prisoner was too ill to appear. Two medi- | interfere in future with the use of the cal gentlemen were witnesses in the case. Park on Sundays by the admission of A brother of one of them is married to a such vehicles? sister of Mr. Bolton. The other is no connection of his. They were paid their expenses by Mr. Bolton according to Treasury scale, Dr. Minnett receiving £75 108., and Dr. Hall £76 68. Dr. Hall sent in a claim for his substitute, which the Guardians have refused. Evidence was given for the prisoner that he had acted as gamekeeper for Lord Dunally and had been "Boycotted," and his counsel argued that he might have fired the shot in self-defence; but Mr. Bolton did not put forward or adopt any such suggestion, and the Judge told the jury there was not sufficient evidence of the prisoner being gamekeeper to Lord Dunally, who was not at the Assizes.

NAVY-SUPPLY OF CUTLASSES. DR. CAMERON asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether the cutlasses in use in the Navy were procured from the same manufacturers as have supplied swords to the Army; and, whether the tests to which they were subjected differed from those which, in the case of the Army, have recently been abandoned as insufficient?

THE SURVEYOR GENERAL OF ORDNANCE (Mr. WOODALL) (who replied): No Navy cutlasses have been procured from any source for the last 21 years. In 1858-9 some were ob

tained from Germany; but the great majority of those in use in the Royal Navy were produced by various English firms, two of whom also supplied Cavalry swords. Of the firms referred to only one now survives. The tests for cutlasses differed from those for swords because the blades were of different pattern. Last year 50 cutlasses were taken at random from store and were subjected to a severe test with satisfactory results. The whole will be re-tested as soon as the testing of the bayonets is completed.

METROPOLIS-MEETINGS IN HYDE

PARK.

MR. ADDISON asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he is aware that three waggons were brought into Hyde Park on Sunday last; whether this was done with his sanction; and, whether it is proposed to

THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. CHILDERS): Yes, Sir. It is true that three waggons were brought into the Park on Sunday last, as has been the custom since 1884. The Office of Works is the authority from whom sanction should be obtained. I am told that on this occasion it was not asked, and the waggons were admitted on the responsibility of the officer in charge of the police. It is a matter for the Office of Works to decide what regulations should be adopted in future. But I approve of the action of the police officer on this occasion.

LAW AND JUSTICE (ENGLAND)—

PUBLIC EXECUTIONS.

SIR JOSEPH PEASE asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is true, as stated in the public prints, that a baronet, whose name and address are given, has been allowed to act as "amateur hangman" at one or more recent executions; whether such a proceeding has been approved by the Home Office; and, whether remonstrances have been addressed to the parties responsible for carrying out the sentence of death in the case or cases in question?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. CHILDERS): In reply, I would remind my hon. Friend that the Home Office is not responsible for the carrying out of the sentence of death in any particular case. That duty rests with the High Sheriff of the county; but the Home Secretary has power by Statute to make provision for guarding against any abuse in the mode of carrying out executions. I have had no official correspondence as to the proceedings of the Baronet referred to; but, to guard against such abuses in the future, I have given instructions for the issue of a Circular to the High Sheriffs to the effect that no person shall be allowed to assist the hangman except on the personal approval of the High Sheriff.

MR. O'KELLY asked whether the Government would offer a permanent situation to the person in question?

[No reply.]

THE EASTERN TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

MR. HUTTON asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether, under the Contract of the 19th January with the Eastern Telegraph Company, it is intended that the British Settlements on the West Coast of Africa shall contribute any portion of the annual subsidy of £19,000 to be paid to that Company; and, if there is such intention, what proportion or sum is to be contributed by each of the five Settlements named in the Contract?

OF

THE UNDER SECRETARY STATE (Mr. OSBORNE MORGAN): I am informed that the West African Colonies are to contribute £5,000 a year to the subsidy in question, and the Colonial Office proposes that this contribution should be divided among the four Colonies Sierra Leone, Gambia, Gold Coast, and Lagos on the following scale roughly proportioned to their revenues:-Sierra Leone, £1,300; Gambia, £500; Gold Coast, £2,200; Lagos, £1,000. The fifth Settlement mentioned in the contract is the Niger territory; but there can be at present no question of its contributing towards the subsidy, as no system of government or revenue has yet been established there. The contribution of £5,000 from the four Colonies has been fixed irrespective of any sum which may hereafter be received on account of the Niger territory.

INDIA (FINANCE, &c.)-DEPRECIATION

OF THE RUPEE.

