HEALTH ACT-DIPHTHERIA

IN NORTH LONDON.-QUESTION. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE asked the President of the Local Government Board, If he will lay upon the Table of the House the Report made by Mr. W.

Assizes [83].

Committee-Habitual Drunkards [47]—R.P.

QUESTIONS.

16906

break of diphtheria in North London?

MR. SCLATER-BOOTH, in reply, said, he had no objection to lay upon the Table the Report referred to if the hon. Baronet would move for it.

SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON, in reply, said, he was sorry he was not in a position to state when the promised scheme would come into force. The matter was still under consideration, and he expected that the basis of the new scheme would be submitted to the Treasury in the course of the next two or three days. No time would be lost, when that scheme had been received, in coming to a conclusion upon it; and he (Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson) hoped before very long to be able to give a more satisfactory answer to the hon. Member's Question.

SALE OF INTOXICATING LIQUORS (IRELAND)-RATE OF DUTY.

QUESTION.

MR. O'SULLIVAN asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether he will revise the scale of taxation for the sale of intoxicating liquors in Ireland, having regard to the reduction of the hours of sale by the legitimate trader, owing to the passing of the Early Closing and the Sunday Closing Bills?

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: Sir, at present the law provides for a reduction duty in the case of sixdays' licences of six-sevenths of the full duty, and for a lower rate of fivesevenths in the case of others. In these circumstances, there did not appear to be any grounds for a further reduc

INDIAN RAILWAYS SHIPMENT OF RAILWAY MATERIAL.-QUESTION. MR. RYLANDS (for Mr. E. JENKINS) asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether any supervision is exercised by the Indian Council over the shipment of Railway material and stores from Great Britain for the use of the Guarantee Railways in India generally or the East Indian Railway in particular; whether it is a fact that the general body of shipowners are virtually excluded from competing for the conveyance of such material and stores from the circumstance that all such shipments pass through the hands of particular brokers, who make it a condition that the ships taken shall be consigned to certain houses in the East, thus securing private profits; whether the results of this exclusion of competition is not to enhance very greatly the expense of the conveyance of such stores, and whether it is in the power of the Indian Council to secure that the contracts for such conveyance shall be unconditionally placed in the open market; and, whether he will cause to be prepared and laid upon the Table a Return of the freights paid during the past five years by the India Office for stores shipped on Government account, and rates paid by the various Indian Railways upon such stores respectively-distinguishing Railway materials from other stores?

MR. E. STANHOPE: Sir, supervision is exercised by the India Office through the Government Director of Indian Railways over the shipments of stores for the guaranteed railways, including the East Indian. I understand that the East Indian Railway employ a broker to engage tonnage for the conveyance of their stores, and I have also

pany to consign their stores to particular firms in Calcutta ; but I have no certain knowledge about it. But I am told by the Chairman, Mr. Crawford, that the suggestion that private profits are secured to individual members of the Board or their firms is quite erroneous. The result of this so-called "exclusion of competition" does not appear to have enhanced the expense of the conveyance. The rates paid by the East Indian Railway Company for the period of five or six years which I have examined do not compare unfavourably with those paid by others shipping at the same port. The India Office has, no doubt, the power to secure that such contracts shall be placed unconditionally in the open market; but it is doubtful if it would lead to economy. The expediency of employing or not employing a broker is a moot point, upon which the best authorities differ. It is thought undesirable to lay down any hard-and-fast rule in the matter, but to leave it to the discretion of the companies to obtain the best terms they can. There is no objection to laying on the Table a Return of the freights paid during the past five years by the India Office for stores shipped on Government account, and rates paid by the various Indian railways upon such stores respectively.

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT-SMALL-POX IN THE METROPOLIS.-QUESTION. DR. CAMERON (for Dr. LUSH) asked the President of the Local Government Board, If the inquiry instituted by him last year into the causes of the great prevalence of small pox in the metropolis has led to any definite results; and, if he will explain to the House what increased sanitary safeguards he proposes to recommend for adoption, either by legislation or otherwise?

his attention has been called to an article in "The Times" newspaper of December 27, 1878, in which it is asserted that the Maharajah of Cashmere has been instructed to carry out operations in the direction of Chitral and the Hindoo Koosh; whether he is able to assure the House that the Maharajah of Cashmere has not been instructed to carry out operations in that direction, and that he has not in fact been either carrying on nor is about to carry on operations in that direction; and, whether he is able to inform the House that the Maharajah is not carrying on nor is about to carry on operations beyond his own borders, and that the rumour of his having been instructed to co-operate in the "rectification of the frontier" is without foundation ?

MR. E. STANHOPE: Sir, I have read the article in The Times of the 27th of December, 1878, as to military operations in this quarter. I am able to assure the House that the Maharajah of Cashmere has not been instructed to carry out military operations in the direction of Chitral and of the Hindoo Koosh, or beyond his own frontier; and that he has not been instructed to cooperate in the "rectification of the frontier;" and so far as we know, he is not carrying out, nor about to carry out, any such operations. The hon. Member will, however, of course understand that that my answer applies to existing circumstances and not to contingencies at present unforeseen.

POOR LAW (IRELAND)-BELFAST UNION WORKHOUSE.

QUESTION.

MERE. QUESTION.

MR. GRANT DUFF asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether

reason of the Local Government Board declining to give the required certificate to the Government approving said pay

MR. J. LOWTHER: Sir, the reason why the certificate to which the hon. Member refers was refused was that it did not appear to the Government that the cost of music-masters was a legitimate item of workhouse expenditure. I will look into the Correspondence and see if there is any which can, with advantage, be laid upon the Table of the House.

