The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-25 00:00:00

THE GALWAY PACKET STATION.

A public meeting was held in Galway on Friday,
under the presidency of the High Sheriff, for the
purpose of hearing from the Rev. Peter Daly a de-
tailed statement of his two months' mission to Lon-
don, and the present position and prospects of the
packet-station scheme. The rev. gentleman, having
at great length given an account of his various
interviews with the official magnates, read the fol-
lowing communication from the Treasury, which
he had received a few days since while staying in
Dublin :

"Sir,—l Tmia-enasduedry-bChtahmebLers,dlulyls.am corn"
Commis-
sioners her Majesty's Treasury to oarrci.saulaionotnsyiodu
jtleaciehrdahcaadi consid-
eration
oeoomcfsunesyai
e.
your
addressed
oorrutrlaordtnoshlfthehe;rttasfhevi‘
Majesty's
been
oauhEifbae
Exchequer,
the
:hen
money
enps6c
idoGt
unes
eors rivi
bti:h set r
addressedca to the
t
Government
ea.innnmfdoaerintdlt: eooynf mltGeohmraedi osws rniabtayo_i
consider this case without referring to the general
question of harbours of refuge, and to the
numerous similar applications now pending from
other places, both in Ireland and Great Britain.
A select committee of the House of Commons,
and a royal commission appointed last year to
report upon the question of harbours of refuge
pointed Out several localities in Great Britain and
Ireland where such harbours would be of great utility
for the protection of life and for the security of ship-
ping, but the demands on the Treasury for other
purposes have prevented such recommendations
from being for the present even considered. It is
obviously still more difficult to entertain the appli-
cation of any place for a harbour of refuge which
is not included in the recommendations of the com-
mittee and commissioners; and the claims of 'Gal-
-1 sat
ayb nil
I suhsmt re
ens:
off oar
mthe ps re er
vs ei
en
et
tentirelyto uApmo ne r
itehae.
The contract for this service having just been re-
ferred, with other existing and pending contracts
of a similar nature, to a select committee of the
House of Commons, it would clearly be premature
for her Majesty's Government to enter upon any
pledge for the expenditure of public money upon
saonyrelfiearrib.eodunr
ndteipl etihideinrgesunpltonofanthyatofretfhereecnoenetrshacarl
have been submitted for the consideration of Par-
liament. My Lords further observe that the case
does not appear to be one of extreme urgency, as
the naval officers who reported to the Admiralty
of the 30th of November, 1858, in favour of Gal-
way as a packet station stated that some slight
works, which may be executed at a cost of about
£2,000, and which do • not appear to require any
Government grant, being quite within the powers
of the harbour commissioners, will provide for the
more pressing wants of Galway as a packet station;
and that passengers and goods might then gene-
rally be landed and embarked without risk, and
the steamers might be navigated with safety, and
be in the roadstead with tolerable shelter and seeur-
rity ; and they only recommend more extensive
schemes in case the experience for 12 months should
prove that a permanent packet station at Galway
is required for Ireland, or for the general advan-
tage of the United Kingdom. Neither is the exist-
ing evidence respecting the proper mode and cost
ofimproving Galway harbour sufficiently distinct
and matured to warrant the Government in pledging
themselves to any advance of public money without
further inquiry, even if other circumstances admitted
of their doing so. At present the only evidence upon
the subject consists of the report of the commis-
sion of naval officers of 1852, who decided against
Galway as dangerous or unfit for the terminus
of a rapid and regular mail service, giving pre-
ference for that purpose to the Shannon ; and the
report of the naval officers above referred to, who,
ofin at he
comprehensive
qualified
scheme, aatfti oenr which
ntthhesy,
egxapvee_
Hence, describe those alternative places, estimated
to cost in two cases £300,000 each, and in the other
£150,000, without expressing any decided pre.