The Sun. — London, England, 1847-02-27 00:00:00

• - Dart of the observations addressed to the House by the ion. and Learned Memher, he thought it would t.c tut right to state to the House the course to be adopted )y the Government. On receiving the report of the C'ommiliSe of Inquiry into the circumstances connected with the administregion.of the poor-law , he (Sir George Grey) had addressed to the Poor-law Commissioners a letter, calling upon them to state what might have been the course followed by them in cond uctin g the business of their office. He had received a full report upon that subject, and that report had been referred to the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, to ascertain how tar the practice of the Commissioners might be in conformity with the law under which they held their powers. The result of that reference was, that the opinion given was not such as to leave her Majesty's Government in doubt as to the legality of the acts, or the validity of the law under which they were performed. Ile was surprised that the Honoureble Gentleman should have proposed to delay by a long in quiry the measures to be adopted with regard to Ire land, when he himself had approved of them.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord at the head of the Government had stated the course he was to pursue upon this point, and had asked and obtained leave to bring in a Bill upon this subject. That Bill would shortly be in the hands of Honourable Members, and would be under consiJera tion upon the Bth of March, the day fur which the dis cussion on the subject was fixed. Mr. HUME wished to call attention to another im portant document. He wished to call attention not to the evidence, but to the report of the Committee ap pointed to inquire i n t o th e su bj ect o f th e A n d ove r Union. That report showed completely that every act of the Commissioners since the year 1341 was illegal, When the Committee were asked to condemn the con duct of the Commissioners, their reply was that th. 2 con duct of the Commissioners was not referred to them by the House. The Commissioners had carried on their business in private rooms without having a secretary present to record it. The proceedings were noted down on slips of paper, instead of being recorded in books, and that was an additional reason why Government should take up the question. It was rather too bad, when an inquiry had been instituted into a particular matter, that Government should decline to take any notice of its results. Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIENs tilted that, a 3 an indivi dual he bulievtd, after having carefully examined the working of the two Poor-law Bills in England and Ire land, it would be a benefit to Ireland if the English Poor-law were taken clause by clause, and applied to Ire land, and any Hon. Member who would bring forward such a measure should receive his cordial support. Mr. SUNNI/ wished to know when the House were likely to have in their hands the Bill for the reconstitu tion of the Pour-law Board for Ireland, and whether it was intended to bring the measure of the Irish Poor-law under discussion at the same time a; the Landed Property (Ireland) Bill, which was to be brought forward on the Bth of March. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, before he answered the ques tion of the Hon. Member fur the University of would make a remark upon what had fallen from the Honourable Member for Montrose. That Hon. Member seemed to suppose that the reports of the District Asylums Committee and the Andover Union Com mittee were left unheeded and ncglt eted by the Gov, ru ment, who stood by as though they were not concerned in the matters referred to in those re- Forts. lie would ask, then, whether any higher authority could be appealed to, for knee lug whether the Cemaii,sioncis did their business in a legal manner or not, than the Attorney General, at least so long as the administration of the poor-law was under the managemeat of Government ? Oa that appeal the only answer they got was, that the Commissioners could b. , asked fer any further ex planation. It was true that there hail been tt serias of letters its tha newspapers, signed by Mr. M. D. Hill, in which alit ;aims were matle that the Commissioners did their huairess ; but all these allegations were founded on an anonymous case, which was itself leandeal upon nothing, and it was a Lula hard that such grave im putations as these should be thrown out against the , Poor-las, Commissiontra on the aiisertions of this arsong gentleman. For his own part, he could cot help being of (minion that it the Cermni,soners had thus violated the law to such ar. extent they must have been conscious oF the fact. So much fix the legality part of the affair, With respect to the delay in bringing fora and the measure, the liouse knew as well as ha did, that, what with the measure.; for the in trodueticn of cum the Sugar Distilleries Bill, the disettAion oh the .Neble Lord'a proposition of railaays for Ireland—that while carrying yorward the measures for the relief of that country, it was utterly impossible with the few days at the command of Government to bring the Poor-law - 8111 under the notice of the House, and he would have been highly imprudent if he had forced it forward. With respect to the alteration of the poor-law in Ire land, he hoped that they should be enabled to lay on the table papers containing information relative to the administration of the poor. law in Ireland. He would have wished to go pro forma into Committee upon the Poor law (Ireland) Bill, but it would be too late to do it ; but on Monday evening he should move that it be committed. He would then propose a Bill fur the loans fur Ireland. RELIEF OF THE Dzsmu rE IN THE ME MO PO LIS. Sir W. JAMES wished to ask the Seerota.ry fur the Home Department, if it was the intention of her Ma jesty's Government to introduce any measures to relieve the casual poor in the metropolis? Sir G. GREY had not received any information en the subject from proper quarter, and was nut at all in a position to say what his views on the subject werc. BOA.OUGII OF CAVAIRIDG E. Sir DE LACY EVANS, on going into Committee. of Supply, begged to call the attention of the House to certain erroneous allegations in the petitions from the borough of Catulnidge, complaining of the omission, or non•rogi3trati n, of sever) duly qualiti , d, in the last court of revision held in that borough. 110 held in his hand a letter from the town .clerk, stating these facts, and expressing a hope that a remedy might be found to correct this state of things, and restoring these voters to their franchise during the ensuing year. The charges of neglect of duty against the Revising Birrister were totally unfounded, for he had p.rforined his du:ii , s sub stantially and completely. A list of the claimants had been submitted to him, which list he had given in a perfect state to the town-chnk. lie had only further to state that, of the sixty voters excluded, they were in pretty nearly equal proportions c 4 the opposite parties— Liberal and Conservative ; and in the event (Yr' an oLe tion, the results would be of nu great matter. Some means should be adopted fur rectiiying the Act of Par liament, and the parties were very anxious that an inquiry should take place. FEVER IN lIZELAND. Mr. J. O'CONNELL said that in rising then he had no intention of interfering with the business of the [louse upon the paper for that night, but he felt it absolutely ne• cessary to call the attention of the Gov, rnment,forat short time, to the condition of Ireland. He was well aware that they would have, during the next fortnight, many opportunities of discussing the condition of that country, on the measures which the Government had upon the paper for the relief of Ireland, but he wished to direct the serious attention of the Government to the necessity of additional measures. He did not refer to the accounts of incroasing aistress, appeared in a morning paper of that da , for, since the beginning of Cie present session, the frisk Members had the misfortune to have everything they said, with reference to their country, treated as an extravagance and exaggeration. The disease of typhus fever had already appeared, and if the Government restricted the diet of the people to the single article of soup, they would cause them to ex perience the disease of dysentery, according to the opinion of the most eminent medical men. He hoped Government would take an opportunity of cuasidering the propriety of bringing forward soma measure which should hold out a prospect of Ireland being, at no dis taut period, supplied with solid food. Serino Hon. Gentlemen would scorn to lay it down as the rule to be adopted in the present einergeticy, that the populatio n o f t h e country shou ld be diminished. but he saw no reaso n w h y t h at ru l e shou l d b e a d optc d , seeing Ireland, when we ll cultivated, was capable of producing more than sufficient food for it, people The natural resources of the country were refused to the people, and exported en large q uan titi es t o t hi s country. He would express his hope that the dictates o f rea‘ion. justice, and hu:nanity, would be I...tended to by the Go vernment, and that the people of Ireland would not be told by them that they must perish; that sufficient re sources were to be found in the country, and to those the starving millions of the people must look, or that, because the. supply of food had d ee r t aLed, the populatloo u should decree also, by emigration. It was a horrible doctrine for any person to propound. It was owing to the misconduct cf Government that Ireland was in its present distressing condition, nod it was but fair that the Government should bear the consequences of its fatal misconduct.—(Hear.) The effect would be to break down the rate-payers to the condition of the paupers. They believed that the prosperity of the country had risen in spite - of the poor laws; but he had stated more than a month a7o in that House that they were quite ready to give up their oppo sition, and allow the Government to make their experi ments; though he believed that the attampt to curry out these laws in Ireland would be only a reckless waste of effort and of means, particularly at a time when the funds of the country were so strained, and must be so re strained to relieve the frightful distress. Still, lie asserted, that a great majority of the Irish Members were quite ready to hear auy burden which they might chuo,e to impose upon them. But he thought, all these attempts would be useless, and he would rather point to an observation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer the other night when he was alluding to the Irish receipts . in the Exchequer, , a remark which hart 1 served. not received the notice . which de • That r , , n ee ar u k a, lionit c d to the possibility of in creasing and lie (Mr. J. O'Connell) be lieved that if they insted could , ohly increase the expenditure in Ireland, of to this country th• P atlr in the Pr°l")rti"n one third:evi would double the amount, instead of tectiviea Z e 12 ,,000,000/. they would get 17,000,0004 from the i r A'hey would du same thing to effect good towatals landlords return home. Thy sio ''' u t , ` l, by making the do so by the exprc.-sion of public opinialee compelled to create something like expenditure of eanital Ul ' „t, and com peatly relieve the people Of this c o u :; 1 : frog] a portion of ;he burden that pressed upon them present. He trusted that the Irish riousures might hroutoi forward as hastilyas pos ible, that the Ireih Nienab ers mig h t return as 59011 55 posslble . to do what they mig ht to relieve the distress which eyisi.cd around them. Mr. LA BOUCHERE said that he was not aware that the Hon. Member for Kilkenny had iit n contcontemplationcuseplat.itrn e u te o to contemplation bring this subject at present before th e lluuse, anldi often upon the subjee, that the House wou uhniorriabri e jag at large upon it. fle trusted that when the o Member spoke of the horrible doctrine of delaying the me , asu . res for Ireland, that he did not refer either to . her Majesty s Go vernment, or the English and Scotch public. Ile had never iiiaiammloomammim THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY _EVEN IN G, FEBRUARY 27, heard any such doctrine broached, and he thought that it had been justly condemned. Had the Honourable Mem ber referred to the diet intended for the veople o f Ireland, and to the consequence of giving them a liquid food. The subject had occupied the attention of the Government, and enormous quantities of solid food were being sent by the Government over to Ireland in order to relieve, us much as possible, the distress there. He felt it to be his duty to do all that lay in his power to mitigate that distress, bat he feared that there was a d;sposition to over-rate the power of any Government to relieve distress.