The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-11 00:00:00

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

Lord REDESDALE moved that the time for reading
private bills a second time be extended from Tuesday,
the 11th July, till Tuesday, 18th July.'
Agreed to.
CORK AN D WATERFORD RAILWAY BILL.
The Earl of DONOUGHMORE reminded their lord-
ships that a petition upon 'the subject of this bill was
upon their table. The circumstances of the case were
briefly these. Some time ago an act passed for the for-
, matiou of the Cork and Waterford Railway, but the
powers conferred under it having been allowed to expire,
the prom-eters applied this session for a fresh act to
enable them now to proceed with their railway. In
their application for this act they made use of the plans
which had been used in the application for the 'first act,
and upon this ground they had been thrown out by the
committee of their lordships' on-the ground that they
had not acted in accordance with the standing orders.
Under these circumstances he moved that leave be given
to go on with this bill, notwithstanding the decision of
the committee.
-Lord MONTEA.GLE objected to this motion as to-
tally against all precedent: It was notorious that the
state of affairs had entirely changed within the last eight
years, and what was applicable some years ago was to-
tally inapplicable now. It might be said that the oppo-
sition proceeded from a rival railway company. That
did not at all effect the merits of the case ; and the peti-
tioners having been deprived of the opportunity of
bringing forward witnesses, _le contended that their
lordships ought not to allow the bill to proceed at the
end of the session.

Lord REDESDALE said, though the bill was re-
jected brthe standing orders committee, after :recon-
sidering all the circumstances of the case, be was not
disposed to oppose the motion if their lordships, after
hearing the objection, were willing to proceed. The
most important petitioner had withdrawn his objection,
and the opposition now proceeded chiefly from a rival
railway company. (Hear, hear.)
The Earl of GLENGALL characterised the opposi-
tion as a gross job on the part of the Great Southern
and Western Railway Company.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE knew nothing
about the merits of the case, but was opposed to any
deviation from the standing orders.
Lord BEAUMONT said when the Standing Orders
Committee reported that the standing orders had not
been complied with, if they wished the bill to be pro-
ceeded with they usually made a recommendation to
that effect : in the present case they had not done so.
The Earl of RODEN supported the motion.
Loid STANLEY opposed itr.
After a few words from the Marquis of DAVIT, the
Earl of CHICgESTEB, and the Earl of DONOUGHMOBE in
reply, their lordships divided—
For the motion—contents
• Against it
Majority
THE SCREW - PROPELLER IN THE NAVY

AND CAPTAIN CARPENTER. --
.Lord LYNDHURST said he had to request the at-
tention of his noble friend at the head of the Govern-
ment to a motion of which he had given notice, relating
to the application, or, perhaps, he should rather say,
the misapplication, of a large sum of money. As his
noble friend stood at the head of the Treasury, and was,
therefore, the guardian of the public treasure, he was
sure he would attend to the question with interest. In
addition to giving the notice of motion, he had pre-
sented a petition from Captain Carpenter, of the Royal
Navy, a gentleman of considerable scientific attain-
ments. Persons who, had attended to this subject were
aware that the , original plan of steam navigation was
that of conducting it by means of a screw of con- •
siderable length. It turned out, however, upon the
application of that principle, that it did not succeed
to any great extent, as there was no facility for
the escape of the water, which, by acting on the ma-
chinery retarded the progress of the vessel. The next
step was to cot down the screw. That diminished the
evil, but did not remove it. Again, there was a third
experiment, which was to divide the screw into two con-
volutions. That was liable to the same objection, but
to a smaller extent. At last it was considered best to
take only .a part of the screw. The problem then arose
how this was to be done. That problem Ciiptain Car-
penter undertook to solvel and -it was one which re-
quired some,scientific knowledge and a great deal of
care in the conduct of the experiments. After several
months' application Captain Carpenter attained his end,
and having, as the result of a great variety of minute
experiments, arrived at this result in 1840, he obtained
a patent. 'While he was carrying on his experiments,
he was exposed to considerable ridicule on account of
the smallness of the blade of the screw ; but ridicule
was changed into astonishment when it was found that
he had succeeded. After he had obtained his patent,
he applied his machine to a vessel of considerable size
in the Thames. He exhibited it in the presence of a
great number of scientific persons, including Sir Edward
Parry, then comptroller of the steam department of the
Admiralty. The report was favourable. After the re-
port had been made, having conducted the experiments
principally with a view to the public service, Capt. Car-
penter wrote to Lord Minto, givir*s him complete de-
tails of everything connected with them ; and Lord
Minto returned an answer thanking him most sincerely
for the important service which he had rendered to the
navy. Thus the matter rested. Lord Minto having left
offica in August, 1841, shortly afterwards Capt. Carpen-
ter was appointed to the command of a steam-vessel of
war, called the Jason, which was not propelled by the
screw. He was afterwards directed by the Admiralty
to apply to that vessel the machinery which he had in-
vented. Accordingly he did so ; and the vessetwas visited
in the-Thames by the First Lord of the Admiralty and
other official persons in that department, including Sir
Edward Parry, and the result was reported to be fa-
voura.ble. The Admiralty then sent Captain Carpenter
to the Mediterranean, in order that experiments might
be tried under the command of Commodore Owen, an
officer Ofigreat scientific skill ; and the result was that
Commodore Owen also made a favourable report to the
Admiralty. Captain Carpenter remained absent on
this duty for two years and a half. During his absence,
the Admiralty made further experiments, and these,
combined with the reports, resulted in their adopting
the precise form of screw which he recommended. From
that time to the present moment that form of screw was
the only one which had been used in her Majesty's ser-
vice ; no other patent had been used in any ship or ves-
sel in the navy. He begged their lordships to bear these ,
facts in mind, for they were most essential to the consi-
deration of the question. Some few years back (the
precise date he did not know) under the authority of the
House of Commons, a sum of 20,0001. was appropriated
by the Admiralty as compensation to the patentees of
the screw propeller used in her Majesty's ships and
vessels. The precise words, which he took from a paper
laid on the table of the other house, were " on account
of the patent rights for the propellers used in her Ma-
jesty's ships and vessels." Again he begged their lord-
ship's to recollect, that no propeller but that of Captain
Carpenter had, dawn to the present time, been used in
her Majesty's navY• ,-At -At the time to which he referred
a company was formed called the " Amalgamated Screw-
propelling Company." It consisted of five or six mem-
bers, and at the head of it was a gentleman named
Currie, who was a partner in a banking-house in the
City of London. These gentlemen applied to the
Board of Admiralty for [the payment of the 20,0001. ;
and the Board of Admiralty adopted, in his opi-
nion, a most extraordinary and unwarrantable Courses—
that, namely, of paying over to Mr. CurriVhe 20,000/.,
on his giving a guarantee—the precise words of which
lie was not aware of—that he would properly appropri-
ate the money amongst the parties who were entitled to
it. (Hear' hear.) Their lordships would not be
sur-
prised to leant that Mr, Currie divided the money