spect to the system of impressment, he should state that they ought to make that system the exception, and not the rule; and in that case be believed that the best plan to which they could resort, would be the adoption of the ballot. He thought they would have to come to that. He was aware, however, that that subject was one of great difficulty; and if he had remained in office, he had intended to have given his best consideration to the matter. MR. STAFFORD said, he could undertake to say that the new Board of Admiralty would give to the suggestions of the right hon. Baronet (Sir F. Baring) the attention which they deserved from their importance and from the kind manner in which they had been offered. With respect to the naval reserve, he had to state that the present Board of Admiralty accepted the principles of that plan as a really valuable one, and that they were disposed to carry it fairly into operation. But they did not regard the scheme as one peculiarly adapted to a sudden crisis, if such a crisis should arise. He believed that the good effects of it would not be perceptible all at once. It was supposed that it would ensure for Her Majesty's service a better character among merchant seamen than that which that service had hitherto enjoyed. At present the greater portion of those who left the Royal Navy for the merchant service were persons of bad character, who represented Her Majesty's service in much worse colours than it deserved; and it was hoped that under the system of the naval reserve, men of good character when they left the Royal Navy would speak favourably of it to their companions among whom they would afterwards mix. We had at present in the merchant seamen's service about 230,000 men, besides about 50,000 men who disappeared in distant parts of the world, and were not seen again until after the lapse of three or four years. If the plan should succeed, it must still be obvious that so small a body among so large a mass must work but slowly. The question with regard to naval assistant surgeons was at this moment occupying the attention of the Admiralty, who were not unmindful of the necessity which existed for carrying out the order of the House upon the subject. They felt that that order ought to be carried out; but at the same time that some discretion should be left to the officer in command, and allowance made for the amount of accommodation on board ship. It was impossible to apply an abstract rule in this case. All he could say was, therefore, that the animus of the Board was to treat the assistant surgeons of the Navy as gentlemen, and to give them every facility for prosecuting their studies on board that the arrangements of the ship would admit of. SIR GEORGE PECHELL hoped the Admiralty would also take the case of the junior class of surgeons, who acted as clerks to captains, into their consideration, with a view to putting them on a different and an improved footing; and he would recommend that officers in the coast-guard service should be rewarded by promotion, the rewards they at present received at the end of the year not being, in his opinion, adequate to the great and valuable services they performed, in so often saving life and property, and protecting the revenue. Vote agreed to. (18.) 50,3531. Scientific Department. MR. WYLD said, he was compelled to complain of the very inefficient way in which the charts were published, and begged to call attention to the mode in which the charts were published by the Navy of the United States and by the French Marine. The system adopted by the American Admiralty Board was much superior to that in operation in this country, inasmuch as the Americans adopted a uniform scale and plan by which they accomplished much greater results than was done here, and at much smaller expenditure of money. They had year after year expended nearly 60,0007. upon this service, and still only a very small number of charts was published every year. The want of such publications was exceedingly detrimental to the commercial navy of Great Britain, and if they were sufficiently extensive, so far from the sale producing only 2,000l. or 3,000l. as they saw by the Estimates of that year, it might produce 30,000l. He hoped the hon. Gentleman the Secretary to the Admiralty would direct his attention to this matter. MR. STAFFORD said, the subject had already attracted the attention of the Board of Admiralty, and would continue to do so. The difficulty was one of expense. The hon. Gentleman seemed to think the Admiralty might be reimbursed the expen diture of carrying out his suggestions, but that appeared to him (Mr. Stafford) somewhat problematical. SIR GEORGE PECHELL said, the First Lord of the Admiralty's house ought to be given up for the map department. As it was, the business was very much in arrear for want of proper space and accommodation. Vote agreed to; as were also(19.) 132,6477. Naval Establishments at Home. (20.) 23,2631. Naval Establishments Abroad. (21.) 666,9291. Wages to Artificers at Home. (22.) 35,3311. Wages to Artificers Abroad. (23.) 