genuine, and was signed by a majority of the ratepayers, and also that before any permanent measure was passed, it should be referred to a Committee of Inquiry upstairs.

and that the evil might be removed by cleansing out the mud and introducing fresh supplies of water in the form of a continuous running stream.

SIR GEORGE PECHELL said, he was ready to admit that the First Commissioner of Works had been opposed to provisional orders being confirmed for putting the Public Health Act into force in towns where its introduction was opposed by the inhabitants; but he must yet complain that after such an expression of opinion in towns, the Board of Health should have insisted in putting them in the provisional orders in question.

Clauses 1 and 2 agreed to.

Clause 3 (Salary of the President of the new Board to be 2,000l. a year).

MR. HENLEY said, he must object to the amount, as too large; he thought 1.500l. sufficient; he would not, however, divide the Committee on the question.

SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH said. the President's tenure would not extend beyond that of the existing Government; for which reason the salary was fixed at

be. The duties, too, were of a highly responsible nature, and even in that point of view he did not consider 2,000l. a year excessive.

SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH said, he must remind the hon. Gentleman that the Bill was not to amend the Public a larger amount than it otherwise would Health Act, but to constitute a new Board, and it would be extremely awkward for him to make any statement affecting the manner in which towns ought to be brought under the operation of the Public Health | SIR GEORGE PECHELL said, he Act. All he could say was, that when would point out that the salary of the provisional orders for such a purpose were new President greatly exceeded that of a brought into that House, it had always Lord of the Admiralty, who worked exbeen his principle not to ask the House to ceedingly hard, being engaged morning, confirm them where a decided majority of noon, and night. He hoped, considering the ratepayers opposed the introduction of the amount of the salary, that the work the Act, and he had no reason to suppose would be well done. that that principle would be departed from. With regard to the other question, it would be the duty of the President of the new Board to propose a Bill next Session for the amendment of the Public Health Act, which would, no doubt, be referred to a Committee, and witnesses examined on it.

LORD DUDLEY STUART said, he believed that very unhealthy exhalations arose from the water in some of the parks. In particular he was informed that on very still nights there was a very unpleasant smell from the water of the Serpentine; that the sentries on duty often complained on the subject, and that the inhabitants of the houses in the immediate vicinity, in Bayswater and Westminster, were frequently obliged to close their windows. He was further told that this smell was caused by a great quantity of putrescent mud which lay at the bottom of the water,

Mr. Phillips

MR. HEYWOOD said, he did not consider that the proposed salary was too much, as the duties of his office would occupy the whole time of the new President.

Clause agreed to, as were clauses up to Clause 8 inclusive.

Clause 9.

MR. HENLEY said, he doubted whether Mr. Chadwick's length of service had been such that he ought to be laid upon the shelf if anything presented itself upon which he could be employed. Mr. Chadwick had in many respects rendered considerable service, and night again be employed in the public service.

SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH said, he fully agreed with the right hon. Gentleman that Mr. Chadwick ought to be employed again in the public service if possible.

Clause agreed to, as were the remaining | There were abundant means of recovering clauses.

House resumed.

Bill reported, as amended.

BILLS OF EXCHANGE (No. 2) BILL. Order for Committee read; House in Committee.

bills of exchange; there might, he would allow, be vexatious pleas, but they were, he believed, very few. He objected more particularly to the Bill because it gave a great advantage to holders of these bills over every other kind of debt. The effect would be, that it would be impossible that any creditor, with a due regard to his own interest, should show any forbearance, because he would not know whether, if he did not put the law into force, the next creditor who had a bill backed would exercise the same forbearance. He thought the Government ought not to give their aid to a Bill of this kind not introduced by themselves, and ought not to back it up with the majority at their command. He begged, therefore, to support the Motion of the hon. and learned Member for Sunderland (Mr. D. Seymour).

Further progress resumed at Clause 4. MR. DIGBY SEYMOUR said, he hoped the Bill would not be advanced further; for, looking to its principle and the manner in which it was drawn, it did not reflect any credit on legislation. It was, besides, unnecessary, as it professed to give a more summary process for recovery of sums due on bills of exchange when the process under the existing law was sufficiently rapid. Many of its details were also very objectionable. He objected also to the proposed registry, as well as to the provision which took away the conduct of process under the Bill from MR. MASSEY said, he also should supattorneys, and vested it entirely in nota-port the Motion of the hon. and learned ries. It also created this anomaly-that Member for Sunderland. This Bill had a whereas the provisions of the Bill affected Ireland and Scotland, as well as England, a person in Scotland or Ireland defending a suit must come to this country for the purpose of doing so, He found that there were sixty-two Amendments by hon, and learned Friends of his, which alone was a proof of the imperfection of the Bill, and was an additional reason why no attempt should be made to pass it this Session. There was another reason for delaying this Bill. It proposed to give a more summary process for execution on bills than now existed; and it was the opinion of several gentlemen, whose opinions were of weight, that it should be accompanied by some measure which dealt with fraudulent transactions in bills of exchange. Such a Bill he had introduced in May last, and, after long delays, it had received a third reading that evening; but, in consequence of the Resolution passed by the other House it had no chance of becoming law this Session. He thought that the two Bills ought to go together, and if one of them was to be cast into the limbo of next Session, the other ought to accompany it. He should, therefore, move that the Chairman do leave the Chair.

MR. GEACH said, he thought it undesirable that the House should legislate without further inquiry. The operation of this Bill upon the small tradesmen and shopkeepers of the provinces, who might fall into temporary difficulty, would be to drive them into irretrievable bankruptcy.

very important effect upon the law of bankruptcy, because it seemed to him that it affected very deeply and very closely the law of fraudulent preference. The main cardinal policy of onr bankruptcy law was to effect an equal distribution in the property of the bankrupt among the whole body of his creditors; but if you passed a Bill of this sort, which favoured one species of security, enabling the holder of that security to realise immediately his debt, you induced every powerful creditor to come down upon his debtor, and to insist upon his giving bills. Possessed of these bills, the creditor would immediately realise them; he would seize upon the property of the debtor, and would thus, in point of fact, obtain a fraudulent preference. Now, he thought it was too much to expect the House, at this period of the Session, to consider the provisions of a Bill which went to change the whole bearing of the bankruptcy law of this country, and which would affect persons in almost every condition in life. Without saying, therefore, that it might not be expedient, at some future time, to provide a more summary remedy for the recovery of money upon bilis of exchange, he was certainly of opinion that this measure went too far, and that its provisions were too crude to meet with their approval.

MR. MUNTZ said, he looked upon this as one of the most unjust and oppressive Bills that ever was introduced into that House, and for his part saw but one reason

for bringing it forward, which was to cre- the example of one of the most practical ate a job. Somebody or other, no doubt, countries in the world-namely, Scotland wanted to appoint a registrar. Who want--where it had worked most beneficially ed this Bill, and who asked for it? There for 150 years. The same summary prowas no difficulty now in recovering upon these bills of exchange, but this measure would make anybody liable in six days to be made a bankrupt if he did not take up his bill. It was one of the grossest jobs ever attempted to be palmed upon the public, and he should certainly, therefore, support the Motion of the hon. and learned Gentleman (Mr. D. Seymour).