REGISTER HOUSE BUILDINGS, EDIN

BURGH.-QUESTION.

MR. M'LAREN asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether, as the result of his recent personal examination of the different departments within the Register House buildings in Edinburgh, he intended to introduce a Bill to remedy the existing defects, and to confer on the Treasury the same power of appointing all the clerks as they have in other Government establishments; and, whether the Bill will provide for the appointment of an Under Secretary of State for Scotland, as was done by the Bill which he introduced last Session ?

MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, the Question belonged more to the Treasury than the Home Department; but having been over the buildings and seen their working he had made certain recommendations to the Treasury with respect to them. As soon as the two Departments had come to a conclusion on the matter, the proper time would have arrived to state the nature of the Bill it was proposed to introduce. He could assure the hon. Member that the matter was not being lost sight of.

open the inner iron gate; whether the warder, pursuant to the rules of the Justices, declined to open the gate to a stranger, and requested to know his name and business; whether the account is true, which states that the Chief Commissioner of Prisons shook the iron gate in anger, and tried to take the keys from the warder's hands, and, not succeeding, then stated who he was, and was admitted; whether the warder for this was, by Sir Edward Du Cane's order, immediately put on six months' probation as a punishment; whether that order has ever been formally revoked, and when and whether care will be taken that the warder be not prejudiced; and, whether there will be any objection to lay the Correspondence and Papers relating to this matter upon the Table?

MR. ASSHETON CROSS: Sir, the first paragraph of the hon. and learned Member's Question is substantially true, with the exception of the word "unannounced." As to the second and third paragraphs, the rule of that gaol consists of two parts-first, persons desirous of seeing the Governor should be politely asked what is the nature of their business and detained pending the receipt of orders; secondly, a Visiting Justice or a Justice of the Peace having jurisdiction in the prison is to be admitted at once; if a stranger, the gatekeeper will inquire his name. The Commissioner says, "He told the gatekeeper who he was and his office at once." The gatekeeper says, "He ordered me twice to open the gate before he told me that. I said I could not allow any stranger to enter the prison without sending his name and the nature of his business to the Governor. He said, 'I am the Commissioner; open the iron gate and tried to take the keys He shook that gate,' &c. out of my hand. I sent up to the Governor and Sir Edmund was admitted." It is only fair to state that the Commissioner says he never touched him. I am asked whether the gatekeeper acted pursuant to rule. If the case fell within the first part, he certainly did, and he ought to have been rewarded rather than punished. The Commissioner, however, being a Visiting Justice, came under the second part of the rule. Therefore, I cannot say that the officer acted "in pursuance of the rule;" but it was only

And, whether the information above referred to has been published in the papers laid before Parliament; and, if not, whether there would be any objection to produce it?

SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH: Sir, the word "information" quoted by the hon. Member included all those general means of forming a conclusion, in addition to official communications, which were at the command of the Government; but so far as it referred to communications from persons holding official positions they have been published in the Papers laid before Parliament.

THE MERCANTILE MARINE-LEGIS

LATION.-QUESTION.

MR. EVELYN ASHLEY asked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether the Government have abandoned their intention of proposing legislation on the subject of the discipline and condition of Merchant Seamen, similar to that embodied in the Bill which last year was referred to and considered by a Select Committee?

VISCOUNT SANDON: Sir, my hon. and learned Friend has, I think, overlooked the fact that it was mentioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the first day of this Session that the Government had arranged to bring in a Bill respecting merchant seamen if the state of Public Business permitted. I may add that I have given my best consideration during the winter to the Report of the Select Committee of last year as well as to the subject generally, and we have prepared a Bill which, though I am happy to say it is a short one, deals with matters of considerable importance to our Mercantile Marine, and will, I have reason to hope, prove acceptable generally to both shipowners and sailors.

NAVY-EXPLOSION ON BOARD H.M.S.

"THUNDERER."-QUESTION.

MR. W. H. SMITH: Sir, the Report of the Committee and full Minutes of the proceedings of the Committee appointed to inquire into the explosion on board the Thunderer arrived at the Admiralty this morning. The documents are exceedingly voluminous, containing several hundred manuscript pages. I have not yet had time to read them through, but I have ordered them to be printed immediately. I trust in a few days to be able to lay the whole, or a great portion, of them upon the Table. The Committee report the cause of the accident to be as follows:

"The Committee have now to report the cause

which they are unanimously convinced burst the gun was that the gun, having missed fire at the time of the electrical broadside, and this misfire not having been noticed, the gun was presented to receive the full charge and empty common shell for the independent firing, and did receive this charge and shell while the battering charge and the Palliser shell were still in the gun."

I am not yet able to inform the House as to the nature of the evidence which was sufficient to convince the Committee that this was the cause of the accident; but I may state that their conviction was arrived at in the most satisfactory manner, each member of the Committee separately writing down his opinion and handing it to the secretary without communicating its nature to the others. Singular enough, their opinion was unanimous. Experiments have been made with the view of preventing a recurrence of the accident; but the Committee have recommended that further experiments should be made. The whole matter will receive the very careful consideration of the Admiralty. As to breech and muzzleloading guns, the Secretary of State for War stated a few days ago that the War Department were considering the question of breech-loading ordnance, and the Admiralty are in communication with the War Department to see whether it will be desirable to extend the system to guns on board iron-clads now building.

PRISONS ACT (RULES)-FEMALE

PRISONERS.-QUESTION.