those terms are calculated to secure the | ham Board Schools," and the chairman labourers in question from the oppressions which indentured labourers from other countries have endured and are enduring in Cuba? MR. BOURKE, in reply, said, that an Annamite Mission visited Madrid last year; but in the Report received at the time from our Chargé d'Affaires no mention was made of Convention any between the Spanish Government and the King of Annam for the supply of Annamite labourers to Cuba. Due inquiry would, however, be made into the subject now that it had been brought to the notice of the Government. INDIA FAMINE COMMISSION. QUESTION. GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOUR asked the Under Secretary of State for India, about the India Famine Commission, as to what parts of India that Commission has visited, what results brought out, where the Commissioners are at present, what they are doing, and when may their Report be expected; and, finally, what has as yet been the cost of this inquiry? MR. E. STANHOPE: Sir, this Commission has visited or received evidence from the greater part of India. The result has been the collection of a great mass of very valuable information, which will require considerable time to sift and arrange. That work has been intrusted to Mr. Justice Cunningham and Mr. Elliott. Mr. Caird has come back to England, General Strachey has resumed his position as a member of the Council of the Secretary of State, and the other members are in India. The Commission is now considering its Report; but I fear some time must elapse before it is completed. MR. HARDCASTLE asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether his attention has been drawn to the report in the "Times" of May 5th, of a meeting of the Birmingham School Board, at which a resolution was carried that systematic moral instruction should be given in all the Birming proposed that special times should be set apart for moral instruction, the character of which he indicated in these words there were moral laws, and that those laws "That the children should be taught that should be enforced, and that if in the course of the instruction the name of God was mentioned he saw no harm in it;' whether the setting apart special times for teaching this vague morality would to set apart special times for religious come within the power given by the Act teaching; and, whether, under the Conscience Clause, the children of parents who objected to the kind of instruction likely to be deduced from such materials by teachers prohibited from alluding to withdraw during the time set apart for religion in any way, would be allowed to this systematic moral teaching? pro LORD GEORGE HAMILTON: Sir, the only information which we have concerning the proposed arrangement is derived from the public Press; and from that it appears that a discussion did take place at the Birmingham School Board, and that, in the opinion of the majority of the Board, the moral condition of the children in the Board Schools was not altogether satisfactory. There was very considerable divergence of opinion as to the remedy to be adopted. As regards the second part of the Question, I am afraid that until we are in possession of the code of moral ethics which it is posed to teach, it would not be possible for me to give an answer, especially as the only information we have is the opinion of the chairman that the elder children should be put through a slight course of Acts of Parliament. last part of the Question, the Education In regard to the Act of 1870 did not contemplate the contingency of any School Board substituting moral for the religious instruction generally received; and I am sure my hon. Friend will not ask me to give an opinion on any complication which may ensue from the adoption of such a proform. posal until it comes before us in due noble Lord allow me to ask him, WheMR. CHAMBERLAIN: Will the ther he is not mistaken in saying that anything has appeared in the public Press or elsewhere which would justify the statement that the majority of the Birmingham School Board are dissatis MR. ERRINGTON asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether under the new regulations, the recent promotion of Surgeon Major Reynolds, of the 2-24th, for his distinguished services at Rorke's Drift, would not in the ordinary course of events have taken place in a few months; and, under these circumstances, if he will consider whether some further recognition might not fairly be made of that officer's gallant conduct, and of the prominent part he took in the defence on that memorable occasion? COLONEL LOYD LINDSAY: Sir, in the absence of the Secretary of State for War, I may say, in reply to the hon. Gentleman's Question, that very great service has undoubtedly been done by Surgeon Major Reynolds in South Africa, and he was specially promoted 14 months before he could have been in the ordinary course of things, and by that he had passed over the heads of 64 officers. MEDICAL REFORM.