The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-24 00:00:00

THE SLAVE-TRADE.

Lord PALMERSTON wished to know when the papers as
regarded the convention made between the American and
British Governments with respect to the slave trade would be
laid on the table.

Sir T. FREMANTLE said that he should be able to give
an answer on Monday to that question.
Captain PECHELL inquired whether the Admiralty could
give any information as to the number of vessels belonging to
America employed on the African statien, under the convention
with America.

Sir T. FREAIANTLE replied that if the Admiralty were
in possession of the information desired by the Hon. and Gallant
Member he should have it.

GUANO.
Mr. SLIMES wished to know whether any and what steps
had been taken by the Government with respect to the guano
which was at present obtained for nothing from the vicinity of
the Cape of Good Hope by vessels going there.
Mr. CARDWELL said that permission had been given for
the guano to be taken at present ; but some arrangements were
in contemplation by the Government. lie had forgotten to
bring down the papers, but would give a definite answer on
Monday next.
MAILS TO THE SCILLY ISLANDS.
An HON. MEMBER complained of the great expenses which
were charged for the conveyance of the mails to the Scilly
Islands. He had been informed that some time since a contract
had been entered into with a Navigation Company, to convey
the mail bags for 751. ; but in consequence of a dispute for 251.
a year more with the Post-office, which they refused to grant,
the mails had not been transmitted at all. In order to save the
expense of the 251., and to obviate the difficulty, the Treasury
obtained an order from the Admiralty for two Government
vessels to convey the mails. He had recently called for a re.
turn of the expense of those vessels, and found that no less a
sum than 1,300/. had been charged. So that this enormous
comparative expenditure had been incurred in order to save a
paltry 251. He wished to know whether this expense was to
be charged to the Post -office or to the Treasury? The revenue
was greatly diminished by the disgraceful manner in which
mails were conveyed.
Mr. CARDWELL said the Hon. Member had taken him
quite by surprise, as the motion was not on the paper. If the
Hon. Member would give notice, he would willingly attend
to it.

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY.—NAVY ESTIMATES.
On the motion that the House do resolve itself into a Com-
mittee of Supply on the Navy Estimates,
Sir C. NAPIER said he thought it was his duty to call the
attention of the House to the great expenditure included in
the navy estimates for the last five years, which amounted to
the sum of 5,552,710/. This amount referred only to the
stores supplied for the purpose of building ships. He wished
to have some satisfactory explanation given as to the manner in
which the money had been spent, if one could be given ; but
he thought he should prove to the House that the money had
not been properly expended. He had a statement to make
which would show the great necessity that existed to look a
little more closely into the mode in which the public money
had been spent. In the year 1841, before the present Ministry
came into power, two vessels of very large dimensions were
built on a new principle propounded by Sir W. Symonds, the
surveyor to the Admiralty. One of these vessels was called
the Queen, and, when finished, was sent out to a station in
the Mediterranean. The second was named the Albion. The
Queen had been sent out to a foreign station without any trial
whatever having been given previously to her sailing, and a
large amount had been expended on her construction, which
was entirely novel. Other vessels had been subsequently
made on a similar principle, and he believed none of these had
been subjected to a sufficient trial. He considered that be-
fore any Government expended so large an amount in building
vessels on a new principle, they ought to be subjected to a severe
and long trial before others of a similar nature were con-
structed. Ile believed the Queen was about to be put to the
test, and he wished cordially that the trial might succeed ; but
even if she did succeed there was little doubt that great altera-
tions would be required to be made. The same condition of
things might almost be applied to the Albion. He did not
think that, under existing circumstances, any officer would be '
able to say whether she was a good ship or a bad ship. It was
true she had been tried at two stations, but no officer had as yet
expressed his approbation of any of her qualifications. He had
shown what was the character of the late Board of Admiralty,
and he thought it was his duty now to state what was the charac-
ter of the present. When they came into power, instead of
taking warning from the ill-directed experiments of their pre-
decessors, they followed blindly in their steps. They laid down
the Prince of Wales from the plan of Mr. Lang, to afford a com-
parison with several others which were laiddown, and were in-
tended to be built by Sir W. Symonds, and was very likely
that an opportunity would very shortly be afforded of seeing the
result of building them on these principles. He was quite aware