—(Hear, hear.) All that they could do would be done,witre3s the fact that the Noble Lord was at the present moment raising a loan of 8,000,C0)/, to re lieve the distress prevalent. The people of Ireland had, at this moment, a claim upon the co-operation and support of England, and that support had been given as far as it could be. He ad mitted that there was a feeling on the part of the English and Scotch people, that while they were helping their Irish brethren, there ought to be a corresponding exertion on the part of the people themselves. BOARD OF WORKS' REPORT. Colonel WOOD wished to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary for Ireland, when any additional report from the Board of Works in Ireland would be laid on the table ? Mr. LA BOUCHERE replied that they were made out every month, and laid before the House as soon as possible afterwards. EXCHEQUER LOANS. Mr. HUME wished, before the order of the day was read, to call the attention of the House to the mode in which it was proposed to effect tho loan of the eight millions that was in tended for the relief of Ireland. It appeared to him that the proceeding, as he had seen it stated in the papers, was against all experience, and would have an injurious effect on the finances of the country. He regretted it very much, and was of opi nion that it would be much better to borrow the money at the lowest rate of interest for which they could get it, and he hoped the Noble Lord would alter his plan so as to embrace his view. Lord J. RUSSELL replied, that they had proceeded with the plan referred to because they considered it the best one which, from the best information they could get, could be adopted. On the motion to go into a Committee of Supply, CONVEYANCE OF FOREIGN PROVISIONS. Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD brought forward the mo tion of which he had given notice, that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying that she would be graciously pleased to authorise and direct that such ships of tier Majesty's navy', as can be spared from the regular duty, should be ap plied, under such regulations as her Majesty might deem ad visable, to the accommodation of merchants in the conveying of co•n and provisions from foreign countries into the ports of the United Kingdom. On taking a survey of the various countries from which corn might be expected, it would be found impossible to procure from the mercantile marine a clent amount of shipping to convey the food accumulated in foreign countries to the people of this country. There would be one million of quarters of grain collected in the various ports of the Danube toy the et of June, and this grain, if brought to this country in the mode he pointed out, would greatly alleviate the pressure of the present calamity. end in America, also, and other places, the accumulation of grain was equally great. It might be at once seen, then, how great was the scarcity of ships from the increasing freights that were charged for the conveyance of grain, a statement of which he then made to the House. He would not attempt to dwell upon the wretchedness of Ireland, as that was well known to her Majesty's Government ; and he hoped that the measure now proposed, tending, as it would do, to alleviate in some degree the mass of misery which prevailed in that coun try,: would meet with their approval. He would not trespass longer on their attention, but would conclude by submitting the motion. Lord J. RUSSELL said that the subject referred to in the motion of the Hon. Member had been brought under the no tice of the Government some time ago, and they had had it under their consideration, but they did not think it advisable, to adopt it. He should however, say that there were at pre sent a great number of vessels—sailing-vessels and steam-ves sels employed in conveying provisions to different parts of Ireland. Thera were thirty steam-vessels, twelve sailing-vessels, and five depot ship, employed in the conveyance of provisions to and from different parts of Ireland. With regard to the supplies from abroad, of which the lion. Member had spoken, he feared that lie had estimated them far beyond the truth. lie thought that the quantity of grain which they might expect from abroad was very small indeed. But supposing they acceded to the motion of the ilo nourable Gentleman it would be necessary, in the first place, ti put the vessels in a condition adapted to the conveyance of provisions. Now this would Occupy considerable time and would occasion considerable expense. It would take about Pl,ooo'. to put them in this state, and perhaps double that amount to adapt them again to the purpose fur which they are intended. In addition to this, the very limited supplies of grain which they would be able to procure made it very obvious that no adequate result would compensate for such expen diture. The certain consequence, however, would fellow that as soon as it became known and was proclaimed that her Ma jesty's ships were employed in this service it would cause a very great discouragement to the exertion= of the mer chants of this country.—(hear, hear.) It would re quire a much greater eff,rt to be made than he had anticipated. His own estimate was, that it would require from 1,20 /to 1,50) ships for a service of this kind. Now, it it was proclaimed that Government vessels were to be employed, the number of vessels now engaged in the conveyance of food would be considerably less, and the freights from America and Odessa would be considerably greater. There was also con i derable difficulty, as well as expense, in bringing Indian cern from the western states to the ports of America. Corn, which was sold in the interior at 7d. per bushel, was enhanced in price several shillings before it arrived at the port in conse quence of the cost of conveyance. And in addition to this, there was a great deficiency of boats to bring it down the Mis sissipi. The great objection, therefore, to the proposal of the Hon. Gentleman was the expense it would cost—the great loss of time it NNould occasion before it could be carried into effect, and the great discouragement it would give to private enter prise. Ile hoped the Hon. Member would, under these cir cumstances, withdraw his motion, for he might rest as- sured if her Majesty's Government thought they would be able by that means to accelerate the importation of food, and to in crease the supplies, they would be as ready to adopt it as they wore to employ her Majesty's vessels in the distribution of grain to the different ports of Ireland. Tit, motion was then by leave withdrawn. Lord JOHN RUSSELL then stated that a proposal had been made to the Government by the Society of Friends, who had exerted themselves so much for the relief of the distress in Ireland, that they should, by their contributions, endeavour to raise a sum of money sufficient to purchase a cargo of corn, if the Government would allow one of her Majesty's vessels to convey it t'roin America. Government declined that proposal, but cffered to pay themselves fur the freight of the corn from America to this country. Mr. KERR thought if Government had allowed her Ma vesels to be employed in affording accommodation to thiEse persona who were disposed to emigrate front Ireland, that this, in connexion with the plans which they were at present ' engaged in carrying out, would be productive of the greaeest good to the inhabitants of that country. In that way they should get rid of a large portion of a population which could not fiod either sustenance or employment in Ireland. Lord JOHN RUSSELL said, that with regard to vessels bringing corn to this country, they would be at liberty to take in passengers to the colonies without beings, subjected to the Operations of the Act. That was to be allowed, provided that they confined themselves to passengers only, and he believed that the system would be of benefit to the country. SHIPS' SIGNALS. _ _ Mr. HUME wished io know whether the Admiralty had come to any determination with respect to the signals to be adopted by vessels sailing off the coast of England. 'fliere were collisions so frequently occurring at sea, that some measure was necessary to prevent it. lie saw, by a return, that during the past year, s:io collisions of ships had takrn place on the coast of Ireland, and he believed that if a proper code of signals had been adopted, much of this loss might have been avoided. The experiment had been tried by her Majesty's ships at Portsmouth, and it was desirable that they should know the result of the experiment. Mr. WARD said that the trial had been made to a consider able extent, and the next week he should be enabled to lay the results on the table. _ . Mr. ROEBUCK said that as he did not see the Secretary for the Home Department in his place, he would ask the Noble Lord at the head of the Government, if there was any ob jection to lay upon the table the answer of the Poor-law Cons missionere to the question of the Government, as to the manner in which they exercised their functions. Lord JOHN RUSSELL was understood to say that the piper would be laid upon the table. NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. Sir C. NAPIER wished to call the attention of the House to the system pursued in her Majesty's dockyards with respect to the building of vessels for the navy, and to the abuses which prevailed as to the use of ships which had been built at an enormous cost to the country. There had been eight three-deck ships cut does], and many others so altered as to be materially injured. There had been hardly one ship built of late which had not been altered in some respect mere then once, but all of them once. He would le Ad the retorts of the ships cut down, in order to show the ex tent to which the system was pursued. A 74-gun ship, built in 1815, which cost 86,0401., was cut down in 1841. The Vin dictive, built in 1813, and which cost 81,0001., was cut down to a frigate in 1832, without ever having been at sea. The Amazon, 42, built in 1821, was cut down, without having been at sea, in 1344 ; and another 42-gun ship was cut down in 1845. The Brilliant was cutting down at the present moment. The Penelope, 44, was converted into a steam-frigate. The Thames. which coat 37,0001., had been turned into a hulk, and the Bacchus was now cutting down. The Ilebe, built in 1826, h.uother The ships and which cos t 32,484/., was turned into a hulk in 1839; and so e b o e s e t n w e as ith 679,o es o t o t i dow s n h o ip r s tu o r r n 4 l into and sum had also of their .4., manylk. guns had been cu t d own i n t o corvettes , mount i ng , -2 guns, and, in fact, the late Board of Admiralty seemed to have it as their hobby, that a corvette of 22 guns could early heavier metal, and be superior to ships of 44 guns. He very much doubted the propriety of cutting them down, but it was well known that the practice of the Admiralty was to turn large frigates into small corvettes. The nest fact he came to was, with reference to the Caledonia, a three-decker, built in 1808, costing 81,0001., and afterwards 1 repaired at an expense of 10,000/. in 1815. The Board of Admiralty took the freak into their head of widening the Caledonia, which was done at an enormous expense, and a good ship turned into a very indifferent one. Lord Exmouth, who commanded her in the Mediterranean, begged that they would not spoil the ship, but they were indifferent to the request. They had six three-deckers on the stocks at the present moment, mounting each 110 guns, built upon the model of I the Queen, and the Admiralty were in fact quite ignorant as to whether she was a ship fit to use as a model. There were six 90-gun ships built after the Albion, a ship which was sent to sea in 1841. He cautioned the Admiralty at the time to be careful in building ships until they had tried the models, but no attention was paid to it, and the vessels were to be con structed upon a plan which acted indifferently in small vessels, an I could not therefore be very applicable to large ones. There had been