next we would be relieved from the duties | tion; but I could not refrain from expresswhich we are now performing. At that ing my hope that so long as it pleases Her time, I believe, subject to any deductions Majesty to make Claremont her residence on account of those pensions, the balance she may be permitted to do so; and I am in our hands will be between £1,200 and sure that would be met with the hearty £1,400. But what I wish to call your concurrence and thorough goodwill of the Lordships' attention to is the anoma- people of this country, from whatever funds lous and irregular position in which the it might be necessary to provide means. I trustees are placed by defraying, under must now thank your Lordships for the the authority of the Treasury, the ex- kindness with which you have listened to penses of Claremont, and the mainten- my statement. I have endeavoured to ance of the other objects of the trust, make it as short and as clear as I could, for a period long subsequent to that and I trust it will be found that no disat which our legal powers expired. I credit attaches either to those who premust, however, confess that I do not be- ceded in the trust, or to myself and my lieve Parliament will deal hardly with us present co-trustees, for the manner in which on that account. On the 10th December, we have discharged the duties committed the day of the King's death, it was our to us. duty in strict law to pay over to the Treasury the funds then in our hands; and I must confess that it is rather irregular that for three months we should go on, upon the mere direction of the Treasury, defraying expenses out of the balance that ought to be paid into the Exchequer. It is not the mere question of the balance we had in hand, but it is a qustion whether we had any right to pay away any portion of that balance. We of course felt it to be our duty to obey the instructions we had received from the Treasury; and I am well aware that there may be matters to be settled which require for some time a provisional state of things. What may be the future disposal of the estate of Claremont, or what may hereafter take place, it is not for me to say, nor can I form any opinion on the subject; but it is under stood though I have no authority for saying anything of the kind-that it is Her Majesty's desire that Queen Marie Amelie should continue to reside at Claremont: and I am quite sure there is no one in your Lordships' House, and I believe there would be few in this country, who, looking to the dignified patience and fortitude with which that illustrious and venerable lady has borne her many sorrows and misfortunes-and looking, moreover, to the universal sympathy she has excited in all classes of the people, and the affectionate reverence with which she is regarded by all who have the happiness to be brought in contact with her-there is hardly a man in this country who would wish that at her advanced age she should be constrained or even permitted to quit that residence which for many years-for so many years has been her only home. I know not what arrangements may be in contempla

The Earl of Derby

EARL RUSSELL: My Lords, I am sure your Lordships will agree with me in thinking that the statement which has just been made by the noble Earl has proved that the trust could not have been placed in better hands, and I am sure that your Lordships must feel perfectly satisfied at the manner in which its duties have been fulfilled, and at the large sum which has been paid into the Exchequer in conformity with the wish of the late King of the Belgians. It is only, however, with reference to the latter portion of the remarks of the noble Earl, bearing upon the course which the Treasury has adopted in this matter, that I have anything to say. The Treasury thought that the balance in the hands of the trustees at the time of King Leopold's death, amounting, I believe, to some £5,600 and odd pounds, might be applied to keeping up Claremont, defraying the pensions up to the time of the late King's death, and to discharging the necessary expenses up to the 5th of April next, the day when the Department of Woods will take charge of the estate, and when, according to the present arrangements, the noble Earl and his co-trustees will be relieved from any further trouble. I do trust that the noble Earl, and those who act with him, will have the satisfaction of knowing that they have discharged their trust in a manner that has been entirely satisfactory to the country. With regard to the state of things at the time of the late King's death, Her Majesty immediately wrote to the ex-Queen of the French, Queen Marie Amelie, expressing her wish that Queen Marie would not leave Claremont; and it is obvious that at her advanced age such a course would be attended with danger, not only to her health, but possibly to her life.

Queen Marie Amelie, on her side, wrote to
Her Majesty, returning thanks for the
kindness which she had always received at
Her Majesty's hands, and expressing her

HOUSE OF COMMON S,

Friday, March 2, 1866.

-Committee [R.P.]

Resolutions [March 1]-reported.

WAYS AND MEANS-Resolution [March 1] reported.

PUBLIC BILLS-Ordered-Marine Mutiny; Consolidated Fund (£1,137,772)*; County Courts; Exchequer Bills and Bonds.

First Reading Exchequer Bills and Bonds [46]; Marine Mutiny; County Courts [47]; Consolidated Fund (£1,137,772).*

Committee Princess Helena's Annuity* [42];

Qualification for Offices Abolition [1]. Report-Princess Helena's Annuity [42]; Qualification for Offices Abolition [1]."'

