The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-08 00:00:00

were so, was it not desirable to encourage packet stations in
Ireland, to promote the same objects ? (Hear.) Let the
house act on the true principles of political economy by
abolishing all bounties and subsidies, and then Ireland
would beat England in the American traffic, because they
could sail faster and cheaper. They incurred a net loss of
£500,000 for England to foster commerce and the building
of large ships ; but the moment a trifling sum of £72,000
was granted to a line from Ireland, on which it was by no
means certain that a single penny of the public money
would be lost, then the principles of pclitical economy, or
rather the commercial rivalry and hostility of the conntry,
were set in motion to resist it. (Hear, hear.) He thought
the late Government were entitled to great credit and honour

for resisting this feeling, and doing justice to Ireland.
Mr. BEAMISH moved to re-insert at the end of the

motion the following words,
United Kingdom."
Mr. WHITESIDE said he did not intend to speak on
the amendment which had just been moved, but he could
not help expressing his surprise at the absence of the right
hon. gentleman the member for Kilmarnock after the ex-
plosion of so muoh patriotic indignation. He took part in
a meeting in Dublin ten years ago on this very subject, and
yet it was said it had been suddenly got up by the late
Government as a job. The right hon. gentleman, after
assuming everything in his own favour, walked out of the
house. (Hear.) There is not a town or city in Ireland, ex-
cept Cork and L;merick, which had interests of their own
in the matter, which did not express their desire in favour
of the packet-station at Galway. A noble lord who was
not now in the Cabinet, for what reason he did not know,
congratulated the promoters on the success of the under-
taking, which had been now established by experiment.
The noble lord who wrote the letter in which that avowal

" beyond the limits of the

was made was Lord Clarendon. (Hear.) It was no small
advantage that the• dangers of the Channel passage were
avoided by the establishment of the Galway line. The
house would recollect the calamity which happened to the
Great Britain. Another vessel was also wrecked in passing
down the Channel. He did not like to name the vessel,