-QUESTION. MR. ERRINGTON asked the Vice President of the Council, Whether, considering the complicated circumstances in which the important question of medical reform is now placed, and in order to avoid further unnecessary delay, he will now agree to its reference to a Select Committee as soon as possible, so that some progress may be made towards dealing with it? LORD GEORGE HAMILTON: Sir, I stated some time back the course that the Government intended to pursuenamely, to embody in a Bill those educational reforms which had met, after protracted discussion, with the approval of the vast majority of the Medical Profession, and to refer to a Select Committee the disputed question of the constitution of the Medical Council, undertaking that the Government Bill should not be proceeded with until the Report of the Committee had been received. This course, in our opinion, was the most convenient and the most likely to save time; but I have been unable to carry it out, as the appointment of the Committee is blocked by an Amendment of the hon. Gentleman, which he will not withdraw. We are, therefore, in this position-that we must either accede to the proposal of the hon. Gentleman to refer all the questions contained in all the Medical Bills to a Select Committee, or postpone indefinitely-for the same difficulty would arise next Session-the prospect of medical reform. SOUTH AFRICA-THE ZULU WAR- As this is a contingency much feared by THE 60TH RIFLES-COURT MARTIAL. QUESTION. MR. FRENCH asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether he has any objection to lay upon the Table of the House all the Papers relating to the trial by court martial of a sergeant of the 60th Rifles for retiring a picket on the alarm of the enemy without the order of his officer, in which he was sentenced to five years' penal servitude and reduction to the ranks? COLONEL LOYD LINDSAY: Sir, the only Papers relating to the trial which have been received are those embodied in Lord Chelmsford's despatch of April 10, which has been published in The London Gazette. No further Papers are expected. General Shute medical reformers, we are ready to adopt the inconvenient procedure forced on us rather than sacrifice our Bill; and if, therefore, those hon. Gentlemen who have Amendments to the Medical Bills will withdraw them, so as to allow them to be read a second time, I will move that they be referred in their entirety to a Select Committee. SPAIN-LABOUR IN CUBA.-QUESTION. MR. ERRINGTON asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government have any information as to the terms of a Treaty or Convention concluded between the Spanish Government and the King of Annam for the supply of Annamite labourers to Cuba; and, if not, whether he will endeavour to ascertain how far those terms are calculated to secure the | ham Board Schools," and the chairman labourers in question from the oppressions which indentured labourers from other countries have endured and are enduring in Cuba? GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOUR asked the Under Secretary of State for India, about the India Famine Commission, as to what parts of India that Commission has visited, what results brought out, where the Commissioners are at present, what they are doing, and when may their Report be expected; and, finally, what has as yet been the cost of this inquiry? MR. E. STANHOPE: Sir, this Commission has visited or received evidence from the greater part of India. The result has been the collection of a great mass of very valuable information, which will require considerable time to sift and arrange. That work has been intrusted to Mr. Justice Cunningham and Mr. Elliott. Mr. Caird has come back to England, General Strachey has resumed his position as a member of the Council of the Secretary of State, and the other members are in India. The Commission is now considering its Report; but I fear some time must elapse before it is completed. proposed that special times should be set apart for moral instruction, the character of which he indicated in these words "That the children should be taught that there were moral laws, and that those laws should be enforced, and that if in the course of the instruction the name of God was mentioned he saw no harm in it; whether the setting apart special times for teaching this vague morality would come within the power given by the Act to set apart special times for religious teaching; and, whether, under the Conscience Clause, the children of parents who objected to the kind of instruction likely to be deduced from such materials by teachers prohibited from alluding to religion in any way, would be allowed to withdraw during the time set apart for this systematic moral teaching? LORD GEORGE HAMILTON: Sir, the only information which we have concerning the proposed arrangement is derived from the public Press; and from that it appears that a discussion did take place at the Birmingham School Board, and that, in the opinion of the majority of the Board, the moral condition of the children in the Board Schools was not altogether