The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-14 00:00:00

THE SUN,' LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JULY 14, 1866.

a startling illustration of the manners and customs of their
nation. (Laughter and cheers.)

UNMARRIED EXCISEMEN.

Mr. BLACK asked the Secretary to the Treasurywhether
there were any regulations prohibiting men engaged in the
preventive service on the coast of Scotland from getting
married ; whether those regulations were placed in the
hands of the men when they joined the service ; and whe-
ther the Lords of the Treasury imagined that such regula-
tions, if they existed, ought to be maintained.

THE GALWAY PACKET CONTRACT.
Sir S. NORTHCOTE, in rising to ask a question as to
the present state of the negotiation. which has lately been
carried on for the transfer of the Galway packet contract to
the Montreal and Ocean Steam Navigation Company, said
he had no wish to bring on a general discussion on this sub-
ject, but merely wished to set right certain misrepresenta-
tions which had appeared in the public papers, and which
were, perhaps, confirmed to some extent by the remarks of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer last night. He would appeal
to the Government not to act hastily in this matter, and not
to excite any prejudice against the proposed transfer before
the question was brought before the house. Hitherto the
decision of the Government had been adverse to the trans-
fer of the contract. Now, from the statements in the news-
papers, as well as from those made by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, the public might imagine that this was a
transaction which had been suddenly entered into ; that it
was, in fact, a proposal made by the Galway company, find-
ing themselves in difficulties, to get rid of their contract to
another company ; that the subject had been brought before
the Government without previous notice, and that, not be-
ing- afforded sufficient time to consider it, the Government
felt obliged to refuse their sanction to the arrangement.
That was by no means the real state of the case. In the first
place, it was not a question between one company and an-
other, but between the Galway company and the Provincial
Government of Canada. In the next place, it arose out of
a suggestion made by a rather high extra-official authority,
Mr. Cobden, chairman of the Packet Contract Committee,
last session. Then, again, it had not been brought forward
at the last moment, but had been under discussion ever
since August or September last. Nor had it been pressed
suddenly upon the notice of the Government for any pur-
poses of the company. It was a negotiation carried on be-
tween the company and the representatives of the Canadian
Government deliberately, and, as was understood, with the
cognisance and sanction of the Home Government ; the rea-
son why an early decision was desired from the Home Govern-
ment being that the representatives of the Canadian Govern
ment were anxious to go back by the mail of Wednesday last.
The company themselves were not in any hurry for an an-
swer; they were prepared to wait until the Ist of August. The
representatives of the Canadian Government were Mr. Galt,
Finance Minister, and Mr. Smythe, Postmaster-General ;
and it would be obvious that two such functionaries could not
conveniently be absent from the 'colony for any length of
time, especially at the period of the Prince of Wales's visit,
and during the September elections. It was with a view to
consult the convenience of these gentlemen and the province
that the Government were pressed for a speedy answer. The