because which of them it was he forgot. (Loud laughten
But independently of its commercial and political advan-
tages, the quick passage by the Galway line conferred a
benefit on the second and third class passengers which they
could not get by any other route. Did they suppose that
the people of Ireland could like to see their letters and
draughts carried past their own shores, and brought back
after a delay of two or three days ? (Hear.) If they did
not think Ireland entitled to this small accommodation let
them say so. The memorial in favour of the Galway line
was signed by Baron Rothschild, by Peabody and Co.,
Masterman, Peters, and Co., and by great numbers of com-
mercial men in Manchester and Birmingham. No doubt
the Galway line would benefit Belfast, and would not benci-
fit Liverpool, and the upshot, he thought, would be that the
linens of the north of Ireland would be conveyed to the west
of Ireland, instead of being shipped across to Liver-
pool. (Hear, hear.) He claimed this as a matter of right
to Ireland if it was just, and he had no fear that it would
be proved to be just, provided the committee was not com-
posed of those who were determined to condemn first and
inquire after. (Heir.)
Mr. COWPER said that the right hon. gentleman made
an unfair charge on the right hon. member for Kilmarnock,
because he had loft the house after making d temperate
speech. (" Hear, hear," and " Oh, oh.") His right hon.
friend gave chapter and verse fcr everything he said, and
after the remarks of the right hen. gentleman (Mr. Disraeli)
he could not have supposed that the house would enter into
the subject. But the right hon. and learned gentleman,
instead of meeting the case against the Government, ap-
pealed to the patriotic feelings of Irishmen, and made it a
question as between England and Ireland. Nothing had
been said which could lend the slightest shadow of accuracy
to such a view as that. He for one was delighted that Ire-
land had a packet communication of her own. But no such
scheme had ever been proposed as a Government would
have been justified in adopting. The complaint against
the late Government was not because they chose to estab-
lish a Galway:packet service, but because they chose to estab-
lish a duplicate line at the same time that they extended the
Cunard contract. (Hear,hear.) If they had wished to deal
economically with the finances of the country, instead of
extending the Cunard contract, they would have looked for-
ward to a reduction of it, and a transfer of some portion of
the service to the new line from Galway to the United
States. If that had been done there would have been no
complaints. The Government were censured because they
disregarded the principle laid down in the letter of the Sec-
retary to the Treasury, and gave the contract without any
competition. There was no objection to an Irish line. The
objection was only to the way in which the contract had
been given, and that he hoped would be sifted by the com-
' mittee. In the case of the Dover contract the Government
had shown a similar disregard of the principle of competi-
tion, and renewing the contract while it had four years to
run, had deprived the public of possibly a very great ad-
vantage.
Lord NAAS was glad to hear the right hon. gentleman
admit that a great public object would be attained by the
establishment of a direct line from Galway to America..
(Hear, hear.) The right hon. member for Kilmarnock had
denounced the whole scheme from beginning to end as a
profligate waste of public money. (Hear, hear.) What was
the course taken by the late Go' ernraent ? They found a
company at Galway in possession of the ground and per-
forming the service, and they gave them the contract. It
was quite true the line had not been put up to public com-
petition, but there was no absolute rule that it should be so.
Great stress had been laid on the letter of Lord Colchester,
but he said he would not object to the contract if any great
public object would be attained by it, and if the remunera-
tion was made dependent on the success. The Treasury had
carried out that principle, and unless the line was successful,
the promoters would not be entitled to the remuneration.
Putting Ireland entirely out of the question, the new line
would materially improve the communication, as it appeared
that the company were bound to perform the service in 24
hours less than the average of the Cunard line. The whole
matter had been most carefully considered by the Govern-
ment, and he had no doubt that, when the promoters had
an opportunity of setting their case before the committee,
they would be able to show that the scheme would confer
enormous benefits not only on Ireland but on this country
and on Europe at large. (Hear) if direct telegraphic com-
munication with America was not established, the compara-
tive advantages would be still greater. He believed that
rival interests and commercial jealousy had a good deal to
do with this opposition. He begged the house to recollect
that of the large sums voted for postal services none went
to any ocean steamers starting from Ireland. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. EWART could assure the house that as far as Liver-
pool was concerned, there was no feeling of jealousy in the
matter. He had denounced the transaction from the first on
account of the conduct of the Treasury. He and his col-
league had gone there to ask that if the Government had
decided on establishing a line of steamers from Galway,
they would put it up for public competition, if that had been
done no complaints would have been made. (Hear.)
Col. DUNNE was glad of the discussion, as it would
show the people of Ireland that the first act of the new Go-
vernment was to upset the only advantage they had received
for many years. (" Hear, hear," and "No, no.") If the
tenders had been open to public competition, the line could
never have been worked at all, as it would have been taken
by persons who would not work it. The Irish members
must look carefully to the selection of the committee, and
see that they were not all excluded from it, as they were
fi °in the present Government. (Hear.)
Sir H. WILLOUGHBY considered that the motion be-
fore the house had been lost sight of. (Hear.) The ques-
tion was whether they would not appoint a committee to
investigate the mode in which' these contracts were made.
He doubted, however, whether the proposed inquiry was
not too large, and he would suggest that an easier and
simple remedy might be devised, by requiring that when-
ever any subvention was granted to a company, it should
be proposed to the house by a responsible Minister, and be
treated as a public bill.
Sir F. BARING had observed that the naval estimates
contained a vote on account of the Dover contract. He
would suggest that the vote be postponed until after the
committee had inquired into the subject. If the vote was
once agreed to, they could hardly rescind the contract. He
would suggest that a rule should be made requiring that all
these contracts should be laid on the table, and not be valid
unless they were unobjected to for a certain time after.
Mr. MAGUIRE had expected that the motion would
have been agreed to as a matter of course, but it appeared
the jealousy of a right hon. gentleman had been excited to
such an extent as to induce him to make a violent attack.
on the late Government. (Hear, hear.) It was a custom
to charge Ireland with want of exertion and self-depen-
dence, but as soon as the Galway people showed they
were possessed of both every attempt was made to
excite and foment local jealousy in Ireland against them.
He had no feeling of the kind. He believed Cork har-
bour was the first in the world, and it would right itself ;
but even at present the Lever enterprise had served it, as it
had directed the attention of shipowners to it, and two lines
now touched there and landed their mails and passengers.
If the Government attempted to interfere in order to inflict
a posthumous blow on their predecessors, they would excite
the indignation of every community in Ireland. (Hear.) If
there were any difficulties in the harbour of Galway why
not remove them and give Ireland a share of the millions
that were spent on the harbours of this country. He trusted
the people of Galway would reap the advantages of their
energy, and his proposal to give an additional subsidy of
£2,500 to Sir S. Cunard for calling at Cuba was intended in
no spirit of antagonism to the Lever enterprise. (Hear.)
Lord J. BROWNE had heard, with great pain, from
the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the
Galway contract NUM still in embryo. There were no com-
plaints of granting public money to steamships so long as
the monopoly was confined to England, but as soon as Ire-
land got a share the virtuous indignation of the economist
was excited. In what was Liverpool superior to Galway ?
It was three or four hundred miles further from America,
or fully a day and a half, so that would be a saving of at
least a day, and still more for Irish letters. Was Ireland to
have an equality in nothing else but taxation ? He thought
the best thing to be done would be to let both contracts run
out, and then throw the whole open to competition from
every port, and let whichever offered the best terms get it.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER wished to
explain one or two points which had been raised. With
regard to the ,discouragement of Irish enterprise, he could
assure the house there was no such feeling. He could not
help saying that what had taken place had shown one of
the evils that belonged to all systems of subsidies. The in-
evitable effect of the system of granting subsidies in aid of
private enterprise was to give rise to jealousy and ill-will
between different establishments, all seeking for Govern-
mental aid. With regard to the order in which the com-
mittee would act he declined to anticipate, but with re-
ference to the manifest convenience of such a course the
subject of the Galway contract would first be considered.
At the same time, considering that the Dover contract, to
which allusion had been made, was one which Would occupy
perhaps but a limited time, it might perhaps be judged ex-
pedient to take that in the first instance. An hon. friend of
his suggested that the motion should be extended so as to
give the committee power to consider the principle of these
contracts. He had no objection to the alteration proposed,
but he must say that he thought it unnecessary. As the re-
solution stood it was for a committee to inquire into the
system of these contracts, and to offer recommendations to
the house on the subject.' To do this it followed that the
committee should consider the principle involved in the
whole subject. It remained for him to state to the house the
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course which the Government intended to pursue pending
this inquiry. The Government considered that whilst the
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temmpro.rßarEyAchmariasciiter;vito take that course.
suggested.
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ROADS.
Sir he
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bring in a bill to amend
the law relating 1 o highway roads. He reminded the house
LEWISLow
that this was a subject of no mean importance. In the year
1855 the amount levied by the Highway Act alone was
£1,181,000. The total amount raised for the purpose of re-
pairing the highways was £2,106,000, whilst the total ex-
penditure was £2,126,000. Now, the whole of this expendi-
ture had been managed by different local authorities, acting
wholly independent of each other. The six counties of
South Wales presented the only exception. Various bills