many doubts as to whether the Albion was a good or bad ship, but he had one proof of her qualities ; namely, that in a late gals she rolled 45 degrees to leeward, and lurched ever to windward 43 degrees. Ile remembered when the Van guard wan in the Mediterranean she sailed excellently at first, and with her ports seven feet four inches out of the water, hut then she was in yacht trim, but the moment she had her full complement of provieions and stores on board, sha sailed v-ry indifferently. On one cruise the Vanguard carried only 635 tons, while the old Canopus had 793 tons. On another, she carried 4't2 tons ; and on a third, only 618 tons, and yet then she sailed well. The Superb had the same complaint made of her, end her captain had actually been obliged to shift the stores to trim the ship. The Rodney—a much smaller ship than the Albion—carried her ports 7 feet -I'. inches, 7 feet S inches, and 8 feet out of the water, whilst the Albion only carried them El.!, feet. She had now been sent t . ,z o re ltlalta. Th e R o d ney h a d exercised her guns in a strong I 'alla hardly s hipp e d a d ro p o f w ater on her lower deck, whilst the peopl e of the Albion were obliged to hold on inconse quence of the rollin Water. W a y th 'g, and she shipped an immense quantity of old d t a fit ship to sen d against a French vessel built u p on the managed in conserSuystem? The steam navy was equally badly of them were u l. ,.. e i r of the frequent alterations, and many He next came to the t.)carry main-deck guns at all. one of the largest size. Terrific,.,e. which was a 40 gun frigate, and feet by the Admiralty ; and what been lengthened about sixty . she could not bear herself up. sr.ifessthe result? Why that only four feet eleven inches above the was, i" her altered state, water. She went to the coast of Africa ; and he had learned, that while there, her main deck was but four feet four inches out of the water, and they had been obliged to cork in her port holes, to keep the water out. He now came to the Terrible, which was built at Woo'. wich, by a man of great talent and experience, and it was ex pected that she would turn out a real and proper man-d-war. Now the Board of Admiralty were sitting only within six miles of the dock where the ship was building, and although she ems 1860 tons burden, they absolutely forgot to have any stern-ports made in her. The consequence was, they had to cut down her stern-deck, in order to accommodate the guns, and then they had to hunt about to get guns to suit. The bow ports of this ship had also been very badly constructed. She was a ship. nevertheless, that steamed well, and was efficient in several other respects.— ( Hear, hear.) But let them wait a little before they cheered, 1 they were not yet out of the wood. She was to have been constructed to carry 800 tons of coal, but when it was stowed ! in her, it was found she would not stow away under decks more than 350 tons, or coal for four dap, at ;he rate of 85 tons a day. They had been obliged to get coal bunkers built on the deck, and then she could not carry more than 500 or 550 tons. But this was riot the only fault of the Terrible, her paddle-boxes were elevated greatly above the decks, and her steam-boxes and boilers were actually six feet five inches above the level of the water. The engines were so placed that in a fight there would he no escape If a shot were fired into the boiler, then below, about forty persons in number would be completely cooked. In fact boiled by the steam. If such a thing were to happen the result would be that , not a stoker would be got to go into the navy. The Retribu tion was a steam-ship of 1,641 tons, and her main-deck was but five feet six inches above the lower ; she was unable to carry main-deck guns. The Avenger of 1,442 tons was ex actly in the same predicament. the same might be said of the Barcemide, the Sampson, the Centaur, the Vulture, the Pegasus, the Dragon, the Firebrand, the Orion, and several others. Not one of these could carry main-deck guns. They could not go into action, and could only carry eight days fuel at the most. If they did go into action, from the position of their boilers and paddle-boxes, they would be certain of destruction. He remembered in 1841 he cautioned the Board of Admiralty against the construction of iron steam vessels; and if they built them, to plank them outside and in with timber. Yet, they had not taken his advice, and had gone on building iron steamers without ever having tried a shot upon one of them. Ilere was a fine list, indeed, of , no less than thirty-three iron steamers built, or laid down for build:ng from 1840 to 1847. They hail not tried a single shot on an iron steamer till very lately, and then they found that the shot went clean through one side, and almost through the other. These steamers would cost about two millions of money, or taking the laree steamers with the small ones about fifty thousand pounds each. If they would not cost two mil. lions sserling, they would at least a million and a-half. 'They were, in fact, perfectly useless. The Birkenhead steamer had been turned into a troop ship. then she would not carry more than 450 troops, and had no place for cable-tiers. But she was rot fit for a troop ship in the time of war, for if she went into action and received a shot she would go to the bottom, and all the troops would be drowned. In fact, it would be necessary to supply all the mien with air -collars.--( Laughter.) The Admiralty should sell them all. One of them the Grappler, he had been informed, was nearly lost the other day OR the coast of Africa. He also complained of the screw vessels which had been constructed. It seemed that 17 ware in the progress of being built, and only one had been completed, the Rattler. Doubtless the vessel ought to have a fair trial, and he hoped it , would succeed; but he considered one ought to have had a fair trial before 17 others were contracted for. What he had now shown was sufficient to prove that great blame was due not only to the late Board of Admiralty, but to every Board of Admiralty that had sat for many years. He now came to the great change in the navy last year, and the condition the ser vice was in, prior to the brevet. In 1816 the service consisted of 1 admiral of the feet, 66 admirals, 68 vice-admirals, 75 rear-admirals, 831 captains, 812 commanders, and 4,012 lieute nants. This immense number was repeatedly complained of, yet up to 1830 it remained the same. The Government became then ashamed of this enormous list, and resolved, on the 27th of July, 1830, that no promottons should be made, brilliant exploits excepted, except one pro motion to every three vacancies. ( The Hon. and Gallant Member here read the decision of the Admiralty to that effect.) Matters, however, continued bad enough till last year, when the provision was made for the retirement of many of the officers on the list. On the 30th of September last year there were 171 fl ;g officers—these were reduced to 139; there were 858 captains, which were reduced to 730; there were 918 commanders, which were reduced to 855; and 3,5:0 lieu tenants, which were reduced 2,558. 30,0001. was granted for a retiring allowance, and the flag officers were reduced to 150, and the captains to 500. But the first thing the Government did at the same time was to increase the flag officers to 160, though by vacancies which had since taken place, the number was only two above the 150. Thoueln they had reduced the captains' list, what slid they du? They promoted 60 commanders to the post of captains. This was undoubtedly a breach of the arrangement they had previously come to. No promotions should have been made till the captains were reduced to 500. On this subject he trusted he would get the assistance of the llon. Member fur Montrose (Mr. Hume), in order to take the sense of the House on these promotions, which, if persisted in, would place a vast amount of patronage annually in the hands of the Go vernment. Instead of doing as they had done, if the Govern ment would make but one promotion for every vacancy he thought the service would soon be brought into a healthy state. fie had alreost forgot one thing of some importance, which he had intended to point out to the Admiralty ; he was glad he had recollected it. He had just been pointing out the monstrosity of their constructing 20 screw vessels without trying any of them except one, and 30 iron vessels, of which they had actu ally tried none ; but there was another fact which nearly equals that, if it did not excel it. What did they suppose it was? Why, the Admiralty had given orders for four line-of-battle ships, and four seventy-four gun frigates being cut down. Granting that object might turn out of use, what was even more than that was, that they made no contract with the builder who was to accomplish it. This it seemed they wore not in the habit of doing; for he was told that in the case of one of the ships which was being built, he believed, in Mr. Green's yard, he was told there was no contract, and that they just sent in their hill once a month for payment. Ile hoped to be told that he had been misinformed as to there being no contract. But here they had four line-of-battle ships and four frigates to be cut down, be sides the war vessels on the stocks, and what, he asked, was the estimated amount of the expense? What was the vote to be tal:en? The vote of last year was 18,000/.; what was the vote of the present session ? 18,0001. would do no more than build one good vessel ; it was im possible it eould do more than cover the expense • of the vessel in Mr. Green's yard. But then again there was ! he case of the Vampire ; her bows was pulled to pieces, and she was to be made into a bad steam-boat ; they were to have a bad steam-boat for a good frigate. The vote of last year was 18,000/. He begged again to ask what was the vote for the present year ? Ile found that the vote of last year for building iron steam vessels was 129,0001., and this year the vote to be asked from the House was 100,175!. When Mem bem came to vote away such a sum of motley as that, they na turally wished to know, and they ought to know, how it was to be spent. For his part, he did hope that the present Board of Admiralty would spend it better than the last board had done. He would not speak harshly of them just now, for as yet they had had but little time in office. Oise thing he must mention before he resumed his seat. He understood that a commission had been sitting at the Admiralty, will a view to increase the pay of the lieutenants. Ile thought that there ought to be a com mission, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he believed, agreed with him, to increase the wages and so raise the status of their engineers. Ile said it was a most singular thing, but a fact as true as singular, that Government had never sent out a steam-vessel which had not broken down—add what was the reason ? It arose from the parsimony of the Government, who gave low wages, and engaged thereby a low class of men, whe were ill qualified to do the duties of their office. When a steam-vessel was built and the machinery put in, the Government had never appointed the engineer, previously, to see that the machinery, the cranks, and shafts, were properly and efficiently constructed, and properly put up. In fact, there was one case—he would not mention names—but he knew that a steam-boat was constructed by order of the Government, the machinery was put in, and the engineer, who had the superin tendence of her construction, and put in the machinery, knew that he was putting in instrlcient machinery at the time, and the consequence was, that when the vessel put to sea, she broke down. Ills opinions was, that if the Government would in crease the wages of their engineers to a sufficient amount, and raise their station to a higher grade—say the rank of Lieu tenants—(Mr. Ward : "4 hey have it.") Sir Charles said lie was glad to hear it ; but if they would increase their wages also, and appoint them in time to inspect the ma chinery as it was being put on heard, he was convinced that the effect would be immensely beyond any anticipation the House might be prepared to make on the subject. Another point to which he wished to draw the attention of the Ad miralty, was their officers— he meant their petty officers. He said the naval officers had been continually rated in that House and throughout the country by persons who knew no thing about the subject they were talking