COURT OF ADMIRALTY (IRELAND).

willingness to resign her residence at any MINUTES.]-SUPPLY-considered in Committee moment. It is, however, the desire of Her Majesty and Her Majesty's Ministers -and I am sure such a determination will meet with the approval of the noble Earlthat Queen Marie Amelie should reside at Claremont as long as she pleases. Queen Marie Amelie decided to stay at Claremont, but at the same time expressed the strongest resolution that the nation should not be put to the expense attendant upon her continued residence there. If, therefore, Parliament should approve of Claremont being granted to Her Majesty, Her Majesty will request Queen Marie Amelie to continue at Claremont as her guest. I am only expressing the feelings of your Lordships when I say it would be painful to Her Majesty and to all her subjects if the ex-Queen of the French was not to remain in that residence. I had the honour to be in acquaintance with Queen Marie Amelie when she was the Duchess of Orleans, when she was Queen of the French, and latterly when she was in exile, and I must say that her virtues and her character are such as to inspire regard and veneration in all who knew her. The future arrangements will be brought before the House of Commons at the proper

time.

THE EARL OF MALMESBURY: I only rise to say that I think I am speaking the feelings of both sides of the House, when I express a hope that the noble Earl opposite will recollect the case of those pensioners to whom my noble Friend has alluded.

EARL RUSSELL: Yes; I should have stated that the Treasury consider that there will be £1,500 on the 5th April which will be applicable to those pensions.

THE EARL OF DERBY: The question which I understand my noble Friend wished to put, and which I suggested to the consideration of the noble Earl, was whether these cases would be entertained with a view to the continuance of some of the small pensions.

EARL RUSSELL: I had that in view when I stated that the whole subject would be taken into consideration at the proper

time.

House adjourned at a quarter past
Six o'clock, till Monday
next, Eleven o'clock.

QUESTION.

MR. MAGUIRE said, he would beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether he considers the present state of the law, practice, and procedure of the Irish Court of Admiralty satisfactory; whether there is any special reason why a measure of reform should not be based upon the Report and Recommendations of the Royal Commission of 1864; and whether it is the intention of the Government to allow another Session to elapse before such measure be practically undertaken, or to introduce it this year in sufficient time to afford a fair chance of its being passed during the present Session?

FOR

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IRELAND (Mr. LAWSON), in reply, said, he considered that the practice and procedure in the Court of Admiralty in Ireland required reform, and he was preparing a Bill for that purpose.

FISHERY PIERS (IRELAND).
QUESTION.

SIR HENRY BARRON said, he wished to ask the Under Secretary to the Treasury, If he proposes to replenish the exhausted fund provided for making Fishery Piers?

MR. CHILDERS, in reply, said, his answer to the Question of the hon. Baronet was this. By the Act 9 & 10 Vict. c. 3, and also by the Act 10 & 11 Vict., two sums of £40,000 and £50,000 were allocated for the building of fishery piers in Ireland. These sums were now nearly exhausted, and it had been the intention of the Treasury to propose an additional sum for this purpose, had not a question arisen

under the Fisheries Commission, that the time he believed that the Governor of Mo59 Geo. III. was still in force, under zambique had done his best to put a stop which £5,000 per annum was to be ex- to this nefarious trade, so far as he was pended on these piers. The question had concerned. The question had concerned. Her Majesty's Government been submitted to the Law Officers of the had represented to the Portuguese GovernCrown, and as soon as their opinion had ment that so long as they maintained their been obtained the Treasury would consider present restrictions on the legitimate trade what should be done. If the Law Officers on the east coast of Africa so long would of the Crown agreed with the Treasury the people of that district have no other that the Act was not in force, it would recourse but the slave trade. He hoped then be the duty of the Treasury to pro- the Portuguese authorities would, however, pose a Bill authorizing a further limited see reason to reduce them. As to the exgrant for these fishery piers. tension of the Portuguese dominions on the

MR. ROEBUCK: Will the hon. Gen-east coast of Africa, Her Majesty's Gotleman inform the House whether any piers have been built out of the money so voted by Parliament ?

MR. CHILDERS: I think hardly any money remains out of the £40,000 and £50,000. It is nearly all expended.

MR. ROEBUCK: Have any piers been built?

MR. CHILDERS: Yes, I believe so.

EAST COAST OF AFRICA.-QUESTION. MR. BAXTER said, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If any representations have been made to the Government of Portugal regarding the connivance of Portuguese Officials on the East Coast of Africa with the slave trade, and likewise regarding the claim of Portugal to many hundred miles of that coast, where that power has no settlement or military force?