782,4951. Naval Stores, &c. COLONEL PEEL said, he was surprised that not one word had been said in the course of the discussion upon the Navy Estimates in reference to the circumstance of a foreign yacht having recently come to this country, and, in the presence of the Queen herself, beat some of our crack sailing vessels. That appeared to him a humiliating event. He remembered a leader in a morning newspaper characterising the American yacht as " the racehorse of the Ocean." Though he (Colonel Peel) was wholly ignorant of nautical matters, and knew as little how to manage a boat as any of the class of officers referred to by the hon. and gallant Member for Bath (Captain Scobell), yet he admitted he was to some extent conversant with the pastime of horse-racing, and flattered himself that he could appreciate such an expression as "the blue ribbon of the turf,' with which the right hon. Gentleman opposite (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had recently made them familiar; but, whatever might be the sailing qualities of the American yacht, this he knew, that if such a defeat had been sustained on the English turf as had happened to our sailing vessels in the instance to which he had referred, there was not a true sportsman in this country who would not have gone to almost any expense to have recovered back our lost laurels. It was part of his creed that "Britannia rules the waves;" but what became of the goddess on the day to which he had alluded he was not prepared to say; if she ruled the waves at all, on that occasion she must surely have done so with a downcast look. He would suggest that some part of the surplus funds from the Exhibition might be appropriated towards large prizes to be given with a view to encourage competition in the building of sailing vessels. It was of little or no use for us to go on constructing sailing squadrons merely to run against one another. If we would really improve the sailing qualities of our ships, we ought to invite competition with those of other nations, instead of testing our ships with each other. ALDERMAN THOMPSON said, the hon. and gallant Member need be under no alarm as to our ships being surpassed by the American merchantmen. There was an American vessel called the Oriental, which had been greatly praised for the celerity of her voyages between this country and China; but he believed that there had been more than one ship of British build which had made the voyage in a considerably shorter time than even the Oriental. There never had been a period in the history of our country when there had been greater zeal and anxiety shown for the improvement of our merchant vessels than at the present time; and he could assure the gallant Member that neither energy nor expense would be spared to maintain the high position which our mercantile marine had so long enjoyed. SIR GEORGE PECHELL said, it was quite true that the American yacht, which had been built expressly for racing purposes, had beaten our swiftest yachts; but with merchant ships and ships of war the case was very different. There were no ships of war in the world that could excel our own in speed and other qualities. The American Government had certainly not succeeded in building ships to beat our men of war. Look at the trials in the Pacific, at Rio Janeiro, and the West Indies. There we had completely surpassed them. Then with respect to French ships, let them only look at Prince de Joinville's squadrons, the three-deckers of which could neither tack nor wear. MR. FOX MAULE wished to say a few words for the honour of his own country. There had been a regular competition between the American and the Aberdeen builders as to ships for China and Newfoundland; and the Aberdeen builders had beaten their opponents altogether. The MARQUESS of GRANBY said, he did not wish to underrate the efforts made by foreign countries in the building of ships; but we must take care, if we had to compete with them, that our shipbuilders and shipowners were not overweighted in the race. CAPTAIN HARRIS thought the amount of the stores in our dockyards had rather been too much trenched upon of late. He saw, with regard to timber, masts, and deals, the expenditure had been reduced by some thousands. He wanted to know (29.) 156,5621. Civil Pensions and Allowances. {COMMONS} whether that saving had been effected by paying lower prices on the contracts? He also saw a reduction with regard to stores of 84,000l. He wished to know whether that was an actual retrenchment in stores? SIR FRANCIS BARING said, the Estimates were carefully gone through, and at the close he asked Mr. Dundas, the storekeeper-general, whether it was wise to increase the stores in any particular; when that gentleman replied that, notwithstanding there was a diminution in the Estimates of 84,000l., there never was a time when the naval stores were in a more efficient state than at present. Vote agreed to; as were also the following: (24.) 265,1401. New Works. (25.) 23,000l. Medicines and Medical Works. (26.) 50,8501. Miscellaneous Services. (27.) 707,5201. Half Pay. (28.) 490,5331. for Military Pensions and Allowances. (30.) 127,6007. Army and Ordnance Departments. (31.) 870,1581. Post Office Packet Service. MR. H. HERBERT begged to call the attention of the Committee to the state of the Irish mails between Kingstown and Holyhead. A return which he had moved for that Session would show that there had been of late years a material decrease in the speed of these vessels, and that the mail packets lost at least half an hour on each trip. It was a curious anomaly that the only service that had not improved was the Irish mail service; but surely hon. Gentlemen who came such a distance to perform their Parliamentary duties ought to be provided with the best and quickest mode of transit. MR. BAILLIE COCHRANE said, that there was no charge for steam communication with the Canadas and Newfoundland, although there was a charge for the communication with New York, and although the commerce and intercourse between the two first countries and England had of late very much increased. It was a most curious fact, that though there was a grant of 14,7001. for the communication between Halifax, Bermuda, and St. Thomas's, and Halifax and St. John's, and although the vessels passed within sight of Newfoundland, the mails were sent on six hundred miles further to Halifax, whence they got back the best way they could. This was felt to be a very great inconvenience, and