The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-19 00:00:00

mittee of the House of Committee admitted of. (Hear,
hear.) Such an inquiry would be better conducted
by a commission than by a committee of 15 mem-
bers of Parliament, many of whom would net, of
course, be cognisant of all the difficulties and intricacies
of the subject. To this extent he was willing to meet
the proposal of the hon. and gallant member for South-
wark, but he could not consent to the second portion of
the motion. He by no means denied the great import-
ance of the subjects to which the lion. and gallant admi-
ral had referred, but what were they ? The gallant ad-
miral had adverted to the constitution and working of
the dockyard, to the whole constitution of the Board of
Admiralty, and to the whole management of the Royal
Navy. Now, he asked hon. members how soon did
they think there would be a chance of obtaining any re-
port, either from a committee or commission, if the in-
quiry was not to be confined to the question of manning
the navy, but to be extended to all those other sul jecte.
Ile thought it one of the most unbusiness-like proposals
he ever heard. The manning of the navy was a most
important, distinct, and practical question, which a body
of gentlemen might direct their attention to and
make their report on ; but if the gallant admiral
thought the constitution of the Admiralty or of the ,'ock-
yards required correction, let him make a distinct motion
on that subject ; but in the course of a long speech he had
alleged no reasons why the commission should go into
that extensive inquiry. He might be permitted to say,
however, that the present Board of Admiralty were not
negligent with regard to that subject and other subjects.
They were now engaged in organising two committees.
To one of them was to be intru,ted an inquiry into our
steam machinery and the best mode of applying steam to
the Riyal navy. That was one large subject of inquiry of
great importance. Tee other committee was to investi-
gate the present system of the dockyards. It appeared
that in reference to efficiency and economy some inquiry
was necessary. He was now preparing a committee of in-
quiry on that subject, and he believed that by such anon-
mittee the inquiry would be more effectually carried out
tune by embarrassing a committee or commission with the
investigation of the whole of these subjects. He would
give the house some little idea of the extent of these in-
quiries by stating that a very eminent individual connected
with the mercantile marine informed some of the gentle-
men organising these committees that the different heads
of inquiry could not he satisfactorily gone through
wider three years. He mentioned this to show that the
gallant admiral was preparing more work than any com-
mittee er commission could satisfactorily perform.
(Hear.) These wore the reasons why he could not con-
sent to the latter part of the motion, and therefore he
should suggest that the motion should conclude with the
words, " manning the navy." With that alteration he
was willing to consent to the motion. (Hear, hear.)
Lord PALMERSTON thought that they were all
agreed as to the great importance of the subject to
which his hon. and gallant friend had so ably called the
attention of the house, and he should not, therefore,
trouble the house with any observations in support of
the object he had in view. The only question on which
there was any difference of opinion was to the relative
advantages of a committee or commission. Perhaps
either of these means of inquiry would very suffi-
ciently accomplish the object in view, but he thought
that there were reasons why a commission was
preferable to a committee. Some of these reasons had
been indicated by the right hon. baronet opposite. In
the first place a commission was a more " continuous
service" instrument than a committee. A. commission
sat during adjournments and prorogations and could go
from place to place. In taking the evidence, there would
be more facility of interspersing conversations with ex-
aminations, and a greater freedom of communication
between the persons conducting the inquiry and the
persons examined, in the case of a commission than the
formality f proceedings in a committee would probably
allow. (Hear, hear.) He should therefore support the
motion of his hon. and gallant friend for a commission
in preference to the amendment suggesting another
mode of inquiry. (Hear, hear.) The right hon. baro-
net opposite had suggested the ezpedienoy of limiting
the inquiry to the subject mentioned in the first part
of the motion, and be would recommend his hon. and
gallant friend to accept the suggestion. That subject .
would be quite sufficient to occupy the commission
for a considerable time ; and his hon, and gallant
friend, if he succeeded by his motion in providing a good
plan for securing the manning of the navy, would accous-
plish a great national object, for which the country
would be deeply indebted to him. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WARRE concurred in the statement of the hon.
member for Norfolk, that if they wanted a good article
they must give the market price for it, and he trusted ae
the continuous service system was about to be restored,
that the house, when the proposition came before it,
would not object to vote the money for the purpose. As
the difficulty of obtaining men for the navy had been ad-
verted to, he would observe that there was no difficulty
in obtaining lads from 14 to 17 years of ago. They were
perfectly willing to enter the service, and would soon
rise into men ; and when once they began the service
they were apt to abide by it. If that were so, it
would be worth while to make some expenditure
for the purpose of :receiving a number of these lade,
and training and educating them. He preferred a
committee to a commission, as an instrument of inquiry,
and he presumed that the hon. and gallant admiral
would not be indisposed to limit his motion in the man-
ner suggested by the First Lord of the Admiralty.
Mr. BARROW was of opinion that an inquiry by a
committee of that house would be more satisfactory
than an investigation by a royal commission.
Sir C. NAPIER thanked the First Lord of the Ad-
miralty for acceding to the appointment of a commis-
facia, and expressed his readiness to adopt the suggestion
of the right hon. baronet by limiting his motion to the •
manning of the navy,

Admiral DUNCOMBE withdrew his amendment,
and

The first clause of Sir C. Napier's motion, for the ap•
pointment of a commission to inquire into the beet
means of manning the navy, was agreed to.
TITLES TO LAND (SCOTLAND).
The LORD-ADVOCATE moved for leave to bring
in a bil to simplify the forms and diminish the expense
of completing titles to laud in Scotland.
Leave was given.
REVISION OF THE VALUATION OF IRELAND.
Mr. GROGAN moved that the house resolve itself
into a committee to consider of an address to her
Majesty praying that directions might be given that the
ratepayers of Ireland be relieved from one-half of the
expenses of the annual revision of valuation, and to as•
sure her Maj,sty that the house would make good the
same.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
that there were strong grounds for the claim, and 13.
had called fur a report frarn Sir Richard Griffin on the
else, which was now in his possession, but which hi
had not been able as yet to investigate. He assured
hon. gentleman, however, that he would give his serial;
attention to the subject.
Mr. GROGAN was willing to leave the matter in the
hands of the right hon. gentleman, and withdrew hie
inotion.

WEIGHTS .A ND MEASURES BILL.
Mr. LOCKE moved the second reading of this bill.
Mr. HORSFALL moved as an amendment, that the
bill be read a second tiros that day six months.
Mr. PAGET seconded the amendment.
After some discussion,
Mr. HENLEY said it was clear, from the diversity
of opinion upon the subject, that they were not at pre'
sent in a position to I,glislate upon it. He therefore re'
commended Mr. Locke to withdraw his bill.
After some observations from Mr. LOCKE and Dlr.
PISKE,
The house then divided, when the numbers were—
For the second reading ... 84
Against...
Majority against the second —
CHURCH RATES ABOLITION BILL.
The bill was considered as ame❑ded, and the third
reading fixed for Tuesday week.
STAMP DUTY ON PASSPORTS BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
Toe house then adjourned at five minutes to 001
o'clock.