342 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



merits were rejected by the House of Com- 

 mons and receded from by the House of Lords, 

 and the bill was finally passed, September 6th. 



In offering a bill for taking the census in 

 England, July 12th, Lord Enfield in the House 

 of Lords said that it had not been thought ad- 

 visable to collect religious statistics, as the at- 

 tempt would involve much expense and diffi- 

 culty, and was not likely to be rewarded with 

 a satisfactory degree of accuracy. Lord Gran- 

 brook objected to the omission of a religious 

 census, which was taken in connection with 

 the census of every country in Europe, includ- 

 ing Ireland and Scotland. Lord Bradbourne 

 was glad that the religious element was not to 

 be included, because he thought it was not de- 

 sirable to draw fine lines between the members 

 of the Church of England and nonconformists. 

 The Census Bill was finally passed without 

 any provision for compiling religious statistics. 

 (See CENSUS.) 



An act, which was passed to provide for the 

 safe carriage of grain-cargoes, authorizes the 

 Board of Trade to take precautions as to the 

 manner in which cargoes of corn, rice, paddy, 

 pulse, seeds, and nuts or nut-kernels are stowed, 

 and gives it power to impose penalties for false 

 statements. The object of the act is the pro- 

 tection of persons connected with merchant- 

 shipping and vessels carrying the kind of car- 

 goes described. 



Another important measure which became 

 a law was relative to the liability of employ- 

 ers for injuries suffered by workmen while en- 

 gaged in their service. Another abolished im- 

 prisonment for debt in Scotland. 



A resolution was adopted by the House of 

 Commons, July 17th, by a vote of 171 to 116, 

 condemning the proposed erection in West- 

 minster Abbey of a statue to Prince Louis Na- 

 poleon, son of the late Emperor Napoleon III, 

 to which the Dean of the abbey had consent- 

 ed, as inconsistent with the national character 

 of the edifice. The resolution as originally of- 

 fered contained a clause declaring the erection 

 calculated to impair the good feeling between 

 England and France, which was struck out. 

 The project to erect the statue in the abbey 

 was abandoned in consequence of this vote. 



A resolution was moved by Sir Wilfred Law- 

 son in the House of Commons, June 18th, to 

 the effect that the power of restraining the 

 issue or renewal of license to sell intoxicating 

 liquors ought to be placed in the hands of the 

 inhabitants of the district within which the 

 license would be in force. The mover admit- 

 ted that his resolution embodied a principle 

 of the Permissive Bill which he had before 

 advocated, but claimed that as a whole it was 

 distinct from that measure. He further re- 

 marked that, although he was ready to consid- 

 er any fair claim for compensation, he did not 

 consider himself called upon to mention it in 

 his resolution. Mr. Gladstone said that the 

 Government would exercise no pressure on the 

 subject in either way. He admitted that legis- 



lation which would remove opportunities for 

 temptation would be useful in checking drunk- 

 enness. Among the many objects pressing for 

 legislation, he regarded the reform of the li- 

 censing laws as an essential part of the work 

 of the present Parliament, and he hoped that 

 the settlement of it would include a reasonable 

 application of the principle of local option. 

 The resolution was adopted by a vote of 229 

 to 203. Lord Onslow called attention in the 

 House of Lords, July 3d, to the report of the 

 committee of the same House which had been 

 appointed in 1877 to inquire into the subject 

 of intemperance. He declared himself in favor 

 of the principle of local option, and asked the 

 Government what it intended to do in the mat- 

 ter. The Bishop of Carlisle appealed to the 

 Government to carry out the recommendations 

 of the committee for a further restriction of 

 the hours in which the sale of liquors should 

 be allowed. Lord Fife replied that the Gov- 

 ernment hoped to be able to introduce a meas- 

 ure on the subject at no distant date. 



A resolution for the abrogation of the pro- 

 visions under which American cattle are slaugh- 

 tered at the port of landing was offered by Mr. 

 Arthur Arnold in the House of Commons, Au- 

 gust 8th. The mover maintained, in support 

 of his resolution, that the present system par- 

 took of the nature of a disguised protection, by 

 which the English farmer and butcher were 

 benefited at the expense of the consumer. Mr. 

 J. Howard said that, if American cattle were 

 pubjected to restrictive legislation, it was the 

 fault of the Americans themselves, who did 

 not take means to prevent the spread of con- 

 tagious epizootic disease. The question was 

 not one of free trade, but of sanitary regula- 

 tion. The motion was lost. 



Parliament was prorogued September 8th. 

 The Queen said in her speech : 



I continue to receive assurances of the most friendly 

 character from all foreign powers. The failure of the 

 Sublime Porte to execute, according to its engagement, 

 a plan which was agreed upon in April last for the 

 determination of the Ottoman frontier lying toward 

 Montenegro, has caused unfortunate delays in the set- 

 tlement of that question, and the Treaty of Berlin has 

 not yet taken effect in other points of importance 

 which remained open at the commencement of the 

 session. The Governments which were parties to that 

 treaty have communicated to the Sultan their judg- 

 ment on the means of bringing to a satisfactory settle- 

 ment the Greek and Montenegrin frontier questions, 

 on the administrative organization of the European 

 provinces of Turkey, and on the principal reforms re- 

 quired in the Asiatic provinces occupied by Armeni- 

 ans. For the attainment of the objects in view, I con- 

 tinue to place reliance on the fact that the concert of 

 Europe has been steadily maintained in regard to the 

 Eastern question, and that the powers which signed 

 the treaty are pressing upon the Sublime Porte, with 

 all the authority which belongs to their united action, 

 the measures which, in their belief, are best calculated 

 to insure tranquillity in the East. 



I have not oeen unmindful, during the few months 

 which have elapsed since I last addressed you, of the 

 considerations which 1 stated would guide my policy 

 on the northwestern frontier of my Indian Empire. 

 Measures have already been taken for the complete 

 military evacuation of northern Afghanistan, and some 