satisfactory. There was very considerable divergence of opinion as to the remedy to be adopted. As regards the second part of the Question, I am afraid that until we are in possession of the code of moral ethics which it is proposed to teach, it would not be possible for me to give an answer, especially as the only information we have is the opinion of the chairman that the elder children should be put through a slight course of Acts of Parliament. In regard to the last part of the Question, the Education Act of 1870 did not contemplate the contingency of any School Board substituting moral for the religious instruction generally received; and I am sure my hon. Friend will not ask me to give an opinion on any complication which may ensue from the adoption of such a proposal until it comes before us in due form. MR. CHAMBERLAIN: Will the noble Lord allow me to ask him, Whether he is not mistaken in saying that anything has appeared in the public Press or elsewhere which would justify the statement that the majority of the Birmingham School Board are dissatis fied with the present moral condition of the children under their charge? of the powerful Monarch who had liberated them from the yoke of the infidels, and would world. The Czar wished, through him, to acdefend their independence against the whole quaint the Bulgarians with the fact that in deference to a letter addressed by him to the Turkish Sultan, the latter had abandoned the idea of sending any troops into East Roumelia. Henceforth, East Roumelia will be a free country, LORD GEORGE HAMILTON: I have here the report of the discussion at a meeting of the Birmingham School Board. The motion which was brought forward by the chairman, which was ultimately carried, was met by an amend-exempt from the oppression that might be exer ment that such moral instruction was not necessary. That amendment was lost by four votes to nine. The next amendment was that instruction should be given based on the Bible, and it was lost by five votes to seven. The original motion, which was to the effect that moral instruction might be given, was carried, there being 11 votes for and nine against. MR. CHAMBERLAIN: The noble Lord has not answered the Question that I ventured to put to him-namely, what authority he has for the statement that the majority of the Birmingham School Board are of opinion that the moral condition of the children under their charge is at the present time unsatisfactory? LORD GEORGE HAMILTON: The statement which I made, and the only information I possessed, was derived from the public Press, from which it appeared that, in the opinion of the majority of the Board, the moral condi cised by the Turkish troops in the Balkans, at Ichtiman, or at Bourgas. To neither of these places would an Ottoman soldier approach again under the arrangements arrived at." MR. BOURKE: Sir, I am sorry to say that I have not seen The Standard, nor have I heard anything about the Notice which the right hon. Gentleman read to the House. In regard to the Question on the Paper, I have only to tell the right hon. Gentleman that we know of no such agreement as is described in his Question. CONTAGIOUS DISEASES (ANIMALS) ACT, 1870-CATTLE FROM THE UNITED STATES.-QUESTION. MR. MUNDELLA asked the Vice President of the Council, If he is aware that Professor W. W. Williams, of the Edinburgh Veterinary College, had written a letter to Dr. Laidlaw, veterinary pathologist of Albany, New York, denying in the most emphatic terms that pleuro-pneumonia has existed not altogether satisfactory. If the moral in any cattle hitherto imported from the condition of the children in the Bir-United States; whether his attention mingham schools be thoroughly satisfactory, I cannot understand why the chairman made the motion which he did. tion of the children in their schools was TREATY OF BERLIN-THE BALKAN GARRISONS.-QUESTION. MR. BAXTER asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If it is true that the Governments of Turkey and Russia have come to an agreement by which the former gives up the right of placing garrisons in the Balkans and of occupying with troops any places in Eastern Roumelia? He also wished to ask, Whether the Government can confirm the intelligence which was published in the "Standard" of to-day? The correspondent of the "Standard" says― has been called to a letter of Professor Williams, dated 29th of March, in which the following passage occurs :-- "Since first arrival of Ontario' with cattle, others have arrived at Liverpool, and I have examined the lungs said by Privy Council inspectors to have pleuro-pneumonia, and satisfied all who have seen them that no pleuro-pneumonia has arrived here from America; indeed, everybody is surprised that such a gross mis take should have been made. The last lot-- and, what steps he proposes to take to LORD GEORGE HAMILTON: Sir, a statement of Professor Williams was forwarded to the Privy Council Office "General Obrutscheff, the adjutant general of the Czar, stepped up to the altar, and, surrounded by the leading ecclesiastics, addressed