LAW AND JUSTICE-COMPENSATION
TO SEAMEN WITNESSES.

MR. KING asked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether he is aware that seamen or officers detained from sailing with their ships by order of the Board of Trade, in order to give evidence on inquiries into marine accidents or casualties, are only recompensed for the loss of their wages until the termination of their evidence, and are then left adrift without any compensation for the loss of their voyage, and possibly their employment; and, whether steps cannot be taken to remedy this injustice?

THE PRESIDENT (Mr. MUNDELLA): Sir, I find it is the practice of the Board of Trade to detain officers and seamen of the Mercantile Marine as witnesses for inquiries into shipping casualties, and nothing is paid them beyond an allowance during the period of detention. The Board are aware that the detention of a seaman occasionally results in the loss of voyage; but they endeavour to avoid as much as possible taking seamen out of their ships for the purposes of an inquiry. I regret that it is not in our power to compensate witnesses for consequential loss incidental upon the discharge of civic duties.

COLONEL HUGHES-HALLETT asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether, as the contract rates of pay for the Civil and Military Servants of the Crown in India were originally fixed at a time when the rupee was worth two shillings, whereas now its exchangeable value has fallen to one shilling and sixpence, a depreciation of twenty-five per cent., and may possibly fall still lower, the Government will take into consideration the justice and necessity of affording compensation in some way to Civil and Military officers MR. MURPHY asked the Chief Sein India for the very heavy losses in-cretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Irecurred by them in all their remittances to this Country?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir UGHTRED KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH): It is only natural to feel sympathy with Civil and Military officers in

ROYAL IRISH CONSTABULARY-
CLOTHING CONTRACTS.

land, Whether the contracts for the clothing of the Royal Irish Constabulary are advertised in the Dublin papers; if not, would he state on what grounds; how the selection of manufacturers is made; to whom tender forms for these

{FEBRUARY 26, 1886} contracts are sent; and, if it has been considered that six days is a sufficient notice of the contracts?

the

papers,

FOREIGN CUSTOMS REGULATIONS. MR. HANBURY asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, What instructions are issued to Her Majesty's representatives Abroad with reference to furnishing immediate Reports on the frequent changes in Foreign Custom House regulations and judicial decisions affecting matters of quarantine and tariff; upon what principle notices of such new regulations or decisions are published, or not published, in The Gazette; and, whether the Government will take steps to secure to the public fuller and more regular information on such subjects by circulating all such Reports without delay among the va

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN): As contracts for the Constabulary clothing are made by the War Office, I may, perhaps, be allowed to answer this Question. It has not been the practice in recent years to advertise contracts for clothing of the Royal Irish Constabulary in the Dublin but to invite tenders from certain English firms and from all manufacturers of clothing in Ireland who are known to the War Department as likely to undertake such contracts. I am told that advertisement has been tried and found to produce no competi.rious Chambers of Commerce? tion beyond that resulting from the method of tender. On one occasion tender forms were sent to 12 English and three Irish firms, of whom two English and two Irish firms tendered. I shall be happy to give the names to the hon. Member if he desires it. The usual interval between the issue of tender forms and the date fixed for their return is 10 days; but, owing to urgency, it was on this occasion six days, and I understand that no complaints on the subject was made by any of the Irish firms who inspected the patterns with a view to tendering.

MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR: Are the patterns to be seen in Dublin as well as in London ?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN: I gather from the information supplied to me that that is so, for I read that the patterns were seen in London.

CHINA THE CHEFOO CONVENTION

THE OPIUM DUTIES.

SIR JOSEPH PEASE asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the late Convention or Treaty with China on the Opium Duties has been ratified; and, if not, whether he is able to state the reason for the delay?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE): The ratifications of the Agreement have not yet been exchanged owing to the Chinese ratification not having yet arrived in this country. We are informed that it has been signed by the Empress of China, and that it will be brought to England by the new Chinese Minister.

THE UNDER SECRETARYOFSTATE (Mr. BRYCE): The instructions to Her Majesty's Representatives abroad on the subject referred to by the hon. Member are to transmit at once to the Foreign Office all announcements respecting these matters. The Foreign Office forwards these documents as soon as they are received to the Board of Trade, and that Department takes such steps as seem necessary in each instance to make the announcements known to the public and to persons interested. I have no doubt that my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade will give his best attention to any representations which may be made to him with a view to give greater publicity to these Reports. And I may add that Her Majesty's Government, very shortly after their accession to Office, gave directions that the whole subject of obtaining and making known information received from Her Majesty's Diplomatic and Consular Agents abroad should be inquired into with a view to its being lished at the earliest possible moment. turned to the best account and pub

PUBLIC MEETINGS-DISLOYAL MEET

ING AT THE CRITERION RESTAU-
RANT.

