The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-17 00:00:00

SMALL TENEMENTS BILL.

Various petitions fr4,nt places in England were presented in
favour of and against this Bill,

UNIVERSITY TESTS (SCOTLAND). •
Mr. LOCKHAia presented several petitions against any
Bill that might have for its object the alteration of the ex-
isting tests in the Universities of Scotland.
Mr. FOX MAULS presented several petitions in favour
of the Bill for obtaining sites for churches in Scotland.
Mr. P. M. STEWART presented several petitions to a
similar effect.

RAILWAY GAUGE.
Sir G. CLERK announced that he was not disposed to
make any objection to the amendments which had been made
to some of the resolutions he had proposed in the debate last
night.
Mr. DENISON was about to address the House, when he
was interrupted by
Mr. FOX MAULE, who rose to order. Ile wished to
know whether that order of the day had precedence over the
other orders ?
The SPEAKER said that in matters of public business
such orders had precedence.
Mr. lIAWES wished to know whether the resolutions
could not be pressed forward to-morrow, at the time of pri•
vate business.
A conversation then ensued, in which Mr. Fox MAUL;
Sir JAMES GRAHAM, and other Hon. Members joined, as to
which of the orders should have the precedence, but the
discussion was put an end to by Sir GEORGE CLERK con-
senting to postpone the further debate on his resolutions
until to-morrow.
BRISTOL AND EXETER RAILWAY BILL.
Mr. MILNER GIBSON moved, " That it be an instruc-
tion to the Committee on Group 18, to hear the petition from
the Directors of the Bristol and Exeter Railway, relative to
their Yeovil and Taunton Branch."
After a tew words from Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET,
the motion was withdrawn.
BRISTOL AN D GLOUCESTER RAILWAY BILL.
Mr. STANTON moved that the evidence taken before the
Committee last year on the Bristol and Gloucester Railway
be referred to the Committee on Group 58, now sitting.
The motion was agreed to.
A short discussion then ensued as to the gauges, which
was put a stop to by
Sir JAMES GRAHAM interposing, and saying that his
Right lion. Friend, the Vice-President of the Board of Trade,
had left the House under the impression that the debate on
the question had been adjourned until to-morrow.
NAVAL CIVIL DEPARTMENT BILL.
On the order of the day for the second reading of this Bill
being read,
Sir C. NAPIER addressed the House at some length as
to the impropriety of appointing men to the care and manage-
ment of the dockyards who understood nothing about them,
and who were utterly ignorant of ship-building, &c. He also
entered into a lengthy statement as to the sailing qualities
of the various vess,ls in the squadron. After several hun-
dred pounds had been expended in the construction of ships,
when they were sent out it was found that they were not fit
for sea. He instanced in support of his argument :the
St. Vincent; the Albion, the Vanguard, &c. He
then gave a detailed statement of the sums which had
been expended in the repair of these ill-constructed vessels.
He quoted from the returns made by the officers of the dock-
yards, but he was afraid that, great as the Expense appeared
to be by these returns, it was in fact much greater, if the
truth was known.—(Hear, hear.) He thought that the
House of Commons had a right to insist that, when they
ordered returns to be made, those returns should be accurate
in every respect. It had bean said by the Secretary of the
Admiralty that it would be improper to make proper returns
on this subject, because, if they did, foreign nations would
know the exact condition of our fleet, which might be in-
jurious to this country. But the truth was, that the French
knew much more abont our navy than we did ourselves.
The returns which the Admiralty had furnished were very
incorrect, in as far as the condition of the steam ships were
concerned. He would instance the 'Vulture steamer, the
returns respecting which were most inaccurate, and if the
returns respecting the others were of the same character, lie
must say they were most objectionable. He be-
lieved there was not one of the steam-boats belong-
ing to the Government that was fit to he
called a ship of war. A great portion of them carried
their paddle-boxes five or six feet above the level of the
deck, and if they were to go into war the first shots would,
he was persuaded, carry them away. If a war took place to-
morrow, a steam fleet might be sent out with 10,000 or
15,000 men. If that were the case, then, from these high
paddle-boxes and engines, the first shot would de-
stroy all the men in any one of these steamers—
the only safety with such vessels was to place the boilers
below the water. The Admiralty ought to confess their
error, and if these vessels were inefficient, take measures to

