leave to move the adoption of the following clause :—

"And be it further enacted, that to remove doubts as to the seaworthiness of any vessel about to proceed with passengers as aforesaid, the acting Government emigration officer shall cause such ship to be surveyed by two duly authorized and responsible surveyors, and if it shall be reported by those persons that such ship is not in their opinion in such a state of repair and efficiency as would entitle such ship or vessel to be classed in Lloyd's registry of British and foreign shipping E 1, such ship or vessel shall not be cleared out."

The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHE

QUER was not surprised at the warm interest which his noble Friend took in a matter in which the lives of his fellow-sub

tween the 25th of March and the 30th of sailed from this country a few days ago reApril last year, were advertised as emi-ceived 3,000 sovereigns in payment for grant ships to go to the United States and steerage passengers alone. He begged the North American colonies; and of these twenty-five ships only four were in a condition to be entitled to carry dry goods of a perishable nature, or convicts to a penal settlement. What he asked the House, then, on behalf of the Irish peasants, was this, that while they were being expatriated in such numbers from their country, they should not be consigned to a voyage in which they would run such a risk of finding a watery grave. Every one knew that the fir-built ships of which the American navy was composed, after a very few years, became in such a rotten state that their owners were afraid to submit them to any examination. But whilst this was his first and foremost claim to the considera-jects were concerned. He concurred in tion of the House, and the most important the feelings which he had expressed, and feature of the case, he claimed also, on be- only doubted whether the course he sughalf of the British shipowners, that they should not be put in unfair competition with the American shipowners that whilst they would not permit any British ships to be chartered with emigrant pas sengers for the United States or the North American colonies, unless they were entitled to be registered at Lloyd's as secondclass ships, they should not permit American and foreign ships to come with a mere certificate, which could be so easily obtained for a small payment from any broken-down and bankrupt shipwright, in order to obtain the sanction of the emigration officers to carry passengers. According to the requirements of Lloyd's, a ship, in order to constitute one of the A class, No. 1, must be built of certain materials, and must not exceed a certain age; or, if she did, she must submit to have a whole listing or planking removed from stem to stern, in order to see whether she was rotten or not. Out of the twenty-five ships to which he had referred, no fewer than eighteen refused to submit to this examination; and this was an answer quite enough to show to any man of common understanding whether the ships were sound or rotten, whether they were fit or unfit to carry the subjects of this country across the Atlantic. Nearly three-fourths of the emigrants to the United States were carried out in ships of this description belonging to the United States, and to the injury of the shipping interest of Great Britain. It was a most important consideration for the shipping interest, for he understood that an American ship which

gested was the one best calculated to effect the object which his noble Friend had in view. Although the classification of ships in Lloyd's List was familiar to the mercantile community, it was not legally recognised, and it might give rise to confusion if it were made the foundation of an enactment. He, therefore, hoped his noble Friend would withdraw his Amendment, and before the third reading of the Bill the Government would determine on the best means of carrying his object into effect. He perfectly agreed with his noble Friend that foreign ships should not be suffered to carry out emigrants unless they were in as good condition in every respect as English vessels.

that the noble Lord had made out a perfect MR. VERNON SMITH was of opinion

case.

It appeared to him that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had misunderstood the purport of the noble Lord's clause. All that the surveyors were required to do by it was to report that the emigrant vessels

were in such a condition as would entitle
class referred to.
them to be placed in Lloyd's List in the

MR. THORNELY said, that the noble Lord had improperly described the American ships when he said they were built of fir; they were generally built of oak, and the fir ships were those of our own colonies. There were not finer ships on the ocean than the American packet ships. He was of opinion that sufficient protection for emigrants was provided by the existing laws.

SIR R. INGLIS expressed a hope, that

as his noble Friend had triumphed, he would not give the House the trouble of dividing on his clause.

VISCOUNT INGESTRE, on the contrary, called upon the noble Lord to divide the

House.

MR. BROTHERTON moved that the House do adjourn.

LORD G. BENTINCK said, it appeared to him that the hon. Member had moved the adjournment in order to get rid of a majority; however, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer would assure him that he had understood him correctly in believing him to have stated that in spirit his clause would be carried into effect, he would now withdraw it. After what had passed between himself and the Under Secretary for the Colonies, he felt it necessary that the matter should be distinctly understood. The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER said, he had not the slightest hesitation in repeating the assurance he had already given; indeed, the moment he saw the noble Lord's clause, he told the Under Secretary of the Colonies that it was impossible to object to its principle.

Clause withdrawn.

State consented to lay before them the papers that were required to develop the whole transaction. Those papers had for some time been before the House; and, having considered them, he took it upon himself to say, that the case was one which did require the attention of their Lordships. The money which had been subscribed in consequence of this disastrous fire, was not only not applied to the purposes specified in the Queen's Letter, but was applied, by private arrangement, to matters which had not even been mentioned in Her Majesty's Letter. Both the purposes to which the money had been applied, might have been in themselves good; but it was not for both, it was only for one of the number, that the subscribers gave their contributions. The Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, had subscribed 2,000l. towards rebuilding the episcopal church at St. John's. But the collection under the Queen's Letter was made from door to door, and many became subscribers who never thought that they were giving their money for the purpose of rebuilding an episcopal church, inasmuch as many of the subscribers were Dissenters, who, in giving their money, thought that they were merely contributing to the relief of their distressed brethren. The petition praying that a Queen's Letter be issued, asked for assistance generally, and particularly referred to the rebuilding of the church; but the answer to that petition, as well as the Queen's LetWhat he Landster, was silent on the subject.

