The Week.

ment of India . He complimented Mr . Ayrton very highly on his speech , and promised that the whole question of the government of India should be taken into consideration during the recess . Mr . Laing made a long and weighty speech on the ¦ whole question . Lord Cranborne strongly advocated the personal responsibility of the minister for India in preference to

the present council . Mr . J . S . Mill , on the other hand , advocated the government by means of a council . After some further discussion the resolutions were withdrawn , aud the House having gone into committee , Sir S . Northcote made his financial statement . On the 13 th inst . the House had a morning sitting . On its meeting , in reply to Mr . Baillie

Cochrane , Lord Stanley saiel he could not state the decision of the Spanish Council in the case of the vessel called the Tornado . From a private communication he had received he had reason to believe that the decision would be announced in a short time- —In reply to Mr . Lock , the Home Secretary explained that in the month of January last there was a

deficiency of 300 in the metropolitan police force , but owing to the augmentation of pay the deficiency no longer exists , and it is not intended to increase tho metropolitan force any further , —Mr . Sclater-Booth announced , in reply to Mr . Candlish > that it was the intention of the Government to bring in a bill next session for the amendment of the laws for the

adminstration of relief to the poor . —In answer to Mr . Toriens , Lord Stanley explained that negotiations were going on with Austria respecting the part of the commercial treaty of 1865 relating to tariff duties . On the conclusion of the negotiations he would produce the correspondence . —In answer to Mr . "AVhalley , the Home Secretary admitted that Hayes and Barry , prosecuted for perjury in the case of the lads Dye and Pearce had "been reinstated in the police force on full pay , the charge

of conspiracy not having been pressed against them . —Mr . Hardy , in reply to an inquiry addressed to him by Sir P . O'Brien , promised to have the stray dogs ot the metropolis looked after . —The Parks Regulation Bill was again taken up , and Mr . G . Hardy lost his temper . The House went into committee , and on the question that the preamble be .

postponed , Mr . P . A . Taylor moved that the Chairman leave the chair . He avowed his determination to use every means of delay to prevent the bill from passing . In an able speech he showed that the bill infringed tho liberties of the people , and was but a step in the direction of putting down public meetings altogether . Lord Elcho denied that he had ever threatened to

use the volunteer force to clear the parks , and then , with the air of extreme self-satisfaction which is usual with him , went on to declare that the majority of the working men were in favour of the bill . Mr . Neate out-Elchoed Elcho , and attacked the right of public meeting except when the consent of the constituted authorities had been given . After these helps to delay ,

tho Tory side of the House confined itself to those inarticulate utterances by which it has so often tried to silence better men . Only Mr . Hardy broke silence for a short time , and with much petulance defended the bill . But the opponents of the bill were not to be put down . One after the other , Mr . Otway , Mr Whalley , Mr . Fawcett , Mr . McLaren , Mr . Mill , Mr .

Labouchere , Sir John Gray , Mr . Forster , Mr . Sheridan , and Mr . Cowen stood up and condemned the measure . Mr . Cowen was speaking when , by the standing orders , the debate was adjourned . —The Appropriation Bill passed through committee , and some other unopposed measures were advanced a stage . Tlie sitting was then suspended . —At

the evening sitting , Mr . O'Beirne called attention to the laws relating to the mercantile marine , and moved a resolution declaring that they required consolidation and amendment .

An interesting discussion ensued . On the 14 th inst . it was ordered that a writ should issue for electing a burgess in the place of Mr . Poulett Scrope , who has retired from the representation of Stroud . —In reply to Mr . Graves , the First Lord ofthe Admiralty stated that the tenders for the engines forthe two ironclads building at Glasgow were only received on the

7 th inst ., and were still under consideration . Mr . Graves then asked if a pair of marine engines of about 700 horse-power , ordered of Messrs . Napier and Co ., were resold by the Admiralty to the contractors before they left their factory . The reply of the First Lord was , "No engines have been resold by the Admiralty to Messrs . Napier . "—The House went into committee

on the Contagious Diseases ( Animals ) Bill , and Lord R . Montagu made known that the Government had given another lift to the protectionists . They have agreed to insert a clause in the bill ordering that all cattle imported from abroad shall be slaughtered at the port of arrival . It may fairly be assumed that this means a tax of at least a penny a pound upon meat .

After this concession the protectionists withdrew their opposition to the bill , and it passed through committee . — Mr . Hardy has his trials . Mr . P . A . Taylor exposed the right hon . gentleman's patience to a severe test in the discussion on the Parks Bill ; but Mr . Alderman Lawrence subjected it to a still more severe ordeal on the motion for second reading of the

bill for the regulation of the metropolitan traffic . The Home Secretary has down on the paper this traffic bill , which he sought to have read a second time without discussion ; and a little further on was his favourite Parks Bill . To his amazement , Alderman Lawrence gave a decided opposition to the Traffic Bill , and with great clearness and deliberation , without a pause and with very little repetition , spoke against the bill for nearly two hours . The worthy alderman had near him a

glass of water from which he occasionally recruited his strength , hut at length , to his disappointment , he found the glass had disappeared and his water was cut off . Undauntedly he persevered , and then a kind friend interposed and proposed that the House should be counted , though it was evident the House was complete . The pause that ensued while waiting for the count to

take place enabled Alderman Lawrence to start with fresh wind , and on he went in the most cool amd deliberate way with his address . However , ho came to an end at last , and after some slight discussion the bill was read a second time . When the order for the Parks Bill was reached , Mr . Hardy made a proposal of what he appears to think is a compromise . He is

willing to leave out clause 1 of the bill , which expressly forbids political or religious meetings in the parks under a penalty of £ 10 . But the rest of the hill lie wishes to stand , simply altering the penalty for breach of the regulations of the park from 40 s . to £ 5 . GENERAL HOME NEWS . —The adjourned inquest on the body

of Agnes Oakes , whose death at Limehouse has attracted a good deal of attention , was resumed on the Dth instant . Some further evidence was given , the object being to prove that the deceased did not commit suicide , but that she was murdered b y her paramour , AA'i ggins . The jury , however , returned an open verdict . AA'e have telegraphic accounts of a frightful railway

accident which happened in Ireland . It seems that a train on the AAlcklow Railway fell into a chasm near Bray Head . How many passeggers are drowned or otherwise killed is not known , but the number is believed to he very large . It is stated that Tuesday , tlie 20 th inst ., lias been fixed as the day on which Parliament will be prorogued . The Ministerial whitebait

dinner took place on Wednesday last . The affairs of the defunct Lag newspaper were again under the notice of th Bankruptcy Commissioner on the 10 th inst . Mv . Hutton hael not