upon ; but, if Go vernment would pay their first class and second class of officers had h( t ) l l i d a that theirth e s w e age men s,an w d o t u h l e d e f o e n el se i g t at a hater rate, and th e i r seamen a l so , th ey wou ld u e p n u c n e iswhonuteldntveresn' enough b t e n) that all corporal punishments would disappear from the navy. He expre.sed his fervent hope that the Admiralty would this year pay attentio n to the recommendations of that commission. One thine that he wished to press upon the Secretary of the Admiralty was that he would establish at least one single seaman's home at one of the ports ; he begged dis tinctly to press this upon the attention of the Right Hon. Gen tleman. They had been to!d again and again by the Government for the last four or five years that the Merchant Seamen's Fur.d should be upheld. But now he begged positively to ask the Government whether they intended or not to amelio rate the Alerc' ant Seaman's Fund; he begged they would either do so at once or give it up altogether. The seamen themselves said their wages were partially withheld by the Go cernmerm for the support of this fund, and they received no be nefit whatever from it. They beg g ed, therefore, that Govern ment would either repeal th e A ct authorisine the collection of the fund, or so alter it that they would benefit from it, Again, he begged to draw th e not i ce o f the Admiralty to the Registration Bill about which so much had been said of late, aed not a little against it. A Bill was brought in some years ago, by his Right Honourable Friend, for the registering of the name s of the seamen, and for the furnishing them with tickets. It had been said that that me sure had proved ineffectual ; but he quite differed from that (pinion, and he would read a letter which he had just received from a friend well able to judge on the subject, which would show that such an opinion was ill founded. The Gallant Admiral here read the letter, stating that the registrations for 1845 had been 207,813, and for 1846 the number of tickets issued was 230,892; but in the latter year it was found that the number of desertions w as 2,341. The letter concluded by stating the writer's belief that the effect of this Act would be the production of great good. He (Sir C. Napier) said there were still difficulties and defects in the measure, but he had seen an able friend the other day, and he proposed as a means of remedying these, that some gentlemen should be appointed to superintend the registration, who, as soon as a bargain was struck between the seaman and the captain, should register it, and the good effects, he believed, would very soon be felt. Ile would now trespass shortly on the attention of the House, while he drew their notice to the subject of enlistment. his Friend opposite, the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir C. W oo d), had brought in a Bill , which in the event of war, was intended to have the effect of inducing the seamen to come forward immediately upon her ;Majesty's proclamation. One of the provisions of that measure was to entitle those who came furs and within five days after the pro clamation, to a bounty of 10/. ; and another was to entitle those actually in service to a bounty of another ainowit. But now suppose the 'limits should vote a supp l y of 50,0.40 men, that moment the Chancellor of the Exchequer must be prepared with a sum nearly like 500,000/. But, again, suppose they wanted five thousand men in a popular war, they would tied that an overwhelmi' g number would come forward out of the merchant service, and the immediate effect would be to injure that service. He wished that some arrangement could be made, so that men could be called out by classes, an arrangement, for example, which would compel every boy, who had served his apprenticeship in the merchant service. to go the first or the second year after into the war service, for a certain period, when he would be trained to his duties on board a ship of war, and should thereby be fitted for her Majesty's service, and at the same time acquire a knowledge and a liking of its superior eharacter. He begged once more that the Go vernment would take into consideration the composition of the j , Board of Admiralty. That was a subject which ho had often brought before the House, and he felt the necessity of doing so again. The mistakes that were committed were most nu• nasrous, and they were all attributed to the First Lou.l of the Admiralty ; but that was, in a great mea sure, the fault of the First Lord of the Admi ralty himself, there was a great deal too much thrown upon him. The three Lords of the Admiralty had all the docks under their management according to the present arrangement ; but if this were altered—if the fleet were put under the control of the First Lord of the Admiralty, and if the docks were put under the second or the third Lora, he believed that matters would turn out much more correctly. He spoke from experiencewhen be said that, for he had had the building of one ship himself; he had to consult with the builder, with the engineer, and with the ethers; but he had invariably had the builder and the engineer brought together, so that by their frequent consultations each might know the other'sduties and preparations more perfectly, and so abarrnony be established which alone could ensure correctness and adapta tion. Ile was sure that without that, they could not go on as he n could o t gm they ought, and yet , as it was at present, the builder was per haps at Portsmouth and the engineer at Wociwich, and all that each had of the other's work, was what could be supplied by drawings. He felt assured that his suggestion as to the divi siona Admiraltyof lnothfe3o ywoeus duties lrds of w yetage which ei he was e: impossiblef expected services x p ec te d by adopted, despite the Fi r st Lord whoever he might he ; for it was thatto do the hwere Lords be a of execute u all much less if he were a man at 76, as his friend Sir George Cockburn was. Another point to which he would address himself was the manning of the ships. They were told that their men of war were not to be ships without guns, and they were told that the 40-gun ships were manned with their com plement. But what was the number of men at present in the service? Why they were 4,000 short. Mr. WAR D—(laughing )-4,000 men over. That was not a great mistake. Sir C. NAPIER—WeII, but the late Government, when they came into office, made large professions. Sir George Cockburn told them that their line-of-battle ships and the other ships of war must be properly manned, and he began on a magnificent scale. But what was the end of it? Why, when the squadron which was then fitted out put to sea, they sailed with one-third less men than their complement, and the vacuity was filed with marines. But it was said that the squadron was out upon trial; yet there were three of the ships at that moment in the Mediterranean, and one of them was at Lisbon. If there were 4,000 men above the complement, he wished to know how they were to be paid out of the esti mates of the present year? Last year they were 150 men short, and this year they were 4,0[30 men over the complement —how, then, cou ld this extra numb er b e p a id ou t o f a vote no larger Ilan, if it was so large, as it was l a st year? He must appeal to his Right Hon. Friend behind him, and take his wonted argument that with so small a vote they would be cbliged to have recourse to amounts voted for differ ent purposes. a course which was not to be approved of, fur thus they did nut know what this Government was doing. If they wishes! money for any object, that object ought to be named, and a vote specifically taken for it. The Noble Lord the Member for Lynn had chosen to think and to say of him (Sir C. Napier) that he who had just stepped off the quarter deck into the dockyard could not be well fitted to enter upon the discharge of his duties. Perhaps he (Sir C. Napier) might say of the Noble Lord; that he who had just stepped off a quarter-deck peculiar to himself— for Newmarket and Epsom were the quarterdecks which he had walked, and which he had left to come into that House— could not have been very familiar or very much a master of the duties which he was called upon to perform. But he would tell the Noble Lord that. his (Sir C. Napier's) vessel would be ready on Saturday night to put to sea on a trial cruise, and he would invite the Noble Lord most heartily to take a trip with him. He would give him a trip round the Isle of Wight, and as good a bottle of—(Laughter)—as good a bottle of port as he could get in the kingdom, and perhaps that would prove a solatient to his wounded feelings over the loss of his Railway Bill.—( Laughter and " Ilear, hear.") Mr. CORRIE rose to make a few observations in reply to the Gallant Admiral who had made his speech now for the sixth time, as Hansard up stairs would show. Especially he must notice one point of importance, not only to the Admiralty, but to the nation at large—he meant the building of iron vessels. The Admtralty felt it their duty to encourage ship -building, from a material which abounded in the kingdom. They were aware that the timber used in the dockyards was for the most part of foreign growth, and that during the last war there had been an exces sive demand for is. It was natural, therefore, if they could do it with equally good effect to the navy, that the Admiralty should wish to encourage the use of materials possessed by Great Britain within her own territories. He thought these Were quite reasons sufficient to justify the late Board of Admi ralty in constructing steamers of iron. But the Gallant Adetiral thought that this experiment was carried to too great an extent. Now, out of these 33 vessels, he should put nine out of the list. Several of them were very small vessels, and he should, therefore, only take twenty-four on which he should make any remarks. The Gallant Admiral had stated that these iron ships strained so that there was great danger of both crews and cargoes being lost. That was the first time that he had ever heard such a re pot t, and just as he had a paper put into his hands by an Irish gentleman who had made 250 iron vessels, some of them of a , much as I,B'o tons, all of which were seaworthy; and he need only take the instance of the Great Britain, now lying in Dun drum Bay, where it has been subject to a very heavy sea, with out that straining of which he complained ; but of the twenty four vessels, one was built only for the purposes of experiment on the screw propeller, and only six, the Birkenhead, and five others, that had been built for war Yes- sels. The others they had taken, because they could get no others. Subsequently to the Nemesis being built, another vessel of much larger dimensions had been built. It was of 1,3)0 tons, and they had the report of a ship-builder of great experience for the assurance that no vessels could better answer the purpose. Now, in refutation of tbis prejudice against the use of iron for war vessels, he would read commu- j nieations from commanders who had these vessels. One was from Captain Hall, who had the Nemesis, and he said that the Nemesis had been struck as many as fourteen times in action but only one shot could have been said to pass quite through the ship, and he had never observed any particular danger from splinters from iron. Other shots glanced harmless away. The hold of the Nemesis was divided into seven water-tight compartments, and her bottom had been repeatedly pierced by sunken rocks, and yet no danger had ensued ; and his opinion was decidedly in favour of iron over wooden vessels. Captain Hall was a man of as great exj erience as any man in this or any other country. Teen there was the evidence also of Captain Charleville, who had the Guadeloupe. The vessel which he commanded was struck by a 24-pound shot, fired from a distance of 1,030 yards, and the hole made was not larger than just sufficient to allow the shot to pass through. Another shot, an 18-pounder, struck the counter when fired from seven hundred yards, and it only indented the iron, and then passed away. Another shot, which passed through her side, lodged in the coal bunker, but without starting a single bolt. There were a variety of other instances which were given by some of the most eminent officers in the British navy, all tending to the same effect. So that he believed that the late Board of Admiralty ought to be quite exonerated from all blame ; yet he believed that the present Board was quite right in holding the ir hands, and i n refraining from going to the expense of constructing iron steamers until, they had the fullest assurance t hat they were fit for t he purposes' of war.