MR. LAYARD said, in reply, that the correspondence which had taken place between Her Majesty's Government and the Portuguese Government on the subject of the slave trade on the east coast of Africa had been laid on the table of the House in various State Papers, and he should shortly be able to present to the House a continuance of the correspondence on the same subject. Her Majesty's Government had not recently made any representations to the Portuguese Government relative to the conduct of their officials on that coast, there being no evidence to inculpate them. In former days he was afraid they were largely engaged in the slave trade, and at that time strong remonstrances were made by the English Government to the Portuguese Government. It was perfectly true that nothing could exceed the horrors of that trade on the eastern coast of Africa, and it would seem that as it was extinguished on the west coast it increased on the east coast of Africa. At the same Mr. Childers

vernment did not consider it appertained to them to make any remonstrance relative to the claim of Portugal to a large extent of territory on that coast.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

QUESTION.

COLONEL SYKES said, he wished to ask the President of the Board of Trade, If any and what arrangements are making for taking systematic and permanent Meteorological Observations either at the Board of Trade or at the Greenwich and Kew Observatories, for British objects; invited to co-operate, by causing simultaand whether Foreign Governments will be neous Meteorological Observations to be made with a view to arriving at a knowledge of the physical laws which cause atmospheric changes?

MR. MILNER GIBSON: Sir, after

the death of Admiral Fitzroy it was thought desirable to refer the question of the future arrangements for the conduct of the business of the Meteorological Department to a Committee of Inquiry, the members of which should be named by the Admiralty, the Board of Trade, and the Royal Society. This has been done, and the Committee are on the point of making their Report. Until this Report has been received and considered it is not possible to give a satisfactory reply to the Question of my hon. and gallant Friend.

REGENT'S PARK.-QUESTION.

MR. HARVEY LEWIS said, he would beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works, Whether the earth embankment (about 200 feet long and twelve feet in width) as well as buildings in the Regent's Park, outside the grounds of St. Dunstan's Villa, are included in the Lease from the Crown of that Villa and grounds; and whether the buildings and shrubberies

in the Regent's Park outside the grounds | rate, and more especially if they were disof Holford House are included in the lease honest, it was competent to the Committee from the Crown of that Villa and grounds; of Council to withhold the grant altogether. or whether such embankments and build- The present article stated clearly and subings are erected upon ground appropriated stantively what was before a matter of inat the time the Park was thrown open to ference only. The forms of account were the public as o pen spaces; and whether published in the Instructions to the Inspecsuch embankments and buildings have been tors, and were to be found in the Report erected with the consent of the First Com- of 1863, and these forms had been widely missioner of Works, and are intended as distributed amongst managers of schools permanent erections? throughout the country. He might state that at no time had accounts been objected to that were intelligible, and that only when they were grossly inaccurate and wholly untrustworthy had the penalties been enforced.

MR. COWPER said, in reply, that the earth embankment alluded to by the hon. Member had been erected on that portion of Regent's Park which was let on yearly tenure. The person who erected the mound did not, previous to his erecting it, make any communication to the Board of Works. On being asked his reason for erecting the mound he stated that his object was to conceal certain green-houses and manure heaps from the public view. The Board of Works did not think it necessary to remove the mound altogether, but they required the person who had erected it to lower it considerably.

MR. H. A. BRUCE, in reply, said, the article in the Revised Code originally stood thus

MR. POWELL: Will the right hon. Gentleman lay the forms on the table of the House?

MR. H. A. BRUCE: They can be if the hon. Gentleman wishes it, but they have been already widely distributed.

THE CATTLE PLAGUE.-QUESTION. MR. BANKS STANHOPE said, he wished to ask a Question with reference to the Cattle Plague. He desired to know, If in future sufficient time will be given for the Returns to be sent in, so that they might get them with something like accuracy?

MR. H. A. BRUCE said, in reply, that as the object of the Returns was to give accurate information of the progress of the disease, it would be far better to delay them even for a week than to present them in He would their present incomplete form. endeavour to secure greater accuracy and completeness.

SUPPLY.

Order for Committee read.

Motion made, and Question proposed, "The grant is withheld altogether if the regis-That Mr. Speaker do now leave the

ters be not kept with sufficient accuracy to warrant confidence in the Returns."

