said, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is in receipt of intelligence to the effect that a Spanish Governor of Fernando Po has issued a Proclamation forbidding schools and prohibiting any person from going to any church or chapel except a Roman Catholic one; and further, whether Fernando Po, which was an English Military Station from 1827 to 1834, is now recognized by England as part of the dominions of the Crown of Spain.

said, that he would, in the first instance, reply to the latter part of the hon. Gentleman's question. Fernando Po was not an English military station from 1827 to 1834. It had never belonged to England, nor did England Claim any jurisdiction or authority there. It was in 1778 ceded by Portugal to Spain, and had since been recognized as a Spanish possession by Lord Palmerston and the Earl of Aberdeen, both of whom had been in treaty with Spain for the purchase of it, considering that its possession by this country would be desirable in reference to our operations against the Slave Trade. With respect to the first question, Her Majesty's Government had received intelligence that on the 27th May last the newly appointed Spanish Governor of Fernando Po issued a Proclamation stating that the religion of the colony was that of the Roman Catholic Church; and that no other religion would be tolerated or allowed but that taught by the missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church, nor any schools but Roman Catholic Schools; and that persons who professed any other religion but the Roman Catholic should confine their religious worship and practices to their own houses. That Proclamation was under the consideration of her Majesty's Government, as it appeared to them to be contrary to a Proclamation issued in 1843 by a former Governor, by which security to liberty in person, property, and religion was accorded to all who obeyed the laws of the colony.

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any information has reached Her Majesty's Government in respect to the inaccurate state of the Copies of Exchequer Standards of Weights and Measures used by Inspectors and Leet and Annoyance Juries; and, if so, whether it is their intention to adopt any means to enforce a periodical adjustment of the same.

in reply said, that he had made inquiries on the subject, and he did not find that any information had reached the Home Office in reference to the inaccurate state of the Copies of Exchequer Standards of Weights and Measures. Under the Constabulary Act the Chief Constables were intrusted with power to ascertain the propriety of the Standards used, and he found that the Chief Constable of Leicestershire had in the first six months verified and stamped 18,000 weights and measures. According to the Police Returns of 1857 the Police had proceeded against 1,655 persons, and 1,555 had been convicted. He would endeavour to obtain the information desired by the hon. Member if it were more particularly specified.

said, he rose to ask the Secretary to the Treasury what causes have prevented the presentation of Returns of all persons who, having been nominated for junior situations in any of Her Majesty's Civil Establishments, subsequent to the date of the Order in Council of the 21st day of May, 1855, and not having obtained certificates of qualification from the Civil Service Commissioners, have been employed, and paid for such employment, in such establishments; distinguishing, in each case, under separate columns, the name of the establishment, the name of the person employed, the nature of his situation, whether temporary or permanent, the period of his employment, the amount of his pay, the authority under which such pay has been issued and allowed, and whether the person failed to obtain a certificate of qualification, or did not present himself for examination before the Civil Service Commissioners. And of all persons who having obtained certificates of qualification from the Civil Service Commissioners have been employed and paid for a period prior to the date of such certificate, and subsequent to the date of the Order in Council of the 21st day of May, 1855; distinguishing, in each case, under separate columns, the name of the establishment, the name of the person employed, the nature of his situation, whether temporary or permanent, the period of his employment, the amount of his pay, the authority under which such pay has been issued and allowed, and the date of the certificate of qualification, ordered on the 13th day of April?

said, he must beg to explain that the cause of the delay was that reference had to be made to all the various Departments of the State for the information required; but the papers were nearly ready, and would be produced almost immediately.

said, he must complain that they had not the Amendments of the Lords before them before they were called upon to consider them. The Bill was far from a good one as it was sent up from the Commons, and, as he understood, it had come back far worse. He believed one of the Amendments made by the Lords was to give a power to appoint a medical council or a medical officer permanently. As the Bill left that House, it provided that that appointment should be temporary only; but the word "temporary" had been struck out. Another Amendment was a violation of an arrangement made between the Government and the opponents of the Bill. The right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Adderley) would remember that on condition that the Bill should expire on the 1st of August, he (Mr. T. Duncombe) consented to waive his opposition to the Bill. But the Lords, by their Amendments, had given a two years' life to the Bill. The Bill was a bad one; at all events no inconvenience would follow from its postponement till another Session, and he therefore would move that the Lords' Amendments be considered that day six weeks.