he had had communications from Newfoundland, to the effect that if the Government would grant 5,000l., the colonial legislature would defray the rest of the expense; and then there might be a regular steam communication between Liverpool and St. John's. CAPTAIN SCOBELL wished to draw the attention of the hon. Gentleman the Secretary to the Admiralty to the immense number of half-pay officers at present on the list, which was very little reduced from what it was at the end of the war. The late Board of Admiralty did reduce the list somewhat, but it was still so large as to be an injustice to the officers themselves, most of whom had no chance of active employment, and an injustice to the service. Another subject to which he wished to call attention was the gallant action at Lagos. The Committee ought not to pass the Naval Votes without some allusion to one of the most gallant, and, at the same time, the most bloody actions by boats, ships, steamers, and other vessels, which he had ever known. If the despatches were closely scrutinised, it would be seen that nothing could be more energetic, more skilful, more persevering, on the part of those employed; and that the action was a most hotly-contested one would be judged of from the fact, that out of 400 men and officers engaged, 100 were killed and wounded. The late Board of Admiralty, he had no doubt, made their arrangements in a hurry; but he hoped the present Board would look through the list of officers who had got no reward but many a wound, with a view to some further MR. COWPER thought it was prepos promotions. terous to suppose that two different steamVote agreed to; as were also the fol- ers should run across the Atlantic-one to lowing:Halifax, and another to St. John's. MR. STAFFORD said, that the answer to both the hon. Gentlemen who had just spoken was the fact, that the Admiralty in this matter was merely subordinate to the Post Office, and both were subordinate to the Treasury. If the hon. Gentleman would apply to the Post Office, then the Post Office might apply to the Treasury, and both would then send their wishes to the Admiralty, which would be sure to attend to them. 1 MR. COCHRANE said, the preposte- | ditions of which the steamers were limited rous part of the proceeding was, that pas- to a certain time in making the passage. sengers, as he had pointed out, should, They frequently, however, did not keep to when within fifty or sixty miles of their their engagement by an hour. The loss place of destination, be carried 600 miles of an hour was of great importance to the past the port, and have to travel 600 miles postal communication, and it was the duty back again. of the Admiralty to see the contract carried out. If the vessels were so imperfect, and the steam power so insufficient that they could not perform the contract, it was the duty of the Secretary of the Admiralty to enforce it. The loss of time in the passage was, at present, a crying evil. MR. STAFFORD said, that the matter should be inquired into, and that the Admiralty would compel the performance of the contract to the very letter. MR. ANDERSON said, he begged to point out to the Committee the deficiency of postal communication with the Orkney and Shetland isles. His constituents there had great cause to complain as to the inadequacy of the present arrangements. The group of islands with which he would deal more especially now was the Orkneys, which were divided from the mainland by the Pentland Firth. Arrangements had been made by the Post Office which gave MR. H. HERBERT said, he had not them a daily mail; but the provisions for made a complaint against the Dublin Steam carrying the mail acsoss the strait con- Packet Company breaking its contract, sisted merely of some small boats, which, but what he wanted to show was, that, whenever there was so much as a cat's paw owing to a miserable skin-flint policy on of wind did not cross over. This state of the part of the late Government a sum things was not very easily remediable till was now paid for the service much less within a few years, because there was no than that which it had cost the Governharbour on the Caithness coast; but there ment two years ago. The sum now paid had now been formed an harbour near per annum (25,000l.) was too small to adThurso, capable of affording shelter in all mit of the satisfactory performance of the weather for vessels of considerable size. vessels. The persons in charge of them A small steam vessel to run across this admitted that they were able to go at much strait would give the inhabitants something greater speed, but that the Government like a regular post; and from an Admiralty did not pay for speed. Now, as an Irish survey which he had obtained, the addi- Member, he submitted that he and his coltional expense would not exceed 500l. a leagues were entitled to the best accomyear as compared with the present arrange-modation of the kind which could be proment. About 30,000 of Her Majesty's vided. One of the witnesses, examined subjects would thus be placed in regular before the Select Committee which sat communication with every part of the upon the subject two years ago, proved Kingdom; and, besides this, it was not that some of the vessels could go more merely a local question, because there than twelve miles an hour, and which they were sometimes 1,000 sail of vessels from contracted to do; others were not so fast, the north of Europe awaiting orders from but that the company considered they had their consignees, and repairs; and a sure performed their contract with the Admiand speedy communication with these ves-ralty if one vessel went at fourteen knots sels was a matter of extreme importance. MR. CLEMENTS thought the postal communication between Holyhead and Kingstown