— ( Hear, hear.) The Gallant Admiral had charged the late Board with rashness in ordering so many as seas n'een schooners, but it should be recollected that these vessels were built for the screw propeller. This was a charge that could hardly be sus tained, for if these iron vessels were not fitted for war purposes, they would at any rate be fit for the conveyance of troops anti stores; and many of these schooners had been built from a us, j 'ifiable cause, that arose from the state of the relations between this country and France. The Gallant Officer (Captain Pechell) said that there were the block ships, but it should be recollected that they wanted vessels to move quickly about, and block ships were totally unfit for experiments. lle would not have troubled the House to such a length but he was anxious to defend the late j Board of Admiralty from the attacks that had been made up in it. Admiral DUNDAS thought that the attack of the Gallant Admiral was most unfair and unjust, especially as respected the promotion of officers. He found by looking at the officer's lists in 1816 and 1846 that as many as 1,454 officers had died. The admiral's list had been reduced from 210 to 56; the cap tain's list from 851 to 697 ; the lieutenant's from :4,317 to 4e348. With respect to the number of promotions that had been made, he could state to the House that upwards of 160 lieutenants had been promoted for meritorious services rendered to the country, and he only regretted that double that number had not been promoted, in order that the Government might show their sense of the services that had been rendered to the country. Captain HARRIS was glad that this attack had been made, as it had elicited the statements that had just been made on both sides of the House, and he was still further rejoiced to hear that our large vessels of war were not to be laid aside, and that our seventy-four gun ships were not to be put out of commission for the sake of using steamers. With regard to steamboats, he concurred with what had bee n sa id upon t h at subject; but he did not,think the steam-boat system had yet been sufficiently developed. There was another point he wished to allude to, though he was loath to do so; but after l i what had occurred the other evening, he f :lt it to be his duty to do so. He deprecated very much the issuing of such an order as that mentioned the other night by the Right Hon. Secretary to the Admiralty, because, if the commander could not be entrusted with the power of correcting the men under him without previously consulting a senior officer, he ought not to be entrusted with the power at all. He would limit the power of punishment to thirty lashes, and make that number uniform both for home and foreign service. The punishment might be reduced by degrees, but he thought it could not con sistently with the maintenance of due discipline be abolished j altogether. As another mode of punishment for slight offence!, such as drunkenness, &c., he would suggest that the allowances of meat and grog should be reduced. Mr. HUME said the subject of improving ship building for the navy was one of considerable importance to the country, and did he not know that the matter was under the considera tion of the Government he should have felt called upon to bring it before the House. ;Naval architecture had long been it was a matter of disg r ace to the neglected in this country, and country that its models for ship building for the navy had been taken from the Spaniards, the Dutch, and other nations. Some improvement ought to be introduced into the naval sys tem of the country in that respect, and he was very glad to hear that the matter was being inquired into. With regard to the subject of promotion, he would defer his observations upon that point till a return of the promotions had been laid before the House, and, when that report did come, he should be prepared to prove that the promotions of past years had been extravagant and inconsistent. He was no advocate for in creasing the wages, nor was he disposed to adopt the sugges tion to employ the navy in carrying food from abroad, because it would derange the commercial system of the country. He would decidedly do away with corporal punishment, and sub stitute for it an improved mode of education. Let the Govern ment adopt that course, and they might depend upon it the men would be more steady and attentive to their duty. He was an enemy to the system of holding out the inducements ofl bounties for men to enter the navy, but rather preferred a steady system of wages which should Increase exactly in the same ratio as wages in every other part of the world. The SPEAKER then left the Chair, and the House went into a Committee of Supply, Mr. GREENE in the Chair. NAVY ESTIMATES Mr. WARD then rose to introduce the navy estimates. He said—Sir, I have a difficult duty to perform in laying before the I louse the navy estimates for the year, owing, first, to the large -111-se of the expediture ; and, secondly, to the great variety of the expenditure ; but I will still do my best to make them as intelligible as possible. Now, Sir, the gross estimate for the year exceeds, by 62,840/ , the estimate proposed last year. The net vote will exceed that of last year in a still greater amount, but this arises from the pecuilarit of the credit account of this year. This year the credits amount only to 175,0001-, while last year they amounted to 190,000/. ; so that the apparent excess is 77,0)0/. more in money than was required last year. I perfectly agree with the observations that were made the other night by my lion. Friend the Member for Portsmouth, and my llon. Friend the Member for Coventry, upon the financial state of the Exchequer, when they impressed upon the House that nothing is more deserving the attention of Parliament, or more required the watchfulnes of Parlia ment, the probable tendency of navy estimates to increase in times of peace. They referred to the standard of 1834 and len, when the navy estimates only amounted to 4,245,000/. Perhaps I might ask them why they did not go still further back ? Why they did not go back to 1817, when the number of seamen voted for the service of the year was only 17,000 ? They did not do so, because tlleir own ccmmon sen e , told them that in that fact was to be found our justification. It shows that a country like this cannot fix Os owh expenditure in matters connected with public expense. What may be ample provision only two years after t e termination of an expensive war, affecting every coo t inental state, may not prove sufficient twenty years afterwar fe, I mean the power which is strictly necessary for the purpo es of defence, not for the purposes of aggrandisement. There is not, I am sure, a person in the House who will not feel that is necessary to keep up the power of the country. 1 do not think that the Government is asking too much, when the dig nity and honour of the country is taken into consideration. What is now the actual increase in the navy estimates, exclu sive of the packet stations? 'the expense of the packet ser v ce in the year 1830 was 9 7,0001., in 1831 it was 24,0001., and for the present year 820,083/. It will be found that after deducting this charge of the packet stations, and other charges, amounting to the sum of 1,564,948/, the total expense for the maritime defence of the country is only 5,996,0001. It must be borne in mind that in this country there are no fortified towns as in France, neither is there any great military organization upon which to fall back. The French navy estimates for the present year, with her immense army and her Paris fortifications amounted to 5,639,000/., the difference between the estimates of the two countries amounted only to 327.000/. In the year 1846 an extraordinary credit was taken by the French Government for a sum of 93,000,009 of francs to be distributed over a period of seven years. The French navy estimates for the present year are 114,594,591 frantss, and to this suns must be added the seventh part of the 93,00.1,000 of francs of the extra ordinary credit. It was also proposed by the French Govern ment to increase their present number of ships from 358 to 393. It is also to be borne in mind that the French Govern ment have expended and are still expending large sums in the construction of steam basins, in order in some measure to supply the deficiency of natural harbours, along the coast at Dunkirk, Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Toulon, and numerous other places. At Cherbourg, 44,000,00.) of francs had been expended. At Brest, a las ge naval establishment was set up, in one of their smitheries there were 127 furnaces; at Portsmouth, the largest of our naval stations, there is a smithery which has but 48 furnaces. I These things, I am sure, ought to operate as a lesson to this country. It i 3 perfec'ly necessary that some parallel should be kept up between this country and France. 'i're naval esta blishments of this country were in a most disgraceful state ; there is not a single station where a large vessel can put in between Woolwich and Constantinople Bermuda,. Malta, and Devonport were all in a very bad condition. Now all this has arisen from the miserable parsimony which has recently ex isted in this House ; you have been always for cutting down the estimates, and now in a year of great depression, and when there is not a shilling but could be well employed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, you are called necessarily to devote a large sum to the purpose of improving thsse naval establishments, which might have been distributed over a period of several years. The works at Bermuda no ill be oqliged to be suspended, in order to finish the works in progress nearer to home. Now, with reference to the marines, it is necessary to add 1,503 men to that body, and also to re-orga nise the corps of naval engineers. Nothing can be more im portant than the adoption of such a step. A Committee was appointed to inquire into the subject of the naval engineers; they reported that in consequence of the low wages given in her Majesty's navy to engineers, that service had become the last resort of the ignorant and inexperienced. The pay of the first class en g ineers at present in her Majesty's navy is 131. Is. per month. The pay to the first class engineers in the East India Company's service, with 50/. for outfit, is 15/. per month for the first three years, 191. 4s. 6d. for the next four years, and 21/. 