said, he quite agreed that the Bill was a bad one; indeed, he thought it the worst Bill that had ever been brought in. The faith of the Government was pledged that the Bill should only continue for one year, and the adoption of the Lords' Amendments therefore would be a violation of that pledge. It was also clearly understood that no power should be taken in the Bill for the permanent appointment of a medical council. If they were to have a paid medical Board, let them know what the duties of that Board were to be. He, for one, saw no necessity for even one medical officer, and certainly it was unnecessary to keep a medical Board attached to the Board of Health, with salaries of £1,500 a year, to make an annual report.

said, he understood that the ground for the omission of the word "temporary" after "from time to time" was, that it was simple tautology. As the Bill stood, there was no power to appoint more than one medical officer. The Bill merely defined his duties. The Amendments made in the other House were three, two of which were verbal only, and the last was for continuing the Act to the end of next Session. As, however, this was a longer period than the time fixed upon by the House of Commons, and his hon. Friend and the House appeared to consider it a violation of the arrangement entered into, he proposed that as to that Amendment the House should disagree to it.

said, that the effect of another of the Amendments, which the right hon. Gentleman stated to be a more verbal one, made the appointment of the medical officer a permanent one. He therefore considered the word "temporary" necessary.

remarked, that the Act being only a temporary one, no permanent appointment could be made under it. The one paid medical officer which the Act authorized them to appoint could therefore hold the appointment only for the year to which the operation of the Bill would be limited.

complained of the practice of calling upon the House to agree to Amendments made by the Lords, without those Amendments being previously printed and placed in the hands of Members.

said, he believed the usual practice was, that when there was no opposition anticipated to the Amendments, for the hon. Member who had charge of the Bill to give notice to move the consideration of those Amendments on a certain day; but when opposition was expected, then the practice was to print the Amendments.

said, that all the Amendments were verbal, with two exceptions. The first of these was a clause introduced by the House of Lords for the protection of homœopathists. Recently, the officers of the University of Aberdeen, in examining a candidate, asked whether, if he obtained his degree, he was prepared utterly and solemnly to renounce the practice of homœopathy. The candidate declined to give such a pledge, and a clause had been introduced in the other House, providing that if any college of physicians or surgeons, or any university, should impose any tests or conditions upon any person who presented himself for examination, the Privy Council should be empowered to issue an order restricting the degrees or diplomas of such body from entitling any person to be registered under this Act so long as those conditions were maintained. The other Amendment related to the registration fee, which it proposed to make £5 in the case of persons becoming entitled to registration after the passing of the Act, and £2 in the case of persons already entitled.

said, that he wished to say, before the Bill left the House, that he believed the measure to be, on the whole, a very liberal one. The subject had for thirty years been under the consideration of Parliament, and if they had now succeeded in passing a good Bill into a law it would, in a great degree, be owing to the just and conciliatory spirit displayed by the right hon. Gentleman the Home Secretary.

said, he wished to express his belief that the conduct of the right hon. Gentleman the Home Secretary deserved the warmest thanks of the profession, who, he was sure, would reward with gratitude the efforts of the right hon. Gentleman to settle a question which had puzzled so many statesmen for the last quarter of a century.

said, he rose to move for a Return of the number of persons employed in collecting the taxes paid into the Exchequer, distinguishing the number employed for the land, assessed, property, and income tax, and those employed in the Excise Department of the Inland Revenue, and the number employed in collecting the Customs dues. The Motion was unopposed, but he hoped he might be allowed to take the opportunity of saying that the system of collecting the revenue was in a very unsatisfactory condition. In every parish there were several persons employed in collecting the revenue, apparently without any regular system or control. He trusted that Her Majesty's Government would take the subject into their consideration.