The word accounts was now added, and the article reads thus

"The grant is withheld altogether if the registers and accounts be not kept with sufficient accuracy to warrant confidence in the Returns." The addition of this word introduced no change in practice. By Article 52 C the grant was reduced by the amount of school fees and subscriptions, or by the amount of the annual endowment. It was obvious, therefore, that the amount of the grant depended on the accuracy of the accounts rendered; and that where they were grossly inaccu

Chair."

RATING OF MINES AND WOODS.

QUESTION.

MR. STEPHEN CAVE said, he rose to ask the President of the Poor Law Board, Whether he intends to bring in a Bill during the present Session for the rating of Mines and Woods for the relief of the poor? He would preface the Question by a few remarks. He supported the Union Chargeability Bill of the President of the Poor Law Board last Session, because he thought it was right in

the law was more unjust than he imagined, because Brettel's case decided that if his neighbour brought up his clay through a shaft, he would be exempt, though clay dug from the open land was liable. Again, a royalty paid in kind—that is, in raw ore, such as was the custom in regard to the lead mines in Derbyshire-or even reserved in kind, though paid in money, was liable to rates; but royalty in money, or even royalty in smelted ore, was exempt. These were some of the anomalies of the existing law. In the Session of 1854-5 two Bills were brought in by the hon. Member for East Cornwall (Mr. Kendall) for remedying the defect, and again another in 1856; but these Bills never went beyond a first reading, and in 1856 a Committee was appointed to investigate the whole subject, which sat all that Session and reported the following year. The case of the metals was fully examined, and had the advantage of able advocates both on the Committee itself and among the witnesses; but the Committee reported on the 5th of August, 1857, that "there were no valid grounds for these distinctions ;" and, indeed, it was plain that the plea of risk, which was freely used, though no mine would be rated till it produced profits, applied equally to coal mines; that that of the exhaustion of the corpus of the estate was common also to stone and slate quarries and clay pits; and that it was monstrous that rateability should depend rather upon an agreement between lessor and lessee than upon any general rule. And when it was argued that mines raised the rateable value of the property in the neighbourhood in proportion to the poor introduced, the right hon. Gentleman, as Member for Wolverhampton, must be well aware of the fallacy of such a plea. A letter from a clergyman in South Wales stated—

principle; but, at the same time, he express- | who thought it very hard that he should be ed an opinion that there were many anoma- heavily rated for his brick earth and clay lies left untouched which required sup- while so many minerals were exempt; but plemental legislation. The noble Lord the Member for North Leicestershire (Lord John Manners) predicted that he would be grievously disappointed in his expectations, and he must say that he began to fear the noble Lord was right, as no sign had been given of such intention by Her Majesty's Government. One of the greatest of these anomalies was the exemption of all mines, except coal mines, from being assessed to the relief of the poor, and he might remind hon. Members that this exemption led indirectly to an escape from some other rates as well. He was so much impressed with the necessity of correcting this anomaly at a time when the enlargement of the area of rating intensified the grievance, that he gave notice of a clause to that effect, which he withdrew, in consequence of the Speaker having decided that it was beyond the scope of the Bill. He would now briefly explain to the House the exact state of the case. The House knew that the foundation of rating for the relief of the poor was the Act 43 Elizabeth, c. 2, which enacted that certain real property and coal mines should be so rated. Whether the exemption was intentional for the purpose of encouraging the working of other minerals, or whether accidental from no others being at that time worked to any extent, seemed doubtful. The latter appeared to have been the general opinion from other mines having been rated in the first instance, till it was decided in the case of the "Lead Smelting Company v. Richardson," the leading case on this subject, that coal mines alone were rateable. Perhaps legal caprice never went further than in the subsequent decisions on this Question. Cunningham's case decided the exemption of iron mines, Bilston's on that of the machinery attached to them, but if iron ore were dug from open quarries, as in the newly-discovered seams in Northamptonshire, it was rateable. Again, stone quarries were rateable, but if the stone were obtained by sinking a shaft, and brought from the bowels of the earth by means of windlasses and other machinery, Sedgley's case decided that this was no longer a quarry, but a mine, and not rateable, because not a coal mine. Among many letters he had received on this subject from various parts of the country was one from the owner of a brickfield, Mr. Stephen Cave

"A population of 17,000 have been congregated for the purpose of working mines where forty years ago it did not number as many hundreds. Immense fortunes have been made, but the employers the farmers have had their rates enormously inof labour have never been adequately rated, while creased without deriving any corresponding advan tage. I am heavily rated, while I derive no pecuniary benefit from the population, which is a great

burden to me."

He (Mr. Cave) was himself acquainted with districts in which small patches of hæmatite ore existed. These were let to speculators,