Motion for the adjournment withdrawn.
Bill to be read a third time.
House adjourned at half-past One o'clock
till Friday, May 28th.

mmm

HOUSE OF LORDS,

Friday, May 28, 1847.

MINUTES.] PUBLIC BILLS.-1a Transference of
(Scotland); Burgage Tenure (Scotland); Heritable Se-
curities for Debt (Scotland); Crown Charters (Scotland);
Representative Peers (Scotland).
Reported.-Naval Service of Boys.

PETITIONS PRESENTED. From the Provost and others of
Glasgow, for Alteration of the Law of Entail (Scotland).

-From Factory Workers in the Employ of John and
William Chadwick, in favour of the Factories Bill.-

From Leicester, for the Repeal of the Malt Duty.-From Melton Mowbray, for Alteration and Amendment of the Repeal of the Poor Removal Act, and for the Establishment of a National Rate.-From Her Majesty's Subjects, Sufferers by the Fire of the 9th of June, at St. John's, Newfoundland, complaining of the Misappropriation of the Funds granted for the Relief of the Sufferers.

Law of Settlement. - From St. Margaret, Leicester, for

complained of was this, that having in the first instance taken what seemed to be a perfectly safe, sound, and cautious course, namely, referring it to the governor of the colony to inform him whether it was desirable that any part of the money collected could be spared for the purpose of rebuilding the parish church of St. John, and, if So, what portion should be so applied, his noble Friend the Secretary for the Colonies did not wait for the answer of the governor, but suddenly jumped, as it were, to the conclusion that one-half was the FIRE AT ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND. precise proportion that ought to be granted LORD PORTMAN rose, pursuant to no- for that purpose. There was one more tice, to call the attention of the House to stage of the proceeding to which he would papers which had been laid upon their refer. The Bishop of Newfoundland reLordships' Table, respecting the destruc-quested that the money should be kept in tive fire which some time ago had taken this country, and placed somewhere, so place at St. John's, Newfoundland. When, that interest might accrue upon it, wherein the first instance, it was thought neces- by it might become a larger sum, and be sary to bring the subject before Parlia- more useful than if sent to the colony at ment, his noble Friend the Secretary of first. His noble Friend the Secretary for

the Colonies consented to that course; but | lished Church could make any objection unfortunately another authority in this to such application. The whole matter, country stepped in, and the Lords of the from the beginning, was most open; there Treasury declined to adopt the suggestion. It was evident that there was great distrust of the authorities of the colony, though from what cause it was not for him to say. But there was this difference between the case of the fire in Newfoundland and that of Quebec; in the latter case, the money collected under the Queen's Letter for the relief of the sufferers was sent to Lord Metcalfe, the governor of the colony, for his appropriation and distribution; and he, therefore, was responsible for the whole proceeding; but upon this occasion, there appeared to have been an understanding with the London Committee, and with the right rev. Prelate, and also with the noble Earl the Secretary for the Colonies, that the parties who contributed the money should not be told the purpose for which their money was asked. In his opinion, however, it was desirable that in every case where the people of this country were asked to contribute their money for any purpose, they should be distinctly told what the purpose was. The noble Lord then concluded with expressing his hope, that their Lordships would concur in the Motion he was about to make

"That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying Her Majesty to direct, that as often as Her Majesty shall be graciously pleased to issue Her Royal Letters, directed respectively to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, authorizing the Collection of voluntary Contributions within their several Provinces, Accounts shall be presented to Her Majesty of the Amount of Money received under such Letters, of the Persons to whom paid, under whose Authority, and for what Purpose it is expended."

The BISHOP of LONDON said, that the statement of the noble Lord looked very much like a charge of having obtained money under false pretences. The noble Lord said, that the money had been collected for one purpose, and improperly applied to another; but the money was collected for the general purpose of repairing the damage committed by the fire; and the clergy and the congregation of St. John's were sufferers by that fire. He maintained, therefore, that providing funds for the rebuilding of the parish church was a work of charity. That a great part of the money collected, was contributed by persons who believed that a portion of it would be applied to rebuilding the parish church, he did not entertain a doubt; nor could he conceive that any member of the Estab

was no concealment-no delusion-and he must repel, without any qualification, the charge of having been accessory to a measure, the effect of which would be to collect money under false pretences. The London Committee, having very charitably and benevolently exerted themselves to raise funds by general subscription for the relief of the distress occasioned by the fire in St. John's, considered that an appeal ought to be made through the usual medium to the members of the Church of England; and he himself believed, that the money was almost exclusively collected from members of the Church of England. The committee appealed to the Secretary of State for a specific mention of the church of St. John's in the Queen's Letter; and the answer they received was, that the Queen's Letter had already been issued; he then wrote to the chairman of the committee, and the reply which he re ceived was, that the committee were unanimously of opinion that a portion of the funds should be applied to the rebuilding of the church of St. John's. He, therefore, could not conceive that there had been any breach of trust, or the slightest deviation from the strict line of duty, on the part of the Secretary of State in the course he had taken. He himself had little responsibility in the matter; but, if the whole rested upon his shoulders, he should consider that he had but done his duty. At the same time, he thought that when money was given for general purposes of charity, an account should be furnished to the donors of its application.

