The Express.
London, England, 1860-05-15 00:00:00

THE GUNBOATS.

The Earl of HARDWICKE moved for a return of all the
womb' or guabost• below 1,000 tom burden built by ma-
tract since the year 1862, with the names and residences of
the coutracton of each vemel ; showing at the same time
the icier of their cm -Munson,. the price contruted for,
kgether with their pressed ioa as to seaworthiness.
The Doke of SOMERSET said be had no objection whet.
ewer to gore the iIIIORDWOIN which had already been moved
ter and granted is the ether house of parliament H.
multi not. however, give the information which was called
for in the latter part ol thermotion with moult to the sea-
worthiness of the meek T'We were tio less than 164 of
them, and, in order to INDITIDiII their seaworthiness, it was
seamary that they should he taken into dock and me.
seined, and that meld ant well be done with regard to all
these weasels so as to serve the purposes of the return. Of
these newels there WWI in the different , there
wore hauled up at Healer 43 ; making to iB. Thee,
were in oummission oe the home service ; then were 24
in China, 3 in North Amore s, 3 in the Mediterranean, 2 oa
the aouth -east ooaat of America, 14 connected with the
coast. guard, and then wan 10 more at pigment building.
Now, with regard to those that had been examined, first he
might state that when the present Board of Admiralty
none into office, having heard • pest deal about these
gentsate, he was amines, sod so were other member' of
the hoard, to have them inspected, and they sent
down an inspector, and a considerable amount of decay
we. found. He believed that had beep found to some ex-
tent some months before sod some workmen were engaged
in repairing them. Other workmen were put on in the
sunnier, and there were 100 men employed in repairing these
boats. Of the gunboats at Healer, 29 were either repaired
or in a state of forwardness. With regard to others that
were afloat. some of them were quite as much decayed as
those that ware in port. It was thought by some that it
was a mistake to keep gunboats drawn up in that state,
but a far as expenence went they had nothing to
show that one class wax more decayed than another ; there
had been a great many came of decay in both. With regard
to three in commission they had heard no complaint ; they
had had some of them in China, and others in the coast
guard With regard to those in China they were all efficient
as fur ad they knew ; the state of these gunboats
therefore was not quite so serious ea the noble
lord seemed to suppose. Rut he admitted
that emir party was to blame for the meaner in which
these gunboats had been built. At the mane time they
must consider the eircumstaleces under which they were
built They commenced the Russian war with no gunboats.
sad the moment the pressure was experienced the price of
timber roes. Under these circumstances not only was •
coutract given, but • boom was offered to complete the
gunboats within a certain time. The contractors, however,
did not get the advantage of that, as the shipwrights re.
Ruffed sad obtained an advance of wages and what with
that and the nee in the price of timber he believed that
nasty of the contractor' were rained by their contracts.
Be se vs told that in many of these shipyards there were
two inspectors, ,one chief inspector and another man under
km, but there were nos working in those yards day and
night. the mow was on the ground, and the work
being time under pressure, opportunity was afforded
to dishonest workmen to commit frauds by cutting off the
halts. What made the matter wone wee that the copper
was sepplied by the government He must say that there
had not been more than two or three cams discovered of
the infamous practice of cutting off the bolts. He should
be sorry to think that say shipbuilder would be guilty of
such an act. He attributed it to sums inferior workmen
who were beeeiOt ie at • time slim there was peat
pressure, and irks, therefor, there could not be an effec-
tual inspection. The matter was brought before the notice
of the Ailmindty tyre menthe ago. They immediately
instituted inquiries, which had since bees going on, with •
view of taking lepil momentums to bring out the whole
cam, and if possible punish the guilty parties. Court-
&nog the rate at which they were building last year, it
must be obvious that our sock of timber was limited in
onsiparisoa with the demands epee it, and efforts were
therefore beteg mete to °Mani timber from all parts of the
world. UM year there were added to ore csant wry,
by launching taw vessels or by the coavenion of wiling
into steam weasels, seventeen slope of the line, nine frigatea,
three somethee and seven stoops, which would form almost
• Pet of themselves. If the Admiralty went on building
ait that eats, it would be impossible fur them to obtain the
quantity of welloemesd bailer that would be required ;
bat their aorta may mow nether directed to putting things
into a teak far aaarmary °meatiest heeafter, than
to k.an g saw nook at mash a rapid rate. The returns
to be produced mold soya the sable earl all the other infor-
lustros that be dsisd. With regard to the mortar Meta,
half of them were of ins, awl it would be the euileayour of
the Admiralty to replace the wooden ones by inn own,
sad mew* to repair them which were worth repair. He
was not yet prepared to say in whet state the wooden n.. r-
ear hosta actually were.
TIDO of TOWNSHFSD hoped that a thorough
inst.ay would be made into the dreadful heeds said to have
hem peached by some contractor, sot only in using null
wood. bet petting in copper Mita which wan too short to
hold the timbers of the marls together. If anything couhl
make our seamen tremble d would be the Insowlesh;e. the
fear, Of the suspicion that they were es beard rook oi
impoperty commorteel. It would be better to go hock to
tie oil fasterniag by tenor, than to risk putting in such
copper bolts as he alluded to.
.after a few words from the Earl of Bsaximacar, the
WOMB OIRIOSIKL.
ROM) ACROEIS HYDE PARK.