4s. Gd. for the next four years. The pay in the merchant service is 25/. per month for India and China, 16/. per month for the Mediterranean, and 211. per month for the West Indies. In her Majesty's service the engineer is compelled to rank with the carpenter ; they were not treated as gentlemen ; they did not feel themselves to be such. The Committee proposed to divide the engineers into first, second, and third classes. The chief inspectors of machinery afloat, of the first class, to rank with, but after masters of the fleet ; the chief engineer to rank with, but after the master ; the assis tant-engineer with, but after the second master. We propose to give to the inspectors of machinery afloat 25/. per month ; the eldef engineer, 16/ per month ; engineers, 14!. per month; assistants in the first. (lass, 121. per month ; in the second class, 91. ; in the third, 8/. per month. The inspector of machinery afl o at is to have the power of reporting upon ail matters con nected with the machinery. New when it is considered that these alterations will not exceed 8,000/., I feel assured that the Committee will not refuse its assent to the proposition of the Government. The total amount of the value of the machinery with which these officers will be intrusted, wi.l be at least 1,4'11,000/, and the proposed additional expense will not be more than a half per cen'. on the value of the machinery. It is proposed that a vote of 500 men for 12 months, and 1,000 men for six months should 1 c taken fir the marines. It is also proposed to take a grant of 20,009'. for the organisation of the dockyard corps, this carps will be a very useful body of men, and can be turned to very valuable account in case of invasion. The greatest readiness had been evinced by h e artisans employed in the dockyards to enlist in the corps. The numbers had been— At Deptford 9OO Sheerness Chatham Portsmouth Plymouth 1 3 , mbroke It would be most essential to the discipline of this body of men that they should be instructed, and have as much as possible their condition improved, measures will be proposed for that object. It is proposed to extend to the marines in somt modified form, the benefit of the Bill for re.. during the neriod of enlistment. Of course, the peculiarities of the nature of the service in which the marines were engaged, should be taken into due consideration. It is intended to bring forward some measures for the improvement of the condition of the marines, and for placing them substan tially upon the same footing as the army. With respect to the punishment in the navy, I do not wish to go again Into that question. The order recently issued by the Board of Admiralty, has, it appears, been received by some Hon. Members favour ably ;by others not so. It is. however, proposed to introduce a measure for the infliction of secondary punishments, while the vessel is in harbour. The Government also propose to introduce a Bill to legalise the apprenticeship of boys in her Majesty's service. , These two 1311's we wish to bring in, and we intend that the system which at present exists, when a ship enters the dock yard, shall be in a great degree done away with. We pro pose that if any man of good character desires to remain upon the ship's books he may do so, and six weeks' leave of absence shall be given, to enable bins to have a " run " on shore, w hile his clothes, kit, &e. can be kept in the dockyard. Now, Sir, there is another subject to which I wish to direct the attention of the House, and which 1 ask it to provide for under two separate heads. I ask a total vote for salaries and wages of 810,6641., and you will observe that this is less than the vote which has been taken for many years past. The vote for 1843 and 1844 was 779,3961., for 1845 and 1846 951,808'. and there is consequently a ;reduction; in the present vote of nearly 150,000/. Now, when the flouse con siders that the stock of each of the steam factories amounts to more than a million of money, speaking in round numbers ; and that the charges for new works amounts to 526,0001., 1 think that, with these facts before us, you will agree with me that th t question involving, as it does, an expenditure of three millions, is worthy the attention of Parliament. The House, I trust, will see the impolicy and inconvenience of leaving all the affeirs of the steam factories to be conducted as now, in one place, and that a t th e l eas t access ible point. Look at France, she has factories at Cherbourg, Brest, Toulon, Ro chelle, and other ports; while England has only Woolwich. —(Hear, hear.) It is, therefore, this imperative ne cessity that induced the late Ministry to commence at Portsmouth, Devonport, and Sheerness, magnificent steam factories with all their concomitants. The house must be aware that in these establishments the utmost vigilance and carefulness is requisite to prevent any misapplication of the Government stores, and to insure a necessary and wise eco nomy. But as economy and vigilance are virtues not easily commanded in Government establishments, it is cur intention to make the individuals employed in these feel that their own interests as private members are dependent on a proper and fitting attention to the interests of the country. Yon cannot have that watchfulness in her Majesty's dockyards that charac terise the establishments of private companies ; you must, therefore, trust some, and as they have to deal with a large amount of money, it is better that you should appeal to their prin cip!es than vainly endeavour to coerce them into a rigid system of morality —( Har, hear.) You must show them that their chances of promotion depend upon their merits, and you must prove to them that these merits shall have fair play.— (Cheers.) You must show them that they have a higher au thority than that of their own officers to appeal to. Ido not hesitate to say, that promotion for merit has hitherto been worse than a de id letter, nay, it has been often said, that a lot. freehold was better than any testimony from a superior officer. We have seen that when a vacancy has occurred in the dockyard, applications have reached the Board of Admiralty from every quarter but the right one recommending a successor. The printed regulations were no doubt excellent, but they were a dead letter. There never hal been any thing corresponding to them in the practice of the Admi ralty.—(Hear, hear.) I shall riot say for how many years it has been the rule that meritorious exertions should go unre warded. Now Ido not blame any particular Board for the continuance of this system. I believe that all Boards have been highly culpable, and if I want pooof of this, I will find it in the feet th it no Secretary of the Admiralty has dared to leave behind him the correspondence which has taken place on this subject of promotions.—( Laughter. ) Sir, I say that that system is a most baneful and demoralising system. There are 12,000 artisans belonging to, or hoping to belong to these establishments, these men have no prospect beyond the dock yard, they look forward to becoming foremen, and from fore men to inspectors, and from inspectors, dock masters, until they hope to reach a status which will give them perhaps 600/. per annum with a free house to live in. Thus a proper emula tion will be created, because you show the artisan that his pro motion is certain, because based upon fair and intelligible principles. fly the system that prevailed, you had no hope that good conduct would be noticed or bad conduct checked, unless such exceeded what was called the dock-yard license. The result was, that a sort of apathy was engendered in the dock-yards, which no authority could check, and which there was no getting rid of. Now this was a system which the Noble Lord the First Lord of the Admiralty felt peculiarly annoying, and I saw a great deal more of ifs evils, because many things are exhibited in the Secretary's department which reaches not higher. I must say that I think all the defects of the system are to be attributed to the mode of distributing the patronage of the Admiralty. If th e H ouse will only consider the vast amount of power, for good or evil, which the officers in these establishments possess, if you consider that every one of the 180 inspectors expend on an average 10,000/. a year, they must concede that an improved system of p romotion —a system which will c onnec t t h e i nterests of the Government with their own— will be a desirable one. I shall now state the principle on which we intend to proceed. We wish to have, in the first place, an improved educational test for all who desire to be workmen. We wish to place schools on a superior footing to what th e y are now, for we conceive that it is better to give the boys access to the best system of education that can be commanded, than to allow them, as by the present course, to attain only an imperfect education from some of the officers of the dockyard. In every application to the dockyard, we shill require from the apprentices a schsol as we ll as ot h er certificates, and if cons idered qualified, they shall be admitted into the mould dock. Having conducted th emse l ves i n a m an ner to give satisfaction, they will the n b e a d m i tted as sh i pwr i g ht s , an d they will then be in some degree left to themselves. We wish also to introduce a syste m o f per i o di cal returns, that is, the master of a gang of twelve me n , s h a ll ma k e a re t ur n, over a fortnight , to ao o a man ; the for eman ma k e another return once at month, il to of master; and th e mas ter once a quarter to the Admiralty. A ga i n , w hen a vacancy occurs, three names shall be submitted to the master, who shall strike off the one least qualified fur the vacancy, and the Board of Admiralty shall choose t o su pply it one of the two na mes remaining. We pro. pose that the salaries of the masters shall be raised at once from 100/. per annum, as at present. to 1251. I have sub mitted these regulations to the governors of the different dockyards, and they all express their ex treme satisfaction with the measure. I_ i shall n ew allude very shortly to the differe nt points in time . B 1 1. In v o t e No. there is an increase of 31,100- , , which isintended to defray the expense of the addition to the marine force, and the corps of steam engineers. Under vote No. 2 there is a reduction of 4,220/. The Government have taken the cost of provisions at present, and have calculated on the coming har vest, when every article shall have reverted to their former prices.—(Hear, hear.) We have tliseentinued. in enn qiienee, the cola ink. Ley 01 J p.'; il ment, heretofore, has been in the habit of takir:g. Under vote No. 3 there was an increase of 7,3401. ; this in eluded the steam department. and comprised 2,0001. for post age, and 1,2001. for clerks. I will not now go into the mini r points, but will confine myself to the principal items. And for the same reason I will pass over votes 4 and 5. With regard to ' No. 6, we propose to take 7,2911. for the it crease of the sala ries at home, 2.785/. f, r other parts of the inspection and measurement of the docks. and S;o't/. to Mit. Grant. at tle Clarence Dock, as an indemnity to him till he is promoted, when the allowance will cease. I will pass over No. 7. For No. 8 we propose to take 8,377/. for attendance in the dockyards, and 3 2 W'. of that will be for the inspection of the dockyards 2,010.'. for trsieing in the dockyards, 2,9651. for the metal-mills at Chatham. by which alone a saving of 6,0001. per annum will be effected in onse:_oience of the work being done by Government. We propose to add 10,0001. to the wages of the steam department at Woolwich. That Item may appear large, but the great convenience which the accommodation will give to the great necessity which exists of having persons to execute the works required by Government steamers justify, in our judgment, such an outlay. We have 735 men now employed in the factory there. I find that in 1844-45 there were 27 steamers repaired at Woolwich ; in 1845 46 there were 36 ; and in 1846.47, during a period of nine months, 29 steamers. The value of the work dune in there periods respectively wa549,000/., 58,000/., and 76,000/. The value of the engines was 50/. per horse power, and the cost of repairs 31. per horse power per year, and if they had been done in a private establishment, the cost of this 41,000 horse power would be 328,001'/. You now pay 60,th10/. in wages, of which 10.000/. is more than the esti mate of last year. Undee vote 10 there was a decrease of 89,9951. There was a decrease in iron steam-boats of 78,000/., which consisted of contracts not yet completed. I will not go into the question of building large steam-boats without further trial, which has been referred to by the Hen. Baronet, but I sincerely hope the experiments that may be made will justify the good opinion formed of them. I have now to come to No. 11. In this vote we propose to have an increase of 32,719/. for new works. This will ap pear a large sum ; but it must be recollected that in former years sums that were placed under votes 8,9, and 10, arid ap peared in these votes respectively, were now collected under a generic head, and placed in vote 11. Those only which related specially to votes 8,9, and 10, were charged to those votes. If the House will allow me, I shall now state in order, one at a time, the other items which we propose. We have taken 167,000/. for Portsmouth, and I should think the steam basin there will be ready in the month of May. We have saken 10,000/. to complete the works at Woolwich, and 27,600'. to construct new marine barracks. For Plymouth we have taker, 120,000/., for the basin and docks at Devon port 30,000/., and for Haul-bow-line, near Cork, 10.0001. For Malta, where we have a dock ready for the largest steamer, we purpose taking 10,000/. I think I have now finished all the points to which I intended to refer in this statement, and I can only say that though the expenditure may be very great, I do not see, considering all the facts to which 1 have adverted—seeing what every country is now doing, and that we are now paying for the niggardliness of former years—that we can reduce the estimates to a smaller amount. I think that the vote for wages in dockyards, under a system of restriction, and having a check upon the repairs, will tend ultimately to a saving in this department. It is possible—certainly there will be a reduction in the expense of iron steamers of 85,000/. I hope that there will be some reduction in the estimates for steam machinery in subsequent years, in consequence of the change we ars about to make. The system will be placed on a better footing than it now stands upon, and the probability is that, in a few years, these extraordinary expenses will en tirely disappear.