The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-30 00:00:00

day for the committee on this bill, intimated that
after the hon. member for Finsbury had. called ate
Motion (which he intended to do on this bill) to
the case of the assistant navy surgeons, and the bill
should have gone through committee, he should propose an
adjournment tor two boon ; and he hoped when they met
in the evening those bon. gentlemen who had notices of
motion on the paper would permit the remaining order of
the day to tete precedence. cent, as far
Lord 0. BENTINCK objected to this arrange
as he was concerned.
Lord J. RUSSELL hoped the other hon, members who
had notices of motion would consent.
Col. DUNNE, having been informed by the noble lord
that he proposed to move the re-appointment of the corn-
'Maio* on the army expenditure next session, mud ho would
not delay the bunts, ss of the house by prosing his motion
as to the promotion of officers of the Guards.
The house then went into committee, when
Mr. WAKLEY proceeded to complain of the arbitrary
regulations under which, the assistant naval surgeons were
admitted into the service; of their being compelled to men
with the mielship:nen when on board. While the qualifica-
tion required for the assistant-surgeon in the navy was the
same es in the army they should be placed on the same foot-
ing. The medical officers of the navy, however, Were In •
worse position, not only in being compelled to associate with
uneducated boys instead of gentian of the same age
and rank as themselves while on service, hut also
in respect to prize-money, provisions, acd allowances.
The result was, that though the pay was ample there was
always • deficiency of fully qualified candidates for this
branch of the 1111,41 service; and, he believed, so much had
the want been felt, that a hint had been given to the
of Surgeons not to be too strict in their examination of can-
didates. lie was informed that persons had passed
after 20 minutes' examination, and that the majority of
those who were appointed as assistant naval surgeons came
from the ;north, from whence men might be obtained to
take any office. (A laugh.) Although, on several occa-
sions, this grievance, and its injurious consequences to the
service, had heen brought under the notice of the Admiralty,
they had hitherto refused t place these officers on that foot.
ing which, Ire birth and education, they were entitled to.
Capt. BERKELEY denied that the naval ari,tant,sur-
geons were degraded or treated with injustice by the present
system, or that they did not oceapy the position which pro-
perly belonged to them—that of messing` not with bons,
but
with young men of their own age, equal to them i birth
and education, and superior to them in naval experience.
to this opinion he was fully fortified by all preceding bands
of the Admiralty, by the evidence of Sir Wiliam Burnett,
and by the report of the committee which sat in 1840 to in-
qn;re into naval and military promotion. Since that report
was made, up to the present year, there were 261 naval
savant-surgeons app Anted, which, ace aides dog the very
tew ships in commission, sufficiently proved that there was
no dearth °kleinlaut,.
Mr. HUME drew • contrast between the navy and the
army, as regarded the treatment of the asdatentsurgeons,
contending that while that contrast existed to the prejudice
of the naval assistant-surgeon, they could not expect in tne
navy the same superior ties, of men.
Colonel nom PSON thought the question might be re-
solved into this—whether there was accommodation in the
wardroom for another officer. Even that would make a
most substantial difference in the position of the assistant-
etirgeOn.
The conversation then dropped, the bill passed through
committee, and was ordered to be repotted to-morrow (this
day), at 12 o'clock.
The house having resumed, adjourned at a quarter before
6 till half-pant six o'clock.
The Louse resumed at half-past six o'clock.
DUBLIN JURIES.
Mr. G. A. HAMILTON had a question to ask the noble
lord at the heid of the government, It would bo recollected
that on a former occasion the hon. and learned member for
Athlone heel in the course of some observations stated that
the foreman of the jury in Mitchel's case was a bankrupt.
He did not believe that the hon. and learned meinter had
meant more than to state the simple fact, but Mr. Whitty,
the penon referred to, conceived that the observation
was calculated to lead to wrong inferences, and
to injure him in his business. He (Mr. Hamilton) had been
given to understand that Mr. Macon, the bankruptcy com-
moisiuner in Dubin., had written to the noble lord stating
that Mr. Whitty had passed through the c dirt without the
slightest stain on his character, and that his answers and the
state of his accounts had Italy satisfied the comulisaioner.
The qualifier. he had to ask was, whether the noble lord hod
received a letter of that description ?
Lord J. RUSSELL.—Yes, I have received a letter from
Mr. Macon to the effect stated by the hon. member. Mr.
Masanstates that he was fully convinced of Mr. Whitty's
fairness and integrity.
Mr. K EOG It begged to say that in what he bad stated he
had not intended to cast the slightest imputation on Mr.
Whitty's character.
TURNPIKE ACTS BILL.
Mr. C. LEWIS moved that a committee be appointed to
confer with the Lords, and to state reasons for adhering to
the Commons' amendments to the above bill.
The committee was appointed, and attended the House of
Lords. On their return,
Mr. LEW IS stated that the conference had taken place, and
tht the comittee bad stated reasons for adhering to their
amendmena m
ts, snit hail left the bill with their lordships.
HARBOUR OF SOUTHWOLD.
