the Metropolitan Board said was that they would not propose any bridge, but would propose means which would be a great advantage to the poorer classes who lived on the North and South sides of the Thames. They proposed to establish two free ferries, which would be, no doubt, of immense benefit to the inhabitants of Woolwich, Poplar, and Greenwich. With regard to the tunnel, it was a very serious matter, and would require an enormous amount of scientific opinion. It interfered with a great many rights; and whether they had a Central Government for London or not, it would not simplify the passing of such a scheme, because it would still be necessary to come to the House of Commons and submit the proposal to a Parliamentary Committee before they could obtain sanction to it. It was not the City of London or the Metropolitan Board of Works that stood in the way of the improvements; it was the House of Commons itself which had declined to allow the Metropolitan Board of Works to do what it proposed to do on a former occasion. The Metropolitan Board of Works, looking at the present position of the question, considered that it would be desirable, while experiments were going on, to supply these ferries. No doubt, the House would be of opinion that no vote should be passed throwing upon them work which they could not possibly perform this year; and he therefore thought that, so far from deserving a vote of censure, they had endeavoured to meet the wants of the people of the East of London, and had exercised a wise judg ment in the action they had taken.

MR. A. H. BROWN said, that the hon. and learned Member who had just sat down had shown some arguments why the Metropolitan Board of Works should not be called upon to promote a Bill this year for the construction of a bridge below London Bridge. The fact was, as anyone who sat on the Committee of last year knew, that below London Bridge there was an enormous population growing up and rapidly developing manufacturing interests, all of whom felt most intensely the want of sufficient communication across the Thames. Then it had been said that it was as well to save the pockets of the ratepayers, and that the Metropolitan Board of Works should not be asked to make this tunnel for the benefit of Shadwell. That would

Mr. Marriott

have been an argument to use last year; but it was no good now. Last year the Metropolitan Board of Works came down and asked Parliament to sanction the expenditure of £2,000,000 for the purpose of providing efficient means for crossing the Thames; but now they refused to come to the House for any sum of money for the same purpose. Everyone who knew anything about the district was well aware that there was a great and increasing traffic on the River at the point in question, consequent on the increased population in the neighbourhood. There was only one Authority in London which could take the matter in hand, and that was the Metropolitan Board of Works; and therefore he regretted that they had not proposed to construct a tunnel at Shadwell this year, Shadwell being, in the opinion of the engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the right place for it.

MR. RITCHIE said, that his object had been to obtain an expression of opinion. He was satisfied with the expression of opinion which had been given, and he would not, therefore, ask the House to divide upon the Question. MR. SPEAKER: Does the hon. Member withdraw his Motion?

MR. RITCHIE: Yes.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Main Question put, and agreed to. Bill read a second time, and committed.

LAW AND POLICE (IRELAND)-AL-
LEGED MISCONDUCT OF EMER-

GENCY MEN AT CLARE
ISLAND, CO. MAYO.

MR. SEXTON asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the Irish Government are aware that the Emergency men quartered on Clare Island (county Mayo) are in the habit of obtaining and consuming liquor at a public-house on Sundays, in contravention of the Sunday Closing Act, without any notice being taken of the practice by the police; whether the resulting intoxication has recently led to several disorderly and dangerous acts, one being the discharge of a revolver, by an Emergency man, at a dog, to the peril of the owner of the dog, who was

dard of the 3rd March, and substantially repeated in several journals, that an alleged assault, in a village in Lower Egypt, was punished by the Egyptian Military Police by way of lynching, without trial; the village being surrounded, a statement implicating certain persons extorted from the Sheiks by threat of immediate flogging, and the

MR. CAMPBELL BANNERMAN: In The Western People newspaper of the 21st ultimo, there were published an anonymous letter and a leading article which taken together contained all the specific charges against the police and Emergency men in Clare Island which are included in this Question. Inquiry was at once made by the police authorities with the result that there was shown to be no foundation for the charges, with the exception that it did appear that one of the Emergency men some time ago fired his revolver at a dog which had been sent to drive away some sheep that he was taking to the pound; but it is not true that the owner of the dog was near, or in any danger. The man was cautioned as to the use he made of his revolver; and with this exception it did not appear that there had been any display of their fire-arms by the Emergency men, who are reported to be wellconducted.