—.( Hear, hear. ) I believe that I have stated to the House that there are 165,00 n/. of excess for the year 1845 and 1846, but the responsibility will not rest with us. That sum shall constitute the first vote. Admiral BOWLES, who was very imperfectly heard, de fended the Admiralty from the charges brought against it by Sir C. Napier. Ile would wish to see as large a squadron kept up in the year 1847 as had been maintained during the past year, for the race of naval officers who had seen actual war was now rapidly declining, and it was necessary that the young naval officers should have opportunities of such exercise as would enable them to keep up the natiozal honour in the event of a war. He objected also to the per nicious system of detaining ships at particular stations for any length of time. Many ships had not the opportunity of proper t xere:se in consequence of their being thus de tained, and the race of officers IIOW growing tip were thus most materially injured, anti hindered :rum acquiring a proper knowledge of their profession. Captain PECHELL was glad to hear the observations which had fallen from the Gallant Admiral, and that a new system was to spring up which would effectually hinder that jobbing in the dockyards which hail hitherto prevailed. The lion. Gen tlemen in his opening statement wished to show the reasons for the measure of the estimate. The House did not require that knowledge, for it was obvious to every person who took up a newspaper that the measure was necessary ; but he should be glad to know sometliiing about the condition of the squa drons on the coast of Africa. Those vessels were detained there three years, and he thought that the system as at preset pur sues with regard to the capture of slaves was one fraught with the grossest jobbing, for, what with fees and other charges made in the Vice-Admiralty Courts, very little found its way into the Exchequer of the admiralty for the benefit of the seamen. He thought it absolutely necessary that the system should be reformed. lie was also glad to hear that the salaries of the pursers in the navy had been raised by the Government, for, in his opinion, they were a most deserving class of officers ; but he was still of opinion that the Governnaent had not effectually carried out the recommendation of the Commissioners with reference to the higher class of officers. He would conclude his reference to the masters and pursers, with the hope that the. Hon. Gen tleman below (Mr. Ward) would take their case into his most serious consideraiion. There was another point to which he would refer. They had done great injury to the service by the indiscriminate admission of youths into the navy, without proper inquiry. They bad admitted a number of thieves and vagabonds into the service. This was a matter which should be looked into. With regard to the building of ships, he considered that fair competition should be allowed, so that builders who were competent might be induced to come forward and take a part in the construction of the ships. They had also been promised a reformation in the constitution of courts martial ; but from recent cases which had taken place, this did not appear to have been the case. Among these cases there was the one of the captain of the Sphinx, which was lost off the Isle of Wight. That officer was called on to criminate himself, and had been degraded from his rank. All these things showed that a revision was necessary. Now, that they had had again another Reform Ministry in, he thought the question of Courts-martial should be fully inquired into, and redress given. He had also to complain that the members of the coast guard engaged on the west coast of Ireland were not treated is they ought to be. At the present time, though provisions in Ireland were excessively dear, and in many cases difficult to be had for money, no advance in their pay had been made, and no promotion was held out to them. He trusted all the matters to which he had referred would command the serious attention of the Government with the object of effect ing a reformation. _ _ _ 'hr. BOWRING congratulated the lion. Member (Mr. Ward) for the improvement which was made in the arrange ment of the accounts. This would appear to have been done in pursuance of the recommendation of the Committee of Public Accounts, a few years ago. He said he was happy that the principle had been adopted, partially in the public accounts, of excluding all credits in aid of the departments ; and he hoped that the column of credits would be entirely done away with. Mr. FITZROY wished to ask the Right lion. Gentleman, the Secretary for the Admiralty, whatwas the object of taking a vote of 27,500 men, at a time when they had 4,0.0 men more than the complement on the books. That was an excess which they were not accustomed to have on the books. Ile did not think with many in England that the ships could be manned and the harbours of refuge prepared all at a moment's notice. Practical men knew that that was not so. but he did thtnk:that some of the minor details ought to be omitted He thought there ought to be some means got for coaling their steam-ships. lie understood that 100 tons was all they could put aboard a s'ay. Now in that case an impediment might easily be created in a time of war, and a steam feet without coals would become mere logs. He was also glad to hear the Hon. Gentleman's plans with regard to the dockyards ; he admired the principle of it, having had his attention specially drawn to the dockyards while he was in the Admiralty, and he would c2rtainly give the measure his support when it was brought in. Atter a few words feom Capiain BERKELEY, Mr. WARD said he had just consulted with Lord John Hay, under whose care a plan was being carried out for coaling their steam vessels. He found that the construction of a Coal Board would cost from 40,0:10/. to 50,000/., but they had adopted one of the old hulks, where they had put an engine on board, and they were enabled to put 100 tons an hour on board the vessels. Sir JAMES GRAHAM said that while he held a place in the Admiralty, he had never diminished the naval estimates, except so far as that could be done without diminishing the efficiency of the navy. ( Hear, hear.) Hut he had risen that moment to express his regret that there should he an increase a constant increase in the naval estimates ; and he heard the Hon. Gentleman with alarm state that, in his opinion, the estimates for the present year were not so large as they would yet require to be. But he regretted one thing—he very much regretted one delicate point which had been touched upon by the Hon. Gentleman he meant the payment of the men. The Hon. Gentleman said it would be necessary to raise the wages of the seamen in the Queen's service up to those given in the merchant service, or near to them. But he (Sir J. Graham) entirely dissented from that proposal. If they brought the Queen's service into competition with the merchant service, the moment that some new arrangement was made by the Government in her Ma jesty's service, a counter- movement would be made in the merchant service, and there could be no seeing the end of the expence which it would entail upon the country.—( Hear.) He thought it unhappy that the subject had been mentioned at all, and the subject, if con sidered, would naturally bring on with it the consideration of the marines and the army. He did not propose the postpone ment of it to a future day, for he entirely dissented from the principle. Under such a system there wouldldieoofpebnoed boundless p es a s plan of boundless expense on the one hand, n expectation on the other, and he thought it could a not be He did main tained even if it were to be e ntered u p on. hope that it would not be entered upon without the sanction of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or, indeed, without the sanction of the Government. He would not have made these observations , b ut that it g ave the Right Hon. Gen tleman the opportunity of making an explanation of hi s v i ews. Mr. WARD said that the Right Hon. Baronet had entirely misunderstood what ha d fallen from him . The Honourable Member for Montrose had entered fully into the matter, and he was quite aware of the importance of the subject, and of the de licacy of the question which had been mooted, and he was at the same time aware that such a step ought not to lie taken without the sanction of the Government. The Gallant Officer had alluded to the number of the desertion., and the object which he (Mr. W ar d) h ad in view was, to offer such inducements to the seamen, that from the common ranks the men might rise to be petty officers, and thus by offering the inducement of promotion so to elevate the moral character of the men as to have the advantage of a better class in the navy. That was the question which he had mooted. Sir J. GRAHAM had only spoken of the disadvantage of confusing the positions of the petty officers and the seamen. Mr. WARD—To that he was alluding. He bought there would be no difficulty whatever in arranging the plan. If they allowed the seamen to rise in rank, they would give all the inducement that was necessary for vtting good men into the service. That was the only question—he never cont nn• plated anything further—for the House could not but he aware that he could not carry out this design without the sanction of the Government, and he dic not at all intend to permanently raise the wages of the seamen. Sir C. NAPIER was much disappointed to hear the decla ration which had just been made by the Right Hon. Gentle man the Secretary of the Navy, for one of his main objects in desiring this increase in the wages of the men and the petty officers in the navy was, to oblige the merchants to raise the wages of the persons in their employment. They \Named to keep the men in the service, and how were they to do that unless they gave them as good remuneration for their exertions as they could obtain elsewhere. The labourer was alwayss worthy of his hire. It was said that there were s :l,oo' , )B r itish seamen engaged Li America at the present moment, and it was well known that the greater part of the m ercantile He marine in America was being worked by British seamen. • wanted to brin g 1,4, f r om America. th it tot, etr.re.t.,r ) to die Adnair,,u) would 0.0 of from 3s. to 4s. in their pay, that he would object which he had in view, for he was quite at would never get gocd men into the servrce them better than they did at present. Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT thought that if ' to the Admiralty would Inok into the matter h, that, with the exception of a few instances. the pa. men in the navy was not lower than that of m en 6a,-,t service, and that, considering the low pri slops were supplied, and all the other advantage end cf a certain period the seamen in the be in the possessi',n of more hard any one would obtain from the mercht. There was one thing that he thought was not prudent in statement of the Right Hon. Gentleman, and that was the at position to reduce the estimate for the victualling depart of the navy below the ratio of former years. Ile propose f the take five per cent. from the estimates of this departm ent °would navy. If he would take the highest point last year , he „ r a find it was absolutely necessary to take the estimates higher number of men than those they ahol u .' e u l l required at the time, and in the present year e , Pe, c , 12 . 