Mr. HUME said he had placed on the paper a motion for
an humble address to be presented to her Majesty, that she
will be graciously pleased to cause an inquiry to be made
into the alleged inje ry to the port and harbour of Southwold,
in Suffolk, by the ineloeure of several thousand acres of
land, the pseperty of the crown, that were formerly covered
with tidal waters, contrary to the act of I Anne,
c. 67, a. 5, and, consequently, highly detrimental to
the interests of the crown and the public. His rea-
son for tiding so was his anxiey that the decision of
a court of law should be taken as tot the rights of individuals
to encroach on crown property. He understood that go-
hernment intended tfo take some steps in the matter, and
wished to learnfrom the noble lord at the head of the
woods and forest, what those steps were.
Lord MORPETII could only elate that if parties who felt
themselves aggrieved would send any evidence to his depart-
sent it should be submitted to the Attorney General, with
• view to proceedings at law, should such • course meet
with that officer's approbation.
Mr. HUME was satisfied with this declaration, and would
leave the matter in the hands of the government.
ISLAND OF TOBAGO.
Lord G. BENTINCK rose to call the attention of the
house to a petition which be had presented from the Bps aker
and members of the House of Assembly of the bland
of Tobago, and to move that it be printed. His reason for
pressing on his motion, t , the delay of the government busi•
ases, was that the West Indies and Mauritius Loan 'Bill was
1111 of the orders for that evening, a bill which proposed a
lean to the West Indies to the exclusion of Tobago. The
petitioners complained of the partial and oppressive conduct
of Lord Grey in refusing to them any share in the loan, and
also that a petition of theirs had nut been laid before the
Win Indies relief committee. The ground of Lord Grey's
refusal to allow the people of Tobago to participate in the
loan was that they bad net contributed anything to the im-
portation of free labour, and therefore had no title to assistance.
The petitioners stated that they were deeply injured by the
hurricane of 1846, and were unable to pay tales. That the
Monies since 1832, by the lose of their labour, had
diminished one half. Lord Grey stated as a reason why
Tobago was not to receive any share of the labourers pro-
vided by the funds supplied by the British government, that
I only those colonies should receive such moieties as paid the
high st wages; but the petitioners asserted there were con-
siderations of more importance than wages, as the woe-
, rioril of climate and the accommodation afforded to the
labourers, which should be taken into consideration. An-
other claim Tobago had to equal justice with the other colo-
nies was that the o`-her colonies, as Trinidad and Jamie',
were paid compensation for the loss of their slaves in propor-
tion to the population, which Tobago was not. As he un-
derstood the petition bad been printed (though in
an unsatisfactory way in the appendix to the re-
port of the committee on public petitions), he did
not intend to press his motion, but he bad thought it
riht to call the attention of the bowie to the question
whether the Secretary of State was to be permitted to visit
this or any other colony with his wrath, because, from the
operation of the legislation of parliement, or the visitations of
providence, it was unable to pay taxes. If this course was
to be taken with regard to Tobago, he should like to know
what was to be done with Trinidad and Guiana, both of
which had threatened to stop the sumlies and whether the
half million grant was to be reser% ed as • reward for those
servile colonies which dared not to show their independence
or exercise the right of a free people—to refuse the supplies
when they felt themselves subjected io au intolerable

grievence.
THE RAJAH OF SATTARA.
Mr. G. THOMPSON postponed his motion on the subject
of the claims of the heirs of the late rajah till Thursday next
(to-morrow).
EXCHEQUER BILLS BILL.
On the motion for the commit..l of this hill,
Mr. lIUME observed that the object of this bill was to
raise a loan of 2,000,0001., and to add 60,0001. or 70,0001. a
year to the permanent debt of the country. He protested
against the principle of borrowing money in time of peace,
particularly and. r the present circumstances of the country ;
and he intended to take the sense of the house against it. On
the 25th of F. b. last, when it was understood there was a
deficiency of 2,900:0001., he urged on the government and
the house the propriety of bringing the expenditure within
the revenue, or of providing for the excess by additional
taxation, and proposed a resolution with that view. That
resolution, however, was lost on a division by a large rink).
rity. On the 13th of March he again proposed that the in-
come tax should be limited to one year, in order that in
the meantime government might take measures for reducing
the expenditure so as to bring it within the income. That
proposition, also, was lost by a majority of 363
to 136, and the income tax was passed for three
years. On the 20th of March, he moved to reduce the
number of sailors from 43,000 to 36,000, but that motion,
together with a subsequent one, to make a similar reduction
in the army, and another made by an hon. friend of his, to
abolish the worse than useless African squadron, met with
the same fate. All attempts, therefore, to effect reduction
in the expenditure of the country had been met with discou-
ragement by the house and the government ; and it was now
asked, the house having refused to meet the deficiency by
additional taxes, to meet it by a loan. Though he had not
' opposed the loan for Irish distress, because that was called
for under extraordinary circumstances, he objected, as a
principle, to raising loans in time of peace. Looking at the
prospects of the country, the state of commerce, the compe-
tition in trade, the decrease of profits, the large number of
unemployed poor, the enormous increase in the poor-rates,
, he contemplated with great ahrm the tendency which
had been evinced of late, to add year after
yi ar to the permanent debt of the country. It
was admitted by the right hon. baronet (Sir IL Peel) that