EARL GREY said, it was true that, on the 7th of November, 1846, he did refuse to allot any portion of the money to the purpose of rebuilding the church of St. John's; but shortly afterwards he received a despatch, dated the 26th of November, 1846, from the officer administering the government of Newfoundland, stating that the grant of money that had been already made, had had a demoralising tendency, as the people seemed to have an idea that, whether they were in poverty or not, they had a right to relief out of the money that had been subscribed, and requesting that the rest of the funds might be placed in the hands of the Secretary for the Colonies, to be appropriated as he thought fit, and in particular recommending that a part of it should be applied to the rebuild

Reported.-Copyhold Commission; Turnpike Acts Con

tinuance; Loan Societies; Cemeteries Clauses; Police Clauses.

PETITIONS PRESENTED. By Mr. D'Eyncourt, from Camberwell and Walworth, for Alteration of the Law of

Registration of Voters.-By Mr. H. Baillie, from Members of the Presbytery of Inverness, and by Sir G. Clerk, from Dornoch, against the Marriage (Scotland) Bill.-By

Mr. Christie, from Persons formerly Clergymen of the Established Church of England and Ireland, and from

ther it were true that the British authorities in Portugal, Colonel Wylde and others, had threatened the Junta to interfere by force of arms, unless certain terms were agreed to by them?

PUBLIC WORKS (IRELAND).

LORD GEORGE BENTINCK wished to put a question to his right hon. Friend opposite (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) respecting the superintendence of Government works in Ireland. It seemed that whilst the expenditure had been reduced from 250,0001. a week to 67,000l., the expense of the staff was not reduced in the same proportion; that expense amounting to about 14,000l. a week. It had been estimated by his right hon. Friend opposite, that the expense of the staff would be no more than 7 per cent on the expenditure; and he therefore wished to know whether there was any prospect of the expense of the superintendence being reduced

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON said, that the British Government, in conjunction with the Governments of France, Spain, and Portugal, were engaged in measures which had for their object the pacification of Portugal. Of course, his hon. Friend could not expect that papers could be laid on the Table, whilst the transactions to which the papers had reference were in progress. When the proper time came for the Government to lay before Parliament papers explanatory of the grounds and reasons for the course which they had pur-in proportion to the reduction of the amount sued, they would be most happy to do so; and he thought he should then be able to satisfy the House that the Government, by their conduct in reference to Portugal, had done nothing to forfeit the confidence of Parliament.

MR. HUME wished to know whether coercive measures had been already adopted by the British Government; and, if so, whether it was under any new treaty that such a course had been pursued?

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON said, his hon. Friend must see that it was impossible for him at present to give explanations of measures, which were measures not merely of the British Government, but of the British Government acting in concert with its allies.

MR. HUME gave notice that, on the reading of the first Order of the Day on Monday, he should again call the attention of the House to the subject.

of money expended on labour. He also inquired what proportion of these persons receiving 14,000l. a week were destitute electors?

The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER said, he now held in his hand an account of the precise numbers employed on the 25th of this month, and he was happy to state that a very large reduction had alredy taken place in the number of persons superintending the works, and especially in reference to the classes to which the imputation contained in the question formerly asked by the hon. Member for Oxfordshire applied, but which, in the present state of Ireland, he should have thought it hardly worth that hon. Member's while to throw out. He would state the amount of reduction, which, he repeated, had principally fallen on those classes of persons, for he could not hold out the expectation that there could be so SIR R. PEEL said, that the noble Lord great a proportionate reduction in the suhad stated that the course of policy at pre-perior class of officers, who were mainly sent pursued in respect to Portugal, was adopted in concurrence with the Governments of France, Spain, and Portugal. Would the noble Lord object to state whether that course of policy resulted from a friendly concert between the Three Powers and this country, independent of the Quadruple Treaty, or whether from any obliga-be effected so rapidly as the reduction of tion still imposed by that treaty? the persons employed, as they must be reVISCOUNT PALMERSTON said, the po-tained for a certain time to wind up and licy pursued was not considered to result out of the Quadruple Treaty, except in so far as the Government of Portugal had addressed itself in preference to such of its allies as were parties to that treaty; but the measures that might be adopted were founded on a fresh agreement and friendly compact.

military men, because a large proportion of them must necessarily be transferred from the public works to the duty of aiding the relief committees in the discharge of their various functions. It also must be obvious that the reduction of the superintending officers and pay-clerks could not

to bring to a conclusion the various accounts. With respect to the two classes of persons, namely, the overseers and the check-clerks, which might perhaps comprise a certain number of electors, although not having access to the registry, he could not state how many of them were electors, the reduction which had taken place from