facts as regarded the Canadian Ministry were these—After
the Galway contract had been sanctioned by the late Go-
vernment, it was brought to the notice of the Packet Con-
tract Committee that great injury had thereby been in-
flicted en Canada, because the Canadians, finding it neces-
sary for their purposes to maintain and subsidise a line of
steamers between the two countries, now found a new com-
petitor in the field, so that their steamers were running
under great disadvantage. They were then subsidising their
steamers with £50,000 a-year, recently increased to upwards
of £lOO,OOO, and they were naturally annoyed therefore at
the rivalry of a company subsidised by the mother country.
At the close of last session this state of facts being brought
to the notice of the Packet Committee, Mr. Cobden sug-
gested to the representative of Canada, the Minister of Pub-
lie Works, who was examined before the committee, that
some arrangement might possibly be made between the
Galway Packet Company and the Canadian Government.
Communications were accordingly entered into, in the course
of September and October last, with the Chancellor of the
Exchequer and the Colonial Secretary, in order to ascertain
whether, in the event of such an arrangement being con-
cluded, it would receive the sanction of the Government.
The reply was that the subject wasbefore a select committee,
and that it was impossible for Government to take it up.
The negociation accordingly fell through. The select com-
mittee took a good deal of evidence on the subject. They
did not go the length of recommending a transfer of the
contract, but they mentioned it in rather favourable terms.
He understood that immediately after the report was pub-
lished, possibly before, negotiations were resumed; Mr. Galt
and Mr. Smythe came over with a view to purchase the con-
tract from the company; and it was arranged at last that the
Canadian Government should pay the company a subsidy of
£35,000 a-year, the company assigning to them the contracts
for the conveyance of the mails between Galway and Boston
and New York. Of course this was made subject to the ap-
proval of Government, and the intention was that the mails
should be carried to a Canadian instead of an American
port. These terms being agreed upon, as the company and
the Colonial Government understood, with the cognisance
and the approval of the Treasury and the Post-office, the
agreement was reduced into writing, and signed by the re-
grilelsyetnliVoiii pe of
art OffhPealgfonad by .
these rectaait waenrde
noti-
fied to the Treasury, and, though they might not havebeen
brought personally under the notice of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, they were so far within the cognisance of
the Treasury that an official letter was written to the Post-
office mentioning this proposal, and the Post-office accord-
ingly communicated to the company that, instead of the
mails being sent on the next occasion by the Connaught, a
Galway boat they would be transferred to the Not th Britain
belonging to the company subsidised by the Canadian Go-
vernment. That notice was also published by the Post-office
in the form of an official advertisement, and was therefore
recognised by them in the moat complete way on the au-
thority of the Treasury letter. The parties were thus led to
believe, not without reason, that the proposed transfer was
sanctioned by the Government so far as it could be sanc-
tioned. They were aware that the Government could au •
thorise nothing but the transfer of the subsidy, the subsidy
itself being contingent on the vote of this house, and all
they wished was to understand whether the Government
bad any objection to the transfer. Of course the arrange-
ment would be very advantageous to the Canadian Govern-
ment. They now paid a subsidy of £lOl,OOO a-year, and if
they paid the Galway Company £35,000 a-year, deducting
£78,000 the amount given by the Home Government, their
expenditure would be materially reduced. lie would not
go into the merits of the case as regarded the bargain with
the Galway Company, but it was not so unreasonable as
the public press seemed to consider. The Galway Com-
pany had incurred large expenses in the establishment
of this line ; and, having established it and taken
steps to give Ireland a permanent packet port, they
wished to diminish the losses they had sustained by hand-
ing over the mails to the Canadian Government, which
would secure the interests of the colony as well as the inte-
rests of Ireland, Considerable consternation had therefore
been excited by the statement of the Chancellor of the E
chequer that Government at the last moment had altogether
refused their sanction to this agreement. He did not ask on
the present occasion for any pledge. He only hoped that
the Government would not take any final step in the matter
before the house had had an opportunity of considering it ;
and, following up the hint of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
last night, he would ask whether his right hon. friend was
aware that Mr. Galt and Mr. Smythe had deferred their de-
parture till next Wednesday, whether there had been any
communication with them, and whether the question was
still considered an open one. (Hear.)
Mr. BAXTER trusted that, whatever decision the Go-
vernment might come to on the Galway contract they would
not sanction the assignment of the contract to the Montreal
Ocean Steam Navigation Company. The house was aware
that the late Government gave a subsidy of £78,000 a-year
for seven years to the Galway Company, and that the pur-
chase money paid for this contract by the Montreal Corn-
pang was to be £35,000 a-year for seven years. This was an
admission that the service might have been performed for a
less sum by £35,000 than the subsidy agreed to be paid.
(Cries of " No.") Mr. Lever, as the house would see by
the evidence, came before the committee and told them that
the service between Galway and the United States could
not be performed either by the screw steamers of the Liver-
pool and Philadelphia Company, or by those belonging to
the Montreal Ocean Steam Navigation Company. It was
also stated that four vessels of large tonnage and increased
power were being built by the Galway Company in order
to perform the service better than it had hitherto been
done. It now turned out that these ships were not to
be placed on the station, and that the service was to
be performed by those very screw steamers of the Mon-
treal Company which Mr. Lever declared to be ineffi-
cient to carry it out. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
was probably not aware that the Montreal Ocean Steamship
Company had recently lost three of their best ships, and
that they were building new vessels to supply that loss. lie
believed that the intelligence of the purchase and assignment
of this contract had excited the astonishment, if not the
indignation, of those concerned in steam navigation in this
country.

Sir F. T. BARING did .not intend to enter into the
merits of the case, and regretted that the hon. baronet (Sir
S. Northeote) had brought on a premature discussion instead
of postponing it until the vote was laid upon the table.
(Hear.) But, although the hon. baronet declared ho would
not say a word on the merits of the contract, he noverheard
speech more dexterously put together to defend the course
taken by the late Government. He only hoped the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer would not come to any decision
until the house had had an opportunity of dis2u4ing the
subject. (Hear.) The select committee had indirectly re-
commended that the vote should be laid on the table for the
decision of the house. He admitted that the question was
not an easy one to decide, but the contract ought to be dis-
cussed on its own men s. Above all, the new contract ought
not to be allowed to proiuce an additional complication.
He wished also to state that Mr. Cobden's communications

were made previous to the committee coming to a decision,
and before the main part of the evidence was taken. One
of the main recommendations of the committee was that no
contract should be disposed of until the house had had a
certain time given for considering its terms. If hon. mem-
bers would read a letter in the newspapers of the previous
day'the)% would find that certain agreements had been come
to between the old contracting party and the new that might