The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-25 00:00:00

GRAVESEND PIER BILL,

Mr. TOOKE presented a petition from the Magistrates
and inhabitants of Gravesend, praying that the sale of a piece
of ground near Gravesend Pier, which was to take place on
the 30th inst., might not be completed. The petitioners
complained of the conduct of the Board of Ordnance in their
negociations with them respecting the sale of that ground,
which the petitioners were desirous of purchasing. They said
that the sale now advertised would prove a complete nuisance
to them, and to the inhabitants of London who resorted to
Gravesend, and they prayed the House to cause that sale to
be suspended, and the ground to be reserved for public use and
convenience. He considered that time should be given to
enable the parties to purchase at a reasonable price the land in
question. _ _

Col. LEITH HA Y considered that as he had been a
member of the late Board, it was necessary that he should
give some explanation on the subject of this petition.--(Cries
of " Hear, hear.") It had been determined by the late
Board of Ordnance that a sale of the property which
had been mentioned should take place, and that determina-
tion having been advertised, the Corporation of Gravesend
expressed a wish to become the purchasers of this land. The
sale was postponed in consequence of this application, and an
offer made to the Corporation by the Board of Ordnance, that
the property should be sold to them, with certain reservations,
for a particular sum. That offer was declined. Subsequently to
that a meeting of the inhabitants of Gravesend had taken place,
when it was deemed advisable to reconsider the offer that had
been made ; or they were desirous of purchasing the land for the
embellishment of the. town, and for preventing buildings upon
it which they considered would be detrimental to the beauty
of the place. The Board of Ordnance, considering these
parties were worthy of attention, and wishing to act with kind-
ness towards the inhabitants, endeavoured to effect a negotiation.
After some ineffectual attempts at an arrangement, the
Board of Ordnance conceived it their duty to break off the
agreement. They did not, however, act exclusively on their
own judgment; they took the opinion of the Attorney-Gene-
ral, whe gave it as his conviction that the contract was
rendered altogether nugatory, by the conduct of these
parties and that the Board of Ordnance might re-advertize
those premises for public sale. Upon this the property in
question was advertised to be sold by public auction,
and reference was again made to Sir James Kempt, who en-
tirely concurred with what the Board of Ordnance had done.
The sale was obstructed on the day appointed—
Sir E. KNATCHBULL—Postponed.
Colonel LEITH HAY—Well, postponed—and it was
stated on these grounds that it was necessary to have
further consideration, whether in a military point of view
this piece of ground ought to be preserved. The fact was,
this point underwent consideration in 1834, when a Committee,
composed of members-of the Board of Ordnance came to the
determination that the property ought to be sold. There was
not the slightest doubt that if these premises had been put up in
lots, without reservation, they would have brought a larger sum
than that which they chose to bargain for. Under
these circumstances he did hope the House would deem it
conclusive, not to grant the demand of the petitionrs.
Sir E. KNATCHBUL I, complained of the grave charges
that had been brought against the Board of Ordnance by
the Hon. and Gallant Member—charges which he begged
to say were not borne out by the statements in the petition.
Colonel LEITH HA Y explained. What he had said was
that the late Board of Ordnance had made arrangements for

the sale of a considerable portion of property ; ar.(l the present
Board, without seeing any papers, or knowing any thing of the
matter, had put a step to the sale.
Sir E. KNATCHBULL entered into a lentthened expla-
nation of the conduct of the present Board of Ordnance, and,
as we understood him, vindicated them from the charges con-
tained in th 3 petition. From the low tone in which the Right
Hon, iiaronet spoke, we found it impossible to catch a single
Sentence of his observations.

Mr. D. W. HARVEY considered this to be a very modest
application on the part of the little rising town of Gravesend,
praying for no less a sum than three of 4,000/. cut of the pub-
lic purse. He took the statement on the authority of a gentleman
connected with the Board of Ordnance. As a guardian of
the public property, he must enter his protest against so deal-
ing with the public purse, because, if the House gave a grant
to Gravesend,. other places would make a similar application.
Southend required a pier, and would no doubt also feel grate-
ful to the House if it gave 3,000/. cut of the public purse
for that purpose. He did not think it becoming on the
part of a public Company to be driving an ungenerous
bargain with the people. He suggested that a competent per-
son ought to be appointed to ascertain what was the value of
the 'property sold, and that that amount should be given the
Corporation, deducting 10 or 15 per cent. for accommodation.
Thus the public purse would be respected, and the public pro-
perty protected.
Sir E. KNATCHBULL made a few observations in ex-
planation.
Mr: G. F. YOUNG regretted that the attention of the
House had been laid aside from the subject to the difference be-
tween the Corporation of Gravesend and the Board of Ordnance.
The prayer of the petition was not for a loan of three or four
thousand pounds, as the Hon. Member for Southwark stated.
All they required was leave to purchase ground from the
Crown for the local interests of Gravesend. No prayer, he
submitted, was better entitled to the attention of the House.