ought to be expedited. The vessels were quite capable of going the distance in three hours and a half, instead of four hours and a half and five hours. MR. SCULLY said, he must request the hon. Secretary for the Treasury (Mr. G. A. Hamilton), as representing the Post Office in that House, to give some explanation on this subject. MR. ALDERMAN THOMPSON said, the Admiralty had made a contract with the Dublin Steam Packet Company for 25,000l. | per annum for this service, by the con an hour, and another at ten. MR. PETO, being the Chairman of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, begged to say, that the whole system of the postal communication with Ireland required the most careful consideration. The whole of the mails were upon one occasion detained for two hours at Chester, without the least occasion for the delay. The Irish mails were now delivered in London at eleven o'clock in the morning; but if the Government would investigate the question fully, they would find that there was no reason why the Irish letters should not be delivered in London with the others every morning. He hoped it would be sufficient to call the attention of the Government to rect representation of the exact state of this subject. Vote agreed to. SUITORS IN CHANCERY RELIEF BILL. the facts. That state was as followsand he need not go very far back to state how far the arrangements respecting this matter had proceeded, because he believed that only a week before that statement was made, he (Sir W. P. Wood), in answer to a question of the right hon. Baronet the Member for Ripon (Sir James Graham), made a statement similar to that which he was now about to make. He stated then, as he had now to repeat, that the report of the Chancery Commissioners was not laid before Her Majesty's Government till the 27th January. The House would recollect that they were summoned there for the 3rd of February. There was an interval, therefore, of only six days; but feeling extremely anxious that the measures which had been recommended by the Commissioners should be brought into effect in the course of the present Session, he had obtained the leave of the Commissioners to show to the late Lord Chancellor a sketch of the report which they were about to make about seven or eight days previously to its being actually made-that he had done so at the request of the late Lord Chancellor, who was desirous of carrying the recommendations of the Commissioners into full effect. The Lord Chancellor, therefore, having the substance of the report about, and only about, twelve days before the opening of Parliament, gave immediate directions to the gentleman who was the Secretary to the Commission (Mr. C. C. Barber) to prepare a Bill to carry the recommendations of the Commissioners into effect, stating, at the same time, that he had selected that gentleman because, from having acted as Secretary to the Commission, he would most probably be fully acquainted with the views of the Commissioners, and would be able to prepare a Bill with the greatest expedition, and also with the greatest accuracy, with reference to the wishes of the Commissioners. Now, that direction having been given, it was stated in Her Majesty's gracious Speech from the Throne that a Bill had been directed to be prepared; and it was this which made him the more anxious to make this statement on the present occasion, because certainly the most strange rumours had gone abroad, in conse SIR WILLIAM PAGE WOOD said, he wished, with permission of the House, to make some observations with reference to the Bill then before the House, and also to another Bill which was about to be introduced by the late Government with respect to improvements in the Court of Chancery. He trusted that the House would indulge him whilst he made such observations, because there certainly had been a most extraordinary misunderstanding, occasioned partly, he must say, by statements that had been made in that House, with reference to the proceedings that had been taken by the late Government in preparing a Bill that was to be founded upon the recommendations of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the proceedings of the Court of Chancery. He had lately seen a report of a speech made by the noble Lord now at the head of the Court of Chancery, in which that noble Lord very fairly stated that he did not take any credit to himself with regard to the measure about to be introduced, founded upon the report of that Commission, because it had been the intention of Her Majesty's late Government to bring in in a Bill of a precisely similar description. The noble Lord stated that he was prepared to bring in a Bill for the purpose of carrying fully into effect the recommendations of that Commission. But in the course of that statement, as he (Sir W. P. Wood) read it, the noble Lord stated that he did not find the Bill so advanced as he had expected—that he had, in fact, only found certain clauses prepared with reference to the abolition of the Masters in Chancery. Now, of that statement he (Sir W. P. Wood) had certainly no great reason to complain, and he should be very sorry to do so, because it gave him most unfeigned pleasure to find that the recommendations of that Commission had met with the noble Lord's sanction. But it had been stated in that House that when the present Government came into office, not a trace of that Bill for the improve-quence of what was alleged in that House, to ment of the Court of Chancery according to the report of the Commission was discovered. Now that statement, no doubt made in error, certainly was a most incor the effect that Her Majesty's late Government had allowed it to be stated in the Speech from the Throne that a Bill had been directed to be prepared, when not a |