The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-12 00:00:00

ber of inspectors to watch tie whole process of building.

PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS.

Mr. HOWES called attention to the report of the com-
mission on the costs of prosecutions ; and asked the Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department, whether it was the
intention of the Government to bring in a bill, or take any
other steps, in relation to the subject of the said report?
Sir G. C. LE WIS answered in the negative.
INSPECTION OF VESSELS.

Sir F. SMITH drew the attention of the noble lord
(Lord C. Paget) to this subject, and he made different sug-
gestions in reference to the matter.
LIABILITIES OF SHIPOWNERS IN CASES OF
COLLISION AT SEA.

Mr. DIGBY SEYMOUR called the attention of the
house to the state of the law with regard to collisions at sea
so far as foreign vessels were concerned ; and asked the
President of the Board of Trade whether her Majesty's Go-
vernment were prepared to urge on the Governments of
other countries the expediency of establishing some interna-
tional rule for assimilating the liability of shipowners in
cases of collision at home and abroad ?
Mr. M. GIBSON stated that communications had already
passed between the Board of Trade and the Foreign-office
in reference to the subject to which the hon. member had
just called attention, with the view of bringing about some
international arrangement. With regard to the question of
the hon. member for Sunderland, as to whether the Govern-
ment intended to introduce any measure to carry into effect
the recommendations of the Harbours of Refuge Commis-
sion, he admitted that the matter was of great importance.
There could be no difference of opinion that it was desirable
that harbours of refuge should exist, especially upon the
eastern coast, where so many merchant vessels were in the
constant habit of passing. The main question, however,
was, where the money was to come from. The committee
recommended that the expense should be defrayed by a toll
levied upon the passing ships, but the opinion of the com-
missioners was that the expenditure should be defrayed by
a parliamentary grant. He did not find upon instituting
inquiries that either the shipowners or the insurers valued
harbours of refuge sufficiently to be willing to take upon
themselves any considerable portion of the charge, and with
regard to a parliamentary grant, that was a question for the
consideration of the Treasury. The question was now•un-
der consideration, and instructions had been given to pre-
pare a bill to carry out to a great extent the recommenda-
tions of the commission. It was not, however, intended to
give effect to them, but the provisions of the bill would give
facilities for making improvements without putting the
parties in each case to the expense of a special act of Par-
liament.
FRENCH FORTIFICATIONS AT ST. PIERRE.
Mr.' HALIBURTON rose to call the attention of the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the state of the
French fortifications at St. Pierre ; and to ask whether
there would be any objection to lay upon the table of the
house copies of all questions submitted.to the law officers
of the Crown ? The hon. gentleman said there were two
small islands on the northern shore of the Straits of Belle-
isle, lying between them and the Labrador coast, which
having been taken from the French, had been restored
upon conditions expressly stipulated in the tresty of 1763.
Those conditions were that no building was to be erected,
except for the purpose of the fishery; that not more than
50 soldiers were to be kept as police ; and, above all, that
they were to erect no fortifications whatever. Fortifica-
tions, however, had been erected; and on a former occa-
sion he had asked the noble lord whether his attention had
been called to the fact, and whether steps had been taken,
either by application from the governor of Newfoundland
or from the Government of this country to the Govern-
ment of France, to restrain the erection of those fortifica-
tions. The French flag was constantly flying, and many
of the inhabitants of the island were Frenchmen, who,
though well disposed to her Majesty, still felt that Franco
was their fatherland. He did not complain so muchof the
erection of buildings on the island as of armed batteries.
The few English fishermen who had at times seen the bat-
teries, upon asking the meaning of them, were told, with a
shrug of the shoulders, " Oh, that's the morning battery
and this the evening battery, and they are placed there by
the Emperor." In fact, no secret was made of the matter.
Mr. E. JAMES asked the noble lord the Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs whether it was the intention of
the Government to proceed continuously with the Reform
Bill, the consideration of which in committee had been
postponed till the 4th of Julie, so as to afford to the other
branch of the legislature the opportunity of passing into law
that bill during the present session.
Mr. GRIFFITH asked the noble lord the Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs whether he was now able to give
any assurance that no French troops would be moved into
the provinces of Chablais and Faucigny until the question
of the dispositions to be adopted as to those neutralised pro-
vinces should be finally determined upon by diplomatic con-
sultation and agreement. The hon. gentleman said he did
not wish to make any attack upon the noble lord, for he ac-
knowledged the difficulty of his position, and whoever had
occupied that rosition would find himself surrounded by the
same difficulties. Ho wished to point out that if France were
allowed to occupy those provinces before any settlement
took place she would not withdraw her troops afterwards,
and therefore he desired the British Government to malie
rt•oeQe,lin cva in tellizible at this stage of the matter. He
thought it would be better for Switzerland that they should
withdraw from the matter at once than that they should be
drawn into a proceeding which would be delusive from the
beginning. He would just remind the noble lord that M.
Thouvenel had said in one of his despatches that, in case of
the annexation of Savoy to France these provinces would be
given to Switzerland, and he (Mr. Griffith) only expressed
the feeling of this country in the matter when he asked the
noble lord whether he could give any assurance that that
arrangement would bo carried out, and that France would
not be allowed to occupy those provinces. (Hear, hear.)
THE REFORM BILL.