the crowd who filled the nave and aisles. He had come to them, he said, as the representative by the Canadian Government last month, Mr. Chamberlain and upon receiving it the Privy Council | way as will allow of the opinion of the requested Professor Brown, the head of House being taken on the financial posithe Veterinary Department, to investi- tion of India? gate the subject. I will read the Memorandum which he has drawn up, and which was sent in reply to the Canadian Government "On January 26 the steam ship Ontario arrived at Liverpool, having on board 195 cattle and two carcases; 87 head of cattle had been thrown overboard, making the total number shipped 284. On examining one of the carcases, the Inspector at Liverpool found evidence of pleuro-pneumonia, and forwarded portions of the lung to the Veterinary Department. This specimen was found to represent the characteristic indications of the contagious pleuropneumonia of cattle so well known in this country. By direction of the Lord President, I immediately instructed Mr. Duguid, one of the Inspectors of this Department, to proceed to Liverpool and report as to the condition of the animals which had been detained there. Mr. Duguid remained at Liverpool and superintended the slaughter of the cattle, and in the course of the post-mortem examination he detected 13 cases of pleuro-pneumonia in various stages. Since the landing of the cattle from the Ontario in January, cases of the disease have been detected among cattle from the United States bythe Inspector at Liverpool in three other cargoes, and in one cargo by the Inspector at the Foreign Cattle Market, Deptford. Portions of the lungs taken from the diseased cattle were forwarded by the Inspectors to the Veterinary Department; and I took the opportunity of submitting some of the specimens to the inspection of several experts who have made pleuro-pneumonia of cattle a subject of special inquiry, and they were unanimous in their expression of opinion that the morbid changes were indicative of contagious pleuro-pneumonia. I may add that the alterations which are apparent in the lung structure in contagious pleuropneumonia, even in the earliest stages, are so different from those which occur in any other affection of the lungs of the ox, that no competent pathologist would experience any difficulty in arriving at a correct conclusion as to the nature of the disease." I may add that since the date of this Report six cargoes of cattle from America have been landed at Liverpool and Deptford in which contagious pleuro-pneumonia has been found to exist. INDIA-THE INDIAN BUDGET. QUESTIONS. MR. FAWCETT asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether he will inform the House on what Motion the Indian Budget will be brought forward; and, whether he will arrange that it shall be brought forward in such a VOL. CCXLVI. THIRD SERIES.] THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, in reply, said, that he had consulted with his hon. Friend the Under Secretary of State for India as to the most convenient course to be adopted, and, having reference to the Notice of the hon. Member for Kirkcaldy (Sir George Campbell), he thought the best course would be to proceed with the Committee on the Indian Loans Bill. The House would be in Committee when the Amendment of the hon. Gentleman as to the amount of the loans would be moved. On going into Committee, his hon. Friend the Under Secretary of State for India would make a statement of the financial position of India; and he presumed that the question to be then submitted would be of such a character as to give ample opportunity for discussing the financial position of the country. There would also be other opportunities for raising other points in connection with the subject. MR. FAWCETT: Mr..Speaker, I want to ask your opinion upon a very important question of Parliamentary procedure which affects the Privileges of this House. As I understand, the Under Secretary of State for India will make the Budget Statement-the entire financial statement of India-on the Motion which of £10,000,000--that Motion being in is already in Committee for raising a loan Committee, it will be absolutely impossible to raise any question except for reducing by the Amendment the loan, or rejecting the proposal altogether-I want to ask you, Mr. Speaker, Whether it is not unusual, when the Budget is brought forward, that the House should not be afforded an opportunity of expressing its opinion upon the general financial con the arrangement proposed by the Chanwould not be given. cellor of the Exchequer that opportunity dition of India? I understand that under MR. SPEAKER: The more usual course, no doubt, is for the Indian Budget to be proposed either in Committee or on the Motion that the Speaker leave the Chair. At the same time, I cannot say that the course proposed to be taken by the Government is out of Order, although it is unusual. MR. FAWCETT: After the opinion expressed by you, Sir, and feeling that the course proposed by the Government F |