MR. BAUMANN asked Mr. Attorney General, Whether it is true, as reported in The Morning Post of the 25th instant, that he and the Under Secretary of State for the Home Department were present at a banquet to the labour representatives in Parliament, given at the Criterion Restaurant on the 24th instant, at which the health of Her Gracious

:

I

Majesty the Queen was received with | House of 12 hon. Gentlemen, who are "hissing, which was received with greater described frequently as direct reprevehemence when about one-third of the sentatives of labour, all of whom I becompany rose to honour the toast ;" and, lieve sit on this side of the House. if true, whether he and the Under Secre- was there as a guest, invited as such tary of State for the Home Department, before I was offered the position I have being Members of Her Majesty's Govern- now the honour to fill. I wish to state ment, remained in the room without most distinctly, in spite of the stateprotesting against such disgraceful and ments which the hon. Member has read, disloyal exhibition? Before the hon. I did not upon that occasion hear any and learned Gentleman answers the hissing whatever. I wish to call the Question, I beg leave to ask the follow- attention of the House to one or two reing Question on the same point, of which markable circumstances in connection I have given him private Notice:with this matter. I am sorry to be Whether he has read the following ac- obliged to admit, from the statements count of the dinner in question which made to me by hon. Members whom I appeared in The Pall Mall Gazette, on have questioned, that undoubtedly there the 25th instant, and whether he will was- -I greatly regret it-some hissing. say that such account is untrue:- It was partial, not general, and not such "Lord Hobhouse rose again, and in the good as to call any general attention to it. I old-fashioned way began-There is one toast, had previously not read any of the morngentlemen, which in every assembly of English-ing papers in connection with this matter; men'when he was stopped by a distinct outburst of dissent. He proceeded, however, to say that Her Majesty's care for her subjects, and her faithful and unremitting attention to the duties of her exalted position, entitled her to the respect and affection of Englishmen everywhere. This was accompanied by a running fire of hisses and expostulatory cries of 'No;' and when the toast was drunk, quite a number of those present remained seated, and the hisses were both lound and long?" And I beg further to ask the hon. and learned Gentleman-and I am sure he will excuse me for not having given Notice-Whether he has read the letter which appeared in The Times, signed by Oswald J. Simon, son of a well-known Member of Parliament, who was present at the dinner, and who says that the hissing was loud and long, and that whole tables remained seated while the toast was being drunk?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Mr. CHARLES RUSSELL): When the hon. Member last night gave Notice of this Question, he proposed to put it to the Under Secretary for the Home Department, but, learning that my name was coupled with the Question, I represented to the hon. Member that if he desired to call in question my conduct, a Question ought to be addressed to me, so that I might have the opportunity of answering it. I have to thank the hon. Member for recognizing the propriety of the course which I suggested. I shall answer the Question he puts to me categorically. It is true that I was a guest at the banquet given on the 25th instant, at the Criterion, to celebrate the return to this

Mr. Baumann

but I find that only one morning paper -one supposed to represent the views of hon. Members opposite-The Morning Post, contained the statement that hissing took place on the proposal of the health of the Queen. I find that while the proceedings were reported in The Times, Daily Telegraph, Standard, Daily News, Daily Chronicle, and Echo, no reference is made in any of these papers to any hissing, from which I may fairly ask the House to assume that it must have been very partial and confined to a very limited portion of the company, which numbered some 200 or 300. When this Question was put to me, I at once communicated with Lord Hobhouse, who presided on the occasion, and next to whom I was sitting, and he has assured me that he heard no hissing whatever. Since I came into the House to-day, the hon. Member for Burnley, who was sitting on the other side of the Chairman, and not far from him, has also assured me that he heard none. [Mr. RYLANDS: Hear, hear!] That being the state of the case, I hope I have made out to the satisfaction of the House that the statements referred to have been grossly exaggerated. The hon. Gentleman also asks whether I have read the account in the Pall Mall Gazette. Having received Notice of this Question, I did read the account in The Pall Mall Gazette, and I will say of it that it does not purport to be an ordinary, dry, and historical account, so to speak, of the proceedings, but partakes of a highly