put them in a proper state for the service of the country.
There were many other vessels named in the catalogue
which were liable to similar objections. A great number of
the steam gun-boats, he believed, would prove to be
of no use whatever. They were called gun-boats,
but he felt certain they would be found totally useless in case
of being employed in war-service. He found, on looking
over the returns, that a great number of three and twc-
deckers were cut down. He did not object to the first two
that were cut down, but they had been so numerous that he
must now refer to them. Thirteen two-deckers had been cut
down to make bad frigates. It would have been better to have
worn them out as they were originally. If a war were to arise,
involving: a war in the Baltic or the Mediterranean, they
would have no ships to employ but these bad frigates. But
so great was the mania for cutting down in the Admiralty
that a large number of the large frigates built at
the end of the last war in' order to compete
with the large frigates of the Americans, were
now in process of being cut down to corvettes. Forty-
five large frigates had been built, and this was the
process now employed towards them. The lion. and Gal-

lent Member then -referred to the magazine ships, the condi-
' tion of which he represented to be equally objectionable.
With the enormous number of ships they had built,
and what they were building, he thought the navy
ought to be more efficient. One great objection he had to
those ships was; that many of them were too large in
size. He believed that before many years large ships
would be given up altogether, and small ships
be employed in their stead. He believed a great
deal of the neglect of the Admiralty was from leaving the
management of building the ships in the hands
of one officer. He! felt certain that no one man could
attend to these matters: as they ought to be. He knew from
his experience that such must be the case. The ship-builders
of Glasgow, Liverpool, or on the river. could produce far
better steamers than any the Admiralty had built.
(LEFT SPEARING.)

COLONIAL AND EMIGRATION

COMMISSION..
The following are extracts from the sixth general
report of the Colonial and Emigration Commissioners
(just presented to Parliament by command of her Ma-
jesty) : ,

NEW SOUTH WALES : -ITS FINANCIAL STATE.
In our last report we noticed the gradual improvement
which has taken place in the general state of the colony,
and we are happy to perceive that each account since re•
ceived tends to confirm our expectations that we should
soon hear of its returning prosperity. The Gover-
nor, in a dispatch transmitting the abstract of the
revenue and expenditure for 1844 and the esti-
matee for 1846, says, that he considered the
finances of the colony to be in a very satisfactorye
state. The ordinary revenue, which in
of the expenditure by 11,895/. 19s. id.
and although
ex-
ceeded the expenditure by 8,933/. Bs. 11d.,
contribution
their was not in either of these
e v more
i t
anyyearsthecid wn revenue,
towards the ordinary revenue from the 1841:
there was then in
at the commencement of Juneo 1
somethinghow
the Treasury about 79,000L18 4114, short
of 100,000/. for irnmigra-
before the depressed
interest of six per cent. This debt
was
tion, bearing an
adt than abar:a
or2:ol,,Ofmetecun-
Crown
wCnr odw revenue
revenue.
..
1843, .
renderedit necessary to put an
fwhTichhereis,
pay for the last immigrants sent out, under
t sanctioned in
incurred to
age to emigration at the public expense.
of land sold was
soctvit AUSTRALIA.
3e state:4Dt2i rBueroaisfcnt thergtohepsep, c ao :den year
rh
had
a 844
'‘
amountthe realised quantitys
extent of land surveyed was 6,680 ac
,666/ 13s The
about &id. an acre. This is considerably s'
higher hae.reothan
f
Ethe o
maverage
explainso f the h precedingatthe
u year'sole
f t h
e surveys6.,6B;o. but Captain
con-
sisted of detached blocks of land, lying inacdrieffserentparts of the settled districts ; and that the excess of
expmse is accounted for by the small size of many
of the blocks, and the incessant movement of the
surveying parties from one part of the colony to
another. The total quantity of land sarveyed and
open for settlement on the 31st of December, 1844, was
663,553 acres. Further accounts, however, have been
received of sales effected in the colony up to the 31st of
May, 1845, amounting to 1241 123. ; and we have every
reason to believe that much more considerable sales have
since occurred. In this country, also, as much as
20,0001. was deposited during the past year in the pur-
chase of land by the Australian Mining Company, be-
sides 1,100/. by other depositors.
Subsequent accounts, we are glad to re
firm the *Women'

►ort, fully con-