The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-08 00:00:00

doekyards and leave off buildisig ships. All that the
Government wanted to do was to deal with their cannon
as they had done with their small arms, namely, to have
them under' the control of the Government, which would
be a check upon the trade, wh;l- it would enable the
Government to maize things they knew were good. The
hon. gentleman said the 6ovcrnincnt might try the
cannon, but was that a test of the goodness of the
cannon They might not burst after the first discharge,
but they did burst after a certain number of discharges,
so that unless the Government got cannons and fired
them off as many timee as they were fired off in action,
they could not tell whether they were sound or not.
Many (.f the mortars and cannons which had been lately
taken bur,t after a few discharges.
Sir C. NAPIER agreed with the noble lord that Go-
vernment should have factories of their own. During
the whole of the last war it was a very rare thing to hear
of a cannon bursting, and the reason they burst lately
was that they were fired too frequently. He was at the
siege of Martinique, which was taken by mortars, and he
never heard that they were fired more than once in a
quarter of an hour. At Sweaborg they were fired as
fast as they could be loaded, and the consequence was
that they burst.

Mr. SPOONER said it frequently happened with the
greatest possible care that workmen .found that their
work had gone wrong, and then they had patched it up
to prevent the loss of money which otherwise they might
sustain.

Lord PALMERSTON said that in these cases the
Government were the first to discover the faults.
Mr. SPOONER—Yes, but the guns burst fir, t.
Lord PALMERSTON said that it the contractor had
discovered the flaws, he would not have sent their work
in out of respect for his own character.
Mr. B. CARTER put a question to the Clerk of the
Ordnance in reference to a large military hospital to be
established at Southampton, the cost of which he under-
stood would be 150,0001.
Mr. MONSELL—The Government had taken a great
deal of care about the hospital, and had selected South-
ampton as the site, it having been recommended to them
by high medical authorities, namely, Sir James Clarke
and Dr. Middleton. The Inspector General of Fortifi-
catiens had received instructions to report generally in
reference to branch hospitals.
The vote was then agreed to, and the house resumed.
Lord PAL MERSTPN said the Government would
proceed with the Police Bill on Monday.
METROPOLIS LOCAL MANAGEMENT.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL postponed this bill
until after Easter.

Lord CHELSEA. said that the bringing in this bill
had given strength to all the doubts which had arisen
upon the act which this bill was intended to amend.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said his object in
postponing the bill was the impossibility of proceeding
with it before Easter in the face of the formidable oppo-
sition with which it was threatened.
The Out-Pensioners (Greenwich and Chelsea) Bill was
read a third time and passed.
The Marine Mutiny Bill and the Mutiny Bill wore
rend a second time and passed.
The Consolidated Fund (26,000,000/.) Bill was road a
third time and passed.
The house adjourned at twenty-five minutes past one.