declare the interpretation of the inspectors, and the
opinion of the law officers of the crown that the hours
of the work of young persons be limited to ten; that
they should be continuous hours of labour, and should
count from the time when any child began to work.
That was the sum and substance of the whole, and from
that principle he would not deviate to the right or to
the left.—After a few words from Mr. BROWN, leave
was given to bring in the bill.

The second reading of the Highways Bill was carried
by a majority of 144 to 55, after a discussion in which
many members for the agricultural districts took part.

On the motion for the second reading of the Chief
Justices' Salaries Bill.—Mr. MULLINGS gave notice of
his intention to move in committee for reducing the
retiring pensions of the Chief Justice. He did so from
motives of economy which touched himself nearly, for
he had invested all the earnings of a life of hard work,
in an estate which suffered under the distress of the
times, and which could be preserved to him only by a
reduction of the public burdens.—Mr. SPOONER
supported the principle of reduction, reminding the house
that Lord Denman had been Chief Justice for seventeen
years, at a salary of £8,000, and it was very certain that
if that salary was justifiable at the time it began, it was
vastly too much now, considering the relative value of
money.—Sir George GREY said that in committee
Government would be ready to justify the proposed
mode of dealing with the salaries in question.—Colonel
SIBTHORP suggested that the bill should be postponed
till they had the Chancellor of the Exchequer's budget
before them. He believed the Treasury bench had all
got too much; they got too fat, and were too well fed,
and that was why they resisted proper reductions. The
second reading was then agreed to without further
opposition.

The Budget was brought forward on Friday, the 15th,
by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, who introduced
his proposed measures by a long financial statement.
Referring to the budget of last year, he stated that he had
then calculated the probable income of the year at
£52,262,000. The results of the first nine months of that
year would have justified him in placing the receipts at
£52,874,000; but as there had been a falling off on the
last quarter, he would estimate them at £52,785,500.
The estimated expenditure for that year was £52,157,696,
and the actual expenditure (up to January 5) was at the
rate of £50,853,622, but would, in point of fact, be only
£50,533,651. Last year he anticipated a surplus of
£104,000; but the actual surplus over the estimated
expenditure amounted to £627,000, and the income actually
received exceeded the estimated amount by £523,500.
On the other hand, the expenditure had been less than
he had estimated it by £1,625,000. Consequently the
surplus of income over probable expenditure might be
stated at two millions and a quarter. The income for
the next year he calculated at £52,285,000, and the
expenditure he estimated at £50,613,582; and to this he would
add certain outlays in reference to the Merchant Seamen's
Bill, the new houses of parliament, a building for the
records of the realm, the Arctic expedition, and some
other smaller sums, which would leave a surplus for the
ensuing year of about £1,500,000. He was not prepared
to say that he would devote the whole of the surplus to
the purpose of the diminution of the debt. He proposed,
for the purpose of relieving the landed interest, to
make a considerable reduction on stamp duties upon the
transfer of real property up to £1,000, and to equalise
the duties after a large amount: he proposed to adopt
the same principle with regard to the stamp duties on
mortgages, and also to reduce the stamp duty upon leases.
He proposed that when the stamp duty, now payable
upon a lease was £1, it should be reduced to 2s. 6d., and
so on in proportion. He also proposed, for the purpose
of improving the dwellings of the labouring classes, to
accede to a total repeal of the duty on bricks. (This
announcement created a great sensation in the house,
and was received with loud cheers.) The amount of
losses he anticipated in the revenue were, upon stamps
a little under £300,000, upon bricks to a little over
£450,000, making a total of £750,000, being half the
surplus. The other half he proposed to devote to the
reduction of the debt. By the operation of the existing
Sugar Act, the duties on certain classes of foreign and
colonial sugars would be reduced from the 5th of July
next, affording a relief to the consumer, taking the
average of the country, to the extent of £350,000. Therefore,
the actual relief to the people of this country would
be about £1,100,000. He also had another important
proposal, viz., that parliament should do what was done
in 1846, make advances for drainage and for other land
improvements—the sum of £2,000,000 to be advanced to
England and Scotland, and £1,000,000 to Ireland. He
proposed to retain in his hands the sum of £750,000,
either for the reduction of the debt, or to meet any
contingency that may occur throughout the year. But he
would apply also out of it, although not in the usual
way, a sum of £250,000 in the reduction of the debt.
There had existed, since the union with Scotland, a
charge on the revenue in the shape of an annuity of
£10,000, called the equivalent rent; it is provided by
the act which established that fund, that it might be
redeemed at any period by the payment of £250,000.
A portion of the revenue of the year would be applied
in the extinction of this £10,000 a-year. There would
remain beyond this a surplus of £500,000, and he hoped
that the house would support him in his intention of
retaining that sum, because he did not think it would be
safe to go on in any circumstances with a surplus of less
than that amount.

On Monday, the 18th, Mr. HUME desired to know
what notice the government intended to take of the
protest of the Rev. G. A. Denison, impugning the judgment
of her Majesty in council in the case of "Gorham
v. the Bishop of Exeter," and denying the supremacy of
the crown as head of the established church.—Lord J.
RUSSELL read a statement by Mr. Denison of his real
sentiments upon the subject, and observed that he
thought the rev. gentleman was mistaken; that the
judicial committee of the privy council had acted entirely
within the scope of their jurisdictions, and, moreover,
that he believed their decision in the matter had given
great satisfaction. With respect to the intentions of the
government, he said, though it might appear hereafter
necessary to adopt some measure, he should be most
reluctant to take any step against any men entertaining
conscientious opinions upon this question, and which
might tend to disturb still further the harmony of the
church.

The subject of the African Blockade for the
prevention of the Slave Trade was brought forward, on the
19th, by Mr. HUTT, who moved an address praying her
Majesty to direct negotiations to be commenced for the
purpose of releasing the country from all treaties which
at present engage us to maintain a squadron on the
coast of Africa. Two successive committees of the
legislature had recognised the impolicy of endeavouring
to suppress the slave trade by force of arms. The
blockade of the coast of Africa, undertaken thirty-one
years ago, had resulted in an aggravation of all the
atrocities that characterised the traffic in slaves; while
the numbers increased from 90,000 in 1815 to 105,000 in
1819. Since that time England had extended her efforts
at suppression, by enlarging her squadron, by employing
the new arm of steam-vessels, and by contracting more
stringent treaties on the subject with Spain, Portugal,
and France, but with no corresponding success. In
corroboration of these statements Mr. Hutt referred to
the opinions expressed by the Duke of Wellington at
the Congress of Verona, and by Lord J. Russell as
recently as 1839. The temporary diminution in the
slave trade in 1840 was attributable not to the vigilance
of Captains Denman and Mansel, but to a mercantile
depression and some sincere efforts made in Cuba and
Brazil about that time to abolish the traffic.
Subsequently the numbers had again extended to 83,000, in
1848, and the commerce was at present flourishing
abundantly. The danger of capture by the British
cruisers added exorbitantly to the sufferings of the
slaves both during the "middle passage" and while
waiting purchasers in their African captivity. On this
point Mr. Hutt entered into many striking details,
which he summed up with the conclusion that the
squadron, though costing so heavy a price in money and
human life, was utterly unavailing in reducing the
amount of the traffic, while it frightfully enhanced its