EGYPT-THE COURBASH.

MR. W. J. CORBET asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether his attention has been called to a statement in The Globe of 3rd March, to the effect

“That, without the usual delays and formali

ties attending the action of the tribunals, four men belonging to the village of Matarieh were courbashed, the reason given being "the increasing insolence of the native population towards Englishmen,"

and an alleged assault by some of the villagers on two unarmed Hussars; whether inquiry will be made as to the nature of the provocation given by the Hussars; how is it they went about unarmed; and, whether the punishment inflicted on their alleged assailants was not in direct contravention of the undertaking to abolish the courbash?

SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL asked, Whether there is any truth in the circum

tree in front of the Mosque, and flogged, first with a stirrup leather, and then with a courbash, by the Military Police; and, if he is not informed, whether he will at once inquire and ascertain whether such things have happened under the reformed régime; particularly whether what was done was a mere rough reprisal by British Military, or was really the act of the Military Police, enrolled under European officers for the express purpose of maintaing the Law; and, if in the latter case, he can give an assurance that the Police officers will be adequately dealt with?

MR. M'COAN asked, Whether it was not the fact that the only tribunal to which the men assaulted could have carried their case was the Court of the Cadi, in which Christian evidence was not admissible?

LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE: In reply to my hon. Friend, and to a similar Question put by the hon. Member for Kirkcaldy, I have to state that the Foreign Office have as yet received no information with regard to this occurrence; but they cannot undertake to exercise minute supervision over the administration of Egypt. Inquiry will, however, be made as to the facts. I cannot answer the Question of the hon. Member for Wicklow (Mr. M'Coan).

success;

whether the same authority did not make urgent recommendations in regard to that advance; and, whether Her Majesty's Government considered that information to have been reliable; and, if so, whether he is able to state, consistently with the public interest, what steps, if any, Her Majesty's Government have taken in consequence?

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON: I understand the hon. Gentleman's Question to refer to a Memorandum which was privately circulated in India by the Quartermaster General, but which has not been officially submitted by him to the Government of India. In these circumstances, the Government decline to express any opinion upon the subjects discussed in the Memorandum. Even if it were desirable in the public interest which I certainly do not think it is it would not be possible to make any statement as to the steps which have been taken by the Government of India in regard to these matters.

MR. CHAPLIN: Do I understand from that answer that the noble Marques has received the information to which I har referred ?

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON: I have received the Memorandum, which I presume has also been received by the hon. Gentleman in the same man

ner.

REFORMATORY AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS (IRELAND) — LEGISLATION. MR. DEASY asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, When the Government intend to introduce a Bill dealing with Reformatory and Industrial Schools in Ireland?

MR. CAMPBELL - BANNERMAN: The Irish Government and the Home Office have been in communication on the subject of legislation for carrying out certain suggestions of the Royal Commission on Reformatory and Indus

trial Schools which extended to the United Kingdom; but I am not in a position to say anything as to the introduction of a Bill on this subject.

EXPLOSIVES ACT, 1876 (IRELAND). MR. DEASY asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is compulsory on Public Boards

Mr. Chaplin

in Ireland to appoint Inspectors under the Explosives Act of 1876; and, what responsibility do those Boards incur by making such appointments?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, it was the duty of the Local Authorities to appoint Inspectors under the Explosives Acts, and if they did not perform that duty they would have the responsibility which attached to Public Bodies which refused to perform the duty imposed by Parliament. In order to facilitate the matter, and not to put the Local Authorities in Ireland to unnecessary expense, the Government of Ireland had, he believed, signified their permission that the Constabulary might be employed as Inspectors if the Local Authorities thought fit to do so.

MR. DEASY asked, whether the same responsibility would attach to the constable appointed as would to a private individual if a private individual was appointed?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT: So I understand. He would be the Inspector appointed by the Local Authority.

THE MAGISTRACY (IRELAND). MR. SEXTON asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, On what legal authority he founds his statement of the 2nd instant, that magistrates in Ireland are entitled to do what the magistrates of England are prohibited from doing, by a Judgment of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice (13th June, 1882), namely, forbidding a lawful assembly been shown that such assembly or proor procession, because information had cession, if held, would tend to a breach of the peace?