Mr. SCULLY asked the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs whether her Majesty's government would agree to
introduce provisions applicable to Ireland 'into the Repre-
sentation of the People Bill for England and Wales. The
hon. member said a feeling was very general that there
was no sincerity in the house on the subject of reform. It
had been stated that if the house voted by ballot, there
would only be found two votes in favour of the noble
lord's bill—that of the noble 1 rd himself and his backer,
the hon. member for Birmingham. (A laugh.) But who
could say whether there would be even those two ? (Hear,
hear.) For his own part if he were charged with insincerity
he should plead guilty to the soft impeachment. He had
long since suggested to the Government the desirableness
of having but one reform bill. He would rather have bad
laws in common with England than good laws which were
peculiar to Ireland. That might sound like a paradox, but
the explanation would be very intelligible. If they had bad
laws in common with France, it was not likely that those
bad laws would long be tolerated, but if they had good laws
peculiar to Ireland, what security had they that they would
not be converted into bad ones by a tyrannical majority ? If
the house was insincere on the subject of the noble lord's
bill, what were the people ? Why, he found from a paper
put into his hand that morning that the total number of
signatures which had been appended to petitions of any kind
on the subject of reform was only 90,000. (Hear.) There
were only 9,711 in favour of the noble lord's bill, and only
two (signatures) in favour of the entire scheme of the
Government. (Hear, hear.) He did not think that the
people of Ireland (who, by the bye, had petitioned more
numerously in favour of reform than the people of England)
cared about the subject at all. • He had lately visited some
of the most important towns in the sister country, and he
found that the inhabitants were quite contented with their
present representatives. Already too much time had been
wasted on the noble lord's bill in comparison with the pro-
gressit had made, and before it passed—
" Weary se'rnights nine times nine
Would it dwindle, peak, and pine."
(Laughter.) He might go oa with the quotation—
" Tho' the bill might not be lost,
Yet it should be tempest-tost."
(Loud laughter and cheers.) All kinds of uncomplimentary
epithets had been applied to the measure. It had been
compared to a bread-pill, which would do neither good nor
harm ; and the hon. member for Birmingham had ex-
pressed a hope that it would not prove to 'be like a Spanish
repast, at which there was very little of meat, but a very
great deal of table cloth. It appeared to him (Mr. Scully)
that that exactly described the character of the noble lord's
scheme. (Hear, hear.) In the meantime it had stopped
the way of a great deal of very useful legislation. It was as
if an express train was expected. Everything had been
shunted out of the way ; but when at last it came it turned
out to be a parliamentary of the slowest possible descrip
tion. (Laughter and cheers.) Let the noble lord take i

off the line altogether, and let the proper business of the

session pursue its course. Let the noble lord, if he pleased,
throw the blame on the ,house, or let him throw it all on
him—(loud laughter)—but if he adopted this course he
would do the country a real service. (Hear, hear.)