0 , it seemed to be a matter of indispensable protium "'" t causes might arise for extending the number of ml was impossible for the Noble',Lord the Secretary t . ‘ Affairs to see precisely what number of men he wor If they would take the experience of the last few consider the various wants of the empire, the ext colonial possessions, and all the various requisition , been made upon the Admiralty, he would see that partment at least it was not prudent to reduce mates. With respect to the dockyards, he enter into any detail, but he understood that promo' , to take place on the recommendation of the officei dockyards. Mr. WARD expressed his dissent. Such was the ease. — Mr. S. HERBERT had had some considerable and he believed that it would he dangerous to trus. the recommendation of the officers in the dockyards officers enjoyed a position of great local importance. would recommend any man either because he was a Tory. They had greater faith in Lord Auckland sr continued at the Admiralty than in any other The only plan to render such a system available take the recommendations of the highest officers several establishments. Mr. WARD said there was to be a chain mendations. beginning with the superintendent. Mr. J. O'CONNELL said that he observed t recommendation in the estimates for the of 600,0001, on the coast of Ireland ; he wished it had btl more, for he felt assured nothing would tend more to pr oure ; the interests of his country than the e s tablishment of lOr naval arsenals on the coast. Mr. BARING was glad to understand what was the. W. tention of Governthent, and not the less so because it mated a desire on their parts to maintain the whole of ti' e j public service in a full state of efficiency. The House h it not only given its sanction to this policy, but it had al' s() ; lutely forced it upon the Government ; at the same A tl° c . he must add a hope that this endeavour to keep ur I°r „ n t, and efficiency would not be confined to one departi n " b "j e only. Still he hail listened with great attention to the a t. statement of his Right Hon. Friend, and was rejoiced to find tu n s t he had devoted so much time and attention to the itnr rta i. subject of keeping up the national defences, and he must be in lowed to express a hope that Government would continue, t the course they had so ably begun. With regard to the sub/ e ,f r of promotion, be, with the Honourable Member !vb Dorsetshire, trusted the Government would receive r l , t ,. caution recommendations from the officers of the docky ar ''; In any promotions they intended to make, they ought raia er t hs trust to the discretion and judgment of the Admiralty, tb,t, ° „ o t prejudiced recommendation of dockyard officials. He the mean to insinuate that there was anything like jobbing in t i e .. dockyards, but still he was glad to hear the Right Hum Ge" man the Secretary for the Admiralty was determined te i l e °l ; f , port a system of promotion founded upon merit.--( H hear.) Perhaps he would have some dieulty in ca rr P ffi eid out so laudable a design, but he trusted that that prospec t not deter him from carrying his praiseworthy object into eild With regard to excess in the vote, it must be borne in 1° an d that it was to meet the deficiencies of the past two yearn therefore it ought not to be objected to. Ile navy est' l, 7 t , were not singular in these deficiencies, for they applied all e , ° ` t his ev,.ry branch of the service, and he, for one, was rejoice': system was about to receive a deathblow.--(Hear, hear.) a t Ceptain BAINBRII)GE made a few remarks, the pu r e of which were inaudible in the gallery. n en' Mr. GOULBURN explained that the excess of the ex /. re diture over the estimates in the year 1845 arose from the desciir on the part of the Government, to carry out the reeonire e l t ta te tions of the Commissioners ap j ointed to inquire into the of the defenees of the country. a the Lord J. RUSSELL said that the statements made by Hon. Member the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, as t° re. cause of the expenditure, was perfectly satisfactory. lit memb red, in the vear 1840, that the Government ril e ., !Toper to go beyond the e s tim a te s aft e r th e p roro gation e' as liament, but upon the ri -a sse mbli n g o f th e House a isotviritb passed upon the subject, indemnifying the Governmeni• to respect to the present exp en dit ure o f th e nav y, he had sta', n a) the Noble Lord at th e h ea d o f th e Ad m i ra lty (L or d Auck l2 t that whatever sum mi g ht b e vo t e d, it would be necessary ,f 1 ensure a proper expenditure of the sums. He did not thin% when it was consid ere d, w h a t s t r id es s t eam nav igation t t he taking, and the imm ense sums expen d e d b y F ran ce, O a ' & House could justly entertain any opinion nn the subject °the reduction of the e xp enses o f th e navy . I t was t h e duty "f jt executive to provide against the risk of any emergency's, was not to be supposed that because this country once I — be nested a powerful marine, that therefore it should na' r , ; „, content and stand still. With respect to the abuse of ra"s7, in the dock-yards, measures would be taken by the Achni r° 4B , to prevent as much as possible the recurrence of the a bu t he. An eminent and gallant officer, who was at present out o , country, had stated that the labour of those persons , ha t v111 :f political influ e nce, was much more inefficient than tha et hired workman, who held no such influence. He ws';p und • t . prepared to say that the scheme of his Right Hon• a - r• -- would he in every respect successful, but as th e y would r e quire to report to the House next ses s i on , th e H o n. Gen tle ' man opposite would have an opportunity of suggesting ' e • a's more effectual a3stem for effecting these desirable impr ove ' • mento. Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT said that many of the aPr iint '' ments which the late Government had made, were to indiaiduals who held not the same vi ews w i t h t h e Admiralty. If the Right Hon. the Secretary of the Admiralty wished to ascertain the correctness of every . appointment, he would find that his time would be too limited for that purpose. • The vote was then agreed to. of The sum of 1,325,8201. was then voted for the salanie seamen and marines, and another vote of 635,4521. for tii ° victualling department was also granted. reported On the motion of Mr. HUME, the Chairman . pregiess, and the Committee obtained leave to sit again ° Monday. The House then resumed. Captain PECHELL moved for certain returns conne cted with the operation of the Poor Removal Act of last session. Agreed to. THE DESTITUTE RELIEF SUPERVISION BILL FOR IRELAND. On the motion of Lord J. RUSSELL, this Bill was read first time, and ordered to be read a second time this u 4/ se'nnight. The other orders of the day were then disposed of, an d the !louse adjourned. PETITIONS ON PRIVATE BILLS' HOUSE OF COMMONS, (Room 22, before Mr. Examiner SMITH.) OPPOSED LIST. LEEDS, DEWSBURY, AND MANCHESTER R-- IL .0 WAY (OSSETT BRANCH AND DEWSBURY MORELY STATIONS). Opposition withdrawn, and standing o r de r s eomplied ~y KILMARNOCK AND AIR DIRECT RAMIS' (RAILWAY FROM KILMARNOCK TO AYR, WIT P BRANCH TO THE HARBOUR OF AYR). of This petition was resumed. It occ u pi e d th e w hole the day. (Room 23, before Mr. Examiner MAY.) OPPOSED LIST. SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY EXTENSION AND AMENDMENT. This case was closed to-day. Standing orders not COrr plied with. EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW RAILWAY (AME S - MENT OF ACTS.) In this case the standing orders were complied with. GREAT SOUTHERN AND WESTERN RAILW; EXTENSION (PORTARLINGTON TO TULLAMOREq Standing orders complied with. Birmingham and Oxford Junction, and Birmingham. Wolver; hampton, and D u dl ey R a il ways Amalgamation (propo se , ' Amalgamation of the Birmingham and Oxford Junction' and Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley ItaU` w3Y Companies, with power of transfer to or Amalgam/1600 with the Great Western Railway Company). Standing orders complied with. Adjourned till to-morrow (this day). [A ERTISEM ENT.] —The Registered Paletot of Llama cloth, the most fashionable coat for both the present and approtelting seasons. still retains the same moderat e price, which, with its usefulness and gentlemanly appor" ance, has secured such general popularity. It has been mage by special command for their Royal Highnesses Princ e Albert, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, his Grace the Duke of Wellington, and the several royal visitors to the British Court. In London it c an on ly be purchased of the pa'entees, 11. J. and D. Nicoll, Court tailors, 114, Regent-street, and 22, Cornhill. A g ents foF Liverpool, Dawbarn and Son, 80ld -st ree t ; f or Dublin, Gen,i Maclona, Molesworth-street ; fo r Birmin4ltam, Wareing a n : Son, New-street ; and the prin c ip a l t a il ors i n ot h er large towns. IMPORTANT FAMILY MEDICINE.—FraMptOII ' S P ill of Health effectually relieves the stomach and bowels by gentle relaxation, without griping or prostration of strength' They remove head-ache, sickness, dizziness, pains in t ile chest, &c. ; are hi g hly gra t e f u l to the stomach, promote di; .gestion, create app e tit e , relieve langour and depression 0' spirits; whil e , t o t h ose o f a f u ll habit and free livers, who are continually suffering from drowsiness, heaviness, and singi n g in the head and ears, they offer advantages that will not me to be appreciated. S o ld by all venders of medicines. ls. 1 1 / 2 d. per box. See the name of " Thomas Proat, Strand, London," on the government stamp. [ADvEnTisEmENT.]—AN EXTRAORDINARY CURE of A HAD LEG, AT HORNCASTLE, BY HOLLOWAY'S PILLS AND 011 11, RENT. —A few days since .Mr. John Simpson, a highly respechl.c; bookseller in that town, states that a gentleman of his aenuatntat A had been suffering for years from one of the worst description of_ ee n legs, frequently enduring the most excruciating pain. He had under the care of several medical men without obtaining the 1 benefit. This gentleman, however, has Just been cured by the se "" c nt ,tuble medicines, after every other tree ment had tailed. The Oinu n will cure chilblains awl chappel hands in a few hours—Sold at rr 3 l fessor Holloway's Establishment, 244, Strand; and by alm ost respectable vendors of medicine throughout the civilised world. 111117.75. ,sth On Feb. 21, at Pevonport, the lady of Captain F. J. Is acke, Fusiliers, of a daughter, st , ll- born. On Feb. 21. the lady of cieorge French, Esq., of Lincoln' s Inn, bar rister. ~f a son. On Feb. 24, at Long Ditton, the lady of Charles Corkran, Esq„ of a son. On Feb. 25, at Irampstead, Mrs. Thomas Butcher, of a sort. On Feb. 25, In Goswal-street, the lady of Charles Gordon, Jun.' Esq., of a ( - taught , r. MARRIED. On Feb. 23, at Trinity Church, Regent's-park, Captain 13Yug Creagh, to Charlotte Jane Minchin, daughter of John Minchln, Esq'' hei Britannic Majesty's Consul at Fayal. DIED. On Feb. 21, Albert Walker, son of IL Bell, Esq., of Gower-stree rigi d 01 . 1 F,b. 24, at Brighton, Matilda diary, daughter of ItegaL" Graham, Esq. _ ~ , relict On Feb. 24, at Thames Ditton, Surrey, Mrs. Charlotte Bette, of the late J. Betts, F.sq., aged 72. On Feb. 25. at Richmond, Surrey, Geraldine, only daughter of the late Capiain Winton:, of the E. I. C.'s service, aged 14. Loncirm : Printed ern! Published by MURDO YOUNG. of No. I fa. , Strand, Printer. at T r i , Sun No.lll, 4tnind, in the Precinct of the Saw,. In the County of Middlesex, Saturday, F e. bruary 27, 1847. pOS 144 pots a ter on b e , -bang( badand %Art dlyte th, the In 4 10/4neQTeat tUr to fa oaf I tal ,kattudtl,cga .0111014% 1 1 / 0 S Id ~d Posh te la oa rati on ange . 71 he th-r7 -1 ! t herland h ; us. nt to a riAl d effect every pure thatthey they r.ia 11, Th ep ales ea Ite wo uld heSecretary find eta ssikt 3 riy er )ay of the sea- //defy in the mer• which th the it r 14 a im ; e in ic s ; : an t y b e a yy a ' t w :t to h hu t i a b c i b od e ....._"140.174441 'ant service. , %rime __...font in the ilftritt i n'nf :t oe s eYiredne t . il rFr a eo:: : :: h Patia g :::: v el‘d e tt ' .. 1 h e:Aelti:4 : 1)41111Prilf.1; ; : ,) en n bt r t O 44 aStof t art:oly c v i n o the k i i s • d ' ri t e o i t : . th 4 Posta Wi nt ns . Ma c k et notions %era 11 fficers in the l at t o , sat De c , aft ez hi a not exa ctly 41 4 etrop o i ...c e h , i e nc, ! exp!r , • ° "cirs, 1 Ist sttnP l Y 1° , 14 %ta tut rds. Thule :l e 'V I' l o 'a n hn g i ag ti t ° ' br ; lel I 4 r t ruk t 'I) 'lli l'ettrl1): : in diyi i its. 0 f Imhva would be to to t he ;ors oft" lu st ,.__%ruPil of ree °ll3 ' anon s i c u 80 To t h 0101411 C ° f tAntrti teed there e, zper : d ib a teeo g u rii_ 1R47 w " 1? and ---and suet Nothing among the Pi 441, 1plett trb npUll , ( y thb Aus Z'rrtui .Lirth trs • tct ecnn' t • ~,'4 t nEss bri - DDeiLral Drior to tnitln t , of its kt Ita ,oral Xi 1144, triikti \bap buy Rho