MR. CAMPBELL - BANNERMAN: The Question of the hon. Member does not quite accurately recite what I stated. I did not say that magistrates in England are prohibited from stopping processions. Magistrates in both countries, in the exercise of their discretionary powers for the preservation of the peace, are bound to have regard to the law as laid down in their respective countries. Without laying down any abstract proposition of law on the subject, I stated that the law in Ireland, as interpreted by the highest Court there, justified the action of the magistrates in the particular case of the intended procession in Derry,

BOARD OF TRADE-PAY OF LIGHTKEEPERS, GREAT BRITAIN.

MR. SEXTON asked the President of the Board of Trade, What is the allowance made to light-keepers in England as good conduct pay, and if this allow ance is of a fixed amount, or increases according to length of service; what allowance is made to light-keepers in England for fog signal duties, and if it is permanent or only during continuance of fog; what is the allowance to lightkeepers in England in lieu of gardens where no land is attached to stations; what is the allowance to female assist ants at single light stations on the English coast; what is the extent of the inequality existing in this service between England and Ireland in respect to those several allowances; why the inequality

exists; and, whether it will be ended?

MR. CHAMBERLAIN said, he had a very long answer to the Question; and, if the hon. Member would permit him, would send it to him in writing.

NAVY-THE ROYAL YACHT“ VICTORIA AND ALBERT."

MR. GOURLEY asked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether the repairs of Her Majesty's Yacht, Victoria and Albert, have been completed; if so, will he inform the House the total amount expended upon the hull, engines, cabins, and general outfit; also the intended complement of officers and crew, together with the probable annual cost for wages, provisions, fuel, and other stores; and, if he can state how often, and in what service, the yacht is to be employed; also if it be correct that the Lords of the Admiralty have authorised a large sum to be expended in the erection of a special shed for the storage of coals for the Queen's yachts ?

SIR THOMAS BRASSEY: The repairs to the Victoria and Albert will be completed in a fortnight. The original Estimate as stated to Parliament was £55,000; the actual cost will be £58,000. The chief items in the additional expenditure are alterations of the bridge, which were desirable for the safe navigation of the vessel, and an improved fire service. The complement of the yacht and tenders is 157, or, including 75 riggers, 232. The details of the annual cost were given to Parliament in a Return ordered by the House in 1883.

The net amount is £7,968. The crew are continuous service men, all of whom are available in time of war for the general service of the Navy. The full pay of the officers is the chief item in the extra net annual cost. No sum has been taken in the Estimates for a coal shed. It is impossible to state beforehand on what services the yacht may be employed.

NAVY SHIPBUILDING-PRIVATE

SHIPBUILDERS.

MR. GOURLEY asked the Secretary to the Admiralty, If he will be good enough to inform the House the number and description of ships for which he has accepted tenders from private shiphave in all cases been accepted alike for builders; whether the lowest tenders ships and machinery; and, if it is cor

rect that the Admiralty have declined allowing builders, who have not hitherto built torpedo boats, to tender for this type of craft without first building experimental specimens at their own cost?

SIR THOMAS BRASSEY: Tenders have been accepted for six Scouts. In their invitations calling for tenders for shipbuilding, the Admiralty expressly state that they do not bind themselves to accept the lowest tender. They accept, in all cases, the tender which is considered best for the Public Service. It happens in this instance to have been the lowest. It has been thought desirable that the recent invitations to tender for 10 first-class torpedo boats should be addressed to those firms who have the greatest experience in the special work required; but the Admiralty are anxious to encourage a more general competition, and they propose to invite firms to build experimental boats on their own design, which they will be prepared to accept on condition that a minimum speed is realized.

LAW AND POLICE (IRELAND)—MEETINGS OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE

INTRUSION OF THE POLICE AT

CASHEL.

MR. JOHN O'CONNOR asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether two policemen intruded themselves at a meeting held in Cashel on the 22nd February last, which was presided over by the Very Rev. Dean Quirk, Parish Priest of Cashel;