bond; and it was evident that, under the bill of last session, a similar influx of foreign corn might occur, so as to oppress the British corn-grower. The first object, then, of the Government was to remedy that defect in the bill of last year, and to afford a sufficient protection when the price of corn was from 60s. to 65s. That object, they conceived, would be effected by adding four shillings to the duty proposed last year, when the price of corn should be at 628.

Other corresponding changes had been made in the ascending and descending scale of duties, which appeared to them calculated to remedy the defects of the bill of last year. The honourable member for Wareham seemed to think, that the duties did not afford sufficient protection when the price of corn was low, but he could not help expressing his surprise, that the honourable member for Preston should characterize the conduct of Government on this question as disingenuous. The honourable member had advanced the charge, upon the ground that the proposed resolutions did not afford protection where it was wanted, but were it was not wanted; namely, when the price of corn was high.

The duties when corn was between 58s. and 59s. were as high as were intended in the last bill. When corn was 58s. and up to 59s. the intended duty would amount to 28s. 8d. Did the honourable member imagine, that foreign corn would be imported subject to that duty when corn was at 58s.? He should be glad to know from what part of the world it would come. Notwithstanding the circumstances which, during the last year, tended to encourage the importation of foreign corn, yet when the price was at 588., the duty, under the bill of last session, prevented, though it did not altogether exclude, the importation of foreign corn. Notwithstanding the fall in the price of corn, and the alarm thus created in the minds of

the holders of foreign corn, when the duty was 28s. 8d., what was the fearful quantity of foreign corn taken out of bond? Only 277 quarters. When the duty was at 30s., 426 quarters; when at 32s., 106 quarters; when at 34s., 101 quarters; when at 36s., 53 quarters; when at 388., 61 quarters were taken out; and when the duty was at 40s., four quarters were taken out in one week, 52 in another, twenty in another, and two in another. Altogether about

a thousand quarters were taken out during an entire quarter of a year. A great portion of these dribblings was ordered to be sold out by the foreign merchants even at a loss; as it would not pay for the rent of the warehouses. It was plain, then, that the duty of 28s. 8d., when corn was from 58s. to 598., amounted nearly to a prohibition duty. Last autumn, indeed, when the holders of foreign corn became alarmed by the fall in price, about 500,000 quarters were taken out.

Government had, therefore, made out, from the experience of last year,-from the reports which had been received from foreign countries, and from the evidence taken before the House of Lords, that, by the imposition of a duty of 28s. 8d. when corn was at 588., there was no risk of any quantity of foreign corn being imported into this country. It should be recollected, that the importer of foreign corn would, in addition to that duty, have to defray the price for which the corn was bought, the price of freight and warehousing, and various other charges, before he could reckon upon any profit upon it. The freest and most open corn market on the continent was that of Rotterdam. It received the corn of Germany by canal navigation, and that of the north of Europe by steam navigation. Now, it had been ascertained, from a comparison of the prices of corn there during the last seven years, that 28s. 8d. duty, when corn here was at 588., would afford an adequate protection

to the British corn-grower. He had applied the test of experience to the two scales, that of last year and the present one, and he preferred that which was now proposed. The scale under the present bill was calculated to afford a better protection to the agriculturist. Though he, as well as others, had agreed to the measure of last year, he could not think it a safe one to continue, as it had not proved adequate for the intended object.

He repeated, that he supported the present bill because it would afford a more efficient protection. When the price of corn was from 60s. to 65s., under the proposed duty, the importation of foreign corn would be checked: when the price was above 65s. the corn from our colonies would come in free; and when the prices were higher, the duties would operate to prevent the importation of an overwhelming quantity of foreign corn. An honourable gentleman opposite had spoken in favour of a fixed duty. Abstractedly, that might look well enough; but when they regarded the circumstances of the country and the wants of the people, they would see the impossibility of adopting such a principle. If a high permanent duty were imposed, then, in periods of scarcity, the poor would be exposed to sufferings and miseries, the infliction of which no claims for protection on the part of the home corn-grower could ever justify. For the advantages, then, which the grower foregoes when corn is high, by the admission of foreign grain, he receives compensation by the imposition of a high rate of duties when corn is at a low price. He receives, in fact, only that remuneration to which he is justly entitled. When legislating upon this subject, they were bound to look to the different and varying circumstances of the country, and to the wants and necessities of its inhabitants. A permanent fixed duty was therefore out of the question. The principle of the present bill was the same as that of the bill

of last year, and it afforded a more effectual protection to the British corn-grower. That principle had been laid down by Mr. Canning last year; it was contained in the memorandum of Lord Liverpool; and he could support it from documents in his possession. In the year 1804, a duty of 24s. 3d. was imposed, when corn rose to 63s. per the Winchester measure. That was, then, to the grower as effectual a protection, up to that price, as the present duty would be. For these and for various other reasons he would support the resolution before the committee.

The committee divided: For the resolution, 202: For the amendment, 58.

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN NEW SOUTH
WALES AND VAN DIEMAN'S LAND.

April 1.

In pursuance of the notice which he had given,

Mr. HUSKISSON rose to move for leave to bring in a bill "to provide for the Administration of Justice in New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, and for the more effectual government thereof." Owing to the lateness of the hour, he would not, he said, then enter into the explanation which he had intended to offer, but would make that explanation when the details of the measure should be before the House. The House was aware that the administration of justice in those important colonies were now regulated by an act which would expire in 1829; the object of the bill which he was about to move for leave to introduce, was to provide for the continuance of certain powers contained in the existing act, and also to provide for future alterations in the mode of administering justice. From the peculiar situation in which the population of

those colonies was placed, about two-thirds of the inhabitants having forfeited their civil rights, it was difficult to have the law administered in the manner which prevailed in this country, by means of grand and petty juries. It had been found necessary, therefore, to suspend the system pursued in this country, and provide a jury more peculiarly fitted to the nature of the population. This suspension of the English system he proposed to continue in the new bill, but he intended to make provisions that would gradually, if circumstances should permit it, assimilate the administration of justice in these colonies to that of England. They were not at present in a situation to admit of receiving a legislative assembly; but on the plan pursued with respect to Canada, before it had a legislative assembly, he proposed that they should have a legislative council, composed of twelve or fifteen members, with power to suggest amendments in the administration of affairs, which should be regularly transmitted to this country for approval. These measures would, he hoped, prepare the way for the introduction of a system founded on institutions similar to those of the people, from whom the inhabitants sprung.

Leave was given to bring in the Bill. It was accordingly brought in, and, on the 18th, upon the second reading, Sir James Mackintosh observed, that it did not provide for trial by jury, and that no mention was made in the laws relating to insolvency or bankruptcy.

Mr. HUSKISSON said, that the regulations with respect to bankruptcy and insolvency were omitted in the bill, because he thought the colonial legislature better calculated to regulate those subjects than the House of Commons could be. His great object, throughout the bill, had been to meddle as little with details as possible; which he was sure were always much better arranged upon the spot. As to the trial by jury, the truth was, that the system had been