harl DCCIE presented a petition from Imlay inhabitants of
Wee derbies north and mouth of Hyde-park, to the weft of
Briperare-rced in the former ease, end of likene•strest in
the fatter, hearing for some new, direct oommunicatko than
et exalted between the districts lynx? to the moth
month of Hyde-park.
Lord F.BURT thought everybody would concur that thin
road amen Hyde-park was abointely ammerry • and with
the weemity el a more direct comareernistion between the
north and south aides el Bt. Jamme's Park wad alas, quite
evident. At presses the whole traffic which cunt front
„Piccadilly or Oxfordetreet, and went to Belgravia, had to
ge mead by Charing-cram, and there to easiounter all the
Indic comas from the earn end of Lamina, 68d all that
vaa going over Weetnaineter•dge. lie repotted that
when the footbridge was made inn
84. James's Park, two ..r
three years ago, a carriege-rod was not minetrocted, which
mom have been done without injury to the gardens.
Lord LLANOV ER said it must be admitted that then
were hardly any of the great thoroughfares in the .netto-
pniis eapabli at present of accommodating sal-
meetly the traffic that had to paw through them,
and serious inconeeniewc was felt from this mime. But
there were great ilia:WU,. in the way .4 exteusive metro-
politan improvements. On the OW hand, it waa often
era cal that parliament ought not to grant money for such
oh" 5•t....„ but that they should be wholly provided for out of
the local taxation. That might be fair if the metropolis
w. tr on the same footing as the other great towns of the
miters. But this was not the are; for while in other
ens and boroughs the municipalities had large funds,
sierv..l from various tolls Anal due., applicable to
the improvemente of the town, here the whole of those
coal does and revenues' fmru other artielea was levied by
the Corporation of the City of London, who expended that
vast mark of moor, within the Pity, leaving to the rest of
the metropolis no-other resource than to impose a local rate.
)le Jul not know how them matter was dealt with m the bill
now 1 store the Home of Connives for the reform of the
iamd 00111.OritkAi, but it we. a point to which the anem-
ia se of their lorathipsought to be directed with a view to
ea.J.l.og metropolitan improvement to be carried out. The
wdening of the south end .1 Park-lane, only as far ea from
Piccadilly up to Holdernes-hnuae, would cog no ben than
100,0001.. sod it was impo.A•le that each hsproveniente
could be effected out of a local rate.
The Earl of POWIS hopal that this matter of the de-
li/We commemiontion hetween the northeide awl south tide
of the parks wouldsot have 1.. wait until thequestion of the
mform of the City of London corporations was settlesi
jamb
remonable scheme for a rued scram Hvde•pork or Kenaiug-
km gardens ahead be coubtved, and se it concerned the
mal put", he thought parliament would not be so un•
wffheg to allow it to be aided with public irooney.
BBLLING AND HAWKrNO OF GOODS ON SUNDAY
BILL

dr mike Ihr tie nreoransittal of thia bill,
lard
`WIfiLAK implared their loolship• not to pro.
geed MIL on the pound that they ought to we b.•w
kr cabbie wad private effort. couhl succeed in putting down
isseases !lauds) trading before they attempted to legiente
upon the subject. He presented a petition from a person
• surname la Bt. Lake's wish in the metropolis, complaining
fist the eakeks kw, under which hs had außereil, wan far
two severe, earl /eaten that the bill coetaiued many en ion.
ino.naintearie.% awl that, if rimmed into law, it wotild
sperat. with hardihr. 0/1,1 0N.1.161 Clll.Ol, and 7.eee rat to
eery iti—sitiafian al. Thu noble li.rl the

111111111 P