The daily gazette., 1883-02-23
rHosE IRoNCLADs.
The Senate Decides That They shail Bo
Completed-Mr. Bzyard and Ear Ian q
Hollingsworth,

4
The Senate Decides That They Shail BE
Completed-Mr. Bzyard and kar Ian a
Hollingsworth.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22.--After hriei
executive session,of the Senate the Naval
| Appropriation bill was taken up. Nh. Me
Phemon, speaking of the status of the
ofileers Of the navy under the bill said that
the shll disturbed no officers at alb. a lively
discussi0n afosc uDon the clause providing
thatn more than 25 per cent. Of thd cost
of wooden ship Should be expended in re-
pairs on any such vessel.
Mr.. Ingalls, asked why the committee had
proposed to fix the limit of repairs OF
wooden ships at 25 per cent. of the cost OF
new vessels of the same size and like
material, instead Of 20 per cent. az sug-
gested by the Secretary Of the Navy.
Mr.. Hale said the committee had put It at
25 per cent. upon the idea that that figure
would be less likely to provoke opposition,
and admitted, IN reply 10 another question
| BY Mr.. Ingalls,, that he thought II would be
wise TO accept the Secretary's suggestions.
Mr.. Ingalls, thought so to. Our old
| wooden vessels had been properly described
| BY the Secretary Of the Navy as useful only
for naval exercises for displaying the
national dag aud for spectacular purposes
| generally; they were painted ships upon
painted ocean, aud money spent upon them
| ih repairs bsyond certain limit would be
wasted. Therefore he moved to amend by
making the limit 90 per cent. instead df 25.
The amendment was adopted and the
provision 50 amended was agreed to- yeas,
SO; nays, II. s, .ss, a
When the paragraph appropriating ST.
000, 600 for the completion OF thu iTonNclads
IN accordance with the recommendations OF
the Naval Advisory Board was reached Mr..
Mcpherson reviewed. the history of the iron
clads and argued tlat no appropriation
should be made at present for the compile
tion of any OF them, but that even II money
were Appropriated for the others, the Puritan
especially ought 70 be excepted from the ap-
preparation, because several Boards com
posed Of some OF the best officers ih the
Navy had pronounced her an entire failure.
Mr.. Hale defended the appropriation, and
said it was high time these ships were com
pleted
Mr.. Voorhees, argued against giving any
thing to finish the vessels, which, be said,
should be taken out OF the hands Of John
Reaches and completed 10 the Govern rAment
navy yards.
Mr. Bayard said It was simple business
question whether IL would be wise 10 vote
81 ,O0O,0 600 for engines aud machinery for
these four double-turreted iron-elads. In
1877 the construction of these vessels under
the contracts made by preceding SECRETARY
of the Navy had been suspended by Secre
tars Thompson, aud the cloud OF suspicion
then cast upon the work had never since
been fully removed. though 1t had attached,
uniustly, he thought, in some cases and,
beyond a doubt, uniustly In one case Of
which he had special knowledge, the case of
Harlan & Holllagsworth Of Wilmington, IN
whose works he had several times visited
one of these vessels. The Advisory Board
had examined the question fully and had
reported in favor of completing the shipt,
and II seemed wise for the Senate to be
guided by their recommendation.
Mr.. Ingalls, inquired how much money In
addition to what had been already expended
upon these vessels would be required to
complete them.
Mr.. Allison replied that the eftimates
footed up to S5,69l ,605. q.
After further discussion Mr.. McPherson's
amendment, designed to exclude the Puri-
tan, was rejected by vote of yeas, 10;
nays, p.
The amendment Of the committe making
the appropriation ''for engines and ma
chinery for the double-turreted iron cIads in
accordance with the recommendationsof the
Naval Advisory Board" as then agreed to
yeas, %; nays, l2
The other amendments Of the committee
to the bill were agreed TO.
Mr.. Rollins offered as an additional section
the amendment Of which he gave notice
sometime ago, providing for the appoint
ment of a Board to scrutinize the active list
OF the navy and select certain number of
each rank TO be retained, the others to be
treated as supernumeraries, etc.
The point of order was raised that this
was new legislation, and, pending tho deei-
sion, the Senate, at 10, adjourned.