Major B AU CLE RK made some observations, which were
inuadible in the Gallery.
Mr. WARBURTON supported tho view taken of the
question by the Honourable Member for Southwark
(Mr. D. W. Harvey.) He agreed with him, that
the value of the lands should be ascertained, by
the Board of Ordnance, and that m allow:Lace of 10 per
cent. should be made to the purchaser in consideration of de.
voting the same to public accommodation ; and he was also of
opinion that a Trustee should be appointed, to see that the
funds were not devoted to private purposes.
Sir F. TRENCH expressed his,coneurrenee in the second
suggestion which had been made, and hoped. that whatever
was done, the public service would be considered paramount
to private interest.

Mr. TOOKE declared that he never wanted to see a public
enterprise diverted to any private purpose whatever.
The conversation then dropped.
• BREACH OF PRIVILEGE.

Upon Lord JOHN RUSSELL rising to propose his mo-
tion upon this subjoct,
Sir EDWARD CODRINGTON instantly rose, and beg-
ged to say, that in consequence of what had passed yesterday,
certain explanations had been given with which he was per-
fectly satisfied. He had had an opportunity of clearing up
what he did say, and he thought that what had been done
would be a sufficient lesson to those persons \rho had rendered
the course he had taken necessary, and he hoped the Noble
Lord would let the matter drop.
Lord .1. RUSSELL rose, but from the very low tone in
which the Noble Lord spoke, and the noise occasioned by
the sudden entrance of Hon. Members, it was scarcely
possible to hear a word the Noble Lord said. We understood
him to say that he was quite convinced that the Hon. and
Gallant Admiral's character was beyond injury from any such
imputations as those that had been cast upon it.—( Hear, hear:. )
It was therefore only upon public grounds that it was necessary
to bring forward this question. If he brought it' forward
at all it was solely upon public grounds. He *was certainly in
the hands of the House, and would act as the House should think
fit. His Hon. and Gallant Friend's character could not suffer
the least injury from an anonymous Hear, hear.) It
was not therefore to clear the character of the Hon. and Gal-
lant Admiral that be intended to bring forward the subject, but
because there was a general opinion that the character and
dignity of the House had been insulted.
Sir R. PEEL hoped the Noble Lord would not bring
forward the subject.—( Hear.) He sliduld be very sorry if a
precedent were established, which would render it neces-
sary for every public man to bring forward subjects
of this nature, when imputations were cast upon them in the
newspapers. If the Noble Lord was anxious to become the
champion of the House, he could supply him with a great
variety of cases.—( A laugh.) The lion. and Gallant Admi-
ral having expressed his opinion, and having entreated the
Noble Lord not to bring forward the subject, he had not any
doubt, therefore, but that the feeling of the House was, that
they should not establish a precedent by which every Member
of Parliament who was attacked, and might have the grossest
imputations cast upon him, would feel bound to defend himself
in that House.
Sir H. HARDINGE concurred in all that had been said
by his Right • Honourable Friend ( Sir Robert Peel). Had
he been inclined to follow the course which had been pur-
sued by the Noble Lord (Russell), he might have come
down to that House and complained or some very gross attacks
that had been made on him within the last forty-eight hours.
—( A laugh.) He thought it, however, much better to ab-
stain from doing so, as he thought that the attacks were too
contemptible for" notice—( Hear, hear)—and he would not,
therefore, notice them.

Mr. SINCLAIR. rose, but was received by a general cry
of " Oh;" which completely drowned the observations of the
Hon. Member.
DISSENTERS' MARRIAGES.

Mr. DUNCOMBE wished to know when it would be con-
venient for the Right Hon. Baronet to bring in his Bill with
respect to Dissenters' Marriages. The present feeling of anxiety
out of doors had alone induced him to ask the question.
Sir R. PE EL said that when he mo% ed for leave to bring in
the Bill it was entirely prepared, and it was only for the purpose
of introducing some valuable suggestions that the Bill had
been delayed. In stating this he begged it to be understood
that he did not want to invite further suggestions. No per-
son but a Chancellor- of the; Exchequer could answer for the
number of useless suggestions that wera made to him, such as
putting a tax on umbrellas and such things.—( A laugh.)
He was in hopes of being enabled, in the course of a few days
to lay the Bill on the- table of the House.