that he had not made any promise what- caulay, when Secretary of War, proposed ever that he would undertake to re-consider to an officer to go out to Ceylon at the low the necessity of having a central school of rate of pay. The officer demurred; on musketry. As long as they had a central which Lord Macaulay said: "There are school it was not probable any very great plenty of officers of your rank who would reduction in the expenditure could be ac- be pleased to go." The officer replied: complished. Perhaps some modification of "And if I ring the bell, I could find many the system might result in a reduction. As who would be willing to fill your post for long as they had no general system they half your salary." But his Lordship did must have a school; he had promised not see the force of that. inquiry into the system pursued at the school, which was considered unnecessarily long, inconvenient, and faulty; but he had promised inquiry with a view to the abandonment of the school.

Motion, by leave, withdrawn.

SIR WILLIAM JOLLIFFE said, the question was, whether or not this system was carried on in the most efficient manner, and most conducive to the interest of the service, and that question ought to meet with the immediate consideration of the noble Lord the Secretary for War. Instead of one central school he thought it would be better to have two schools-one at Hythe and the other at Fleetwood. He believed instruction would then be given at less expense. The army ought to be thankful to the hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Berkshire for the attempt he had made to urge the Government to re-consider this subject.

Motion made, and Question, "That the
Chairman do report Progress, and ask
leave to sit again," (Mr. Cavendish
Bentinck,)-put, and negatived.

Original Question put, and agreed to.
House resumed.

Resolutions to be reported To-morrow;
Committee to sit again on Wednesday.
House adjourned at a quarter
before One o'clock.

HOUSE OF LORDS,

Tuesday, March 6, 1866.

MINUTES.]-Several Lords took the Oath. l'UBLIC BILLS-Committee-Divorce and Matrimonial Causes [H.L.]* (17); Savings Banks and Post Office Savings Banks* (31).

Motion made, and Question put, "That the Chairman do report Progress, and ask leave to sit again."—(Sir James Fer-Report-Savings Banks and Post Office Savings gusson.)

The Committee divided:- Ayes 43; Noes 55: Majority 12.

Original Question again proposed,

"That a sum, not exceeding £5,362,400, be granted to Her Majesty, to defray the Charges of the General Staff, and Regimental Pay, Allow ances, and Charges of Her Majesty's Land Forces at Home and Abroad, exclusive of India, which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1867, inclusive."

MR. CAVENDISH BENTINCK hoped that the Government would not proceed at that late hour. He hoped the Government would now consent to report Progress; and he moved accordingly.

COLONEL PERCY HERBERT said, the rate of every officer's pay was regulated by Royal warrant. A practice had grown up of offering an income less than that fixed by the Royal warrant, and this he thought highly objectionable. The late Lord MaThe Marquess of Hartington

Banks (31).

Royal Assent-Telegraph Act Amendment; Cattle Diseases (Ireland).

BRITISH WHITE HERRING FISHERY

ACT.-PETITION.

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL presented a Petition of Proprietors of Land, &c., and Fishermen of Lochfine, praying for partial Repeal of the British White Herring Fishery Act. although the matter was one of local inThe noble Duke said, that terest, it was of considerable importance. Some years ago an Act was passed to regulate Scotch fisheries, and among other things, to prevent trawling herrings. Herrings had been ordinarily caught by the gills in the meshes of drift nets attached to boats. About twenty years ago the inhabitants of Stonefield discovered that trawling was being extensively practised, and they complained of its interference with their sea fishing; the Scotch Fishery

Board found it necessary to interfere, and trawling was prohibited; and since then two Royal Commissions had inquired into the subject generally. Both Commissions had reported against the continuance of the prohibition of trawling, and in favour of a return to the former state of the law, under which trawling was at least not illegal. He did not agree with the recommendation of the Commissioners, as trawling could hardly be carried on in conjunction with the usual mode of fishing. The herring net was used as a sea net. The trawling net dragged along the sea bottom, caught all fish that came in its way, and if trawling were to be permitted it would be perfectly useless to attempt to protect salmon. Alarmed at the Report of the Commission recommending the repeal of the statute by which trawling was prohibited, the petitioners prayed that the prohibition might be continued within certain arms of the

sea.

disease, were being treated by Mr. Worms, and that one-the original animal attacked-had sucstated that four other unaffected animals had also cumbed to the malady. In my second report I been taken out of the yards for treatment, with five more which were the subjects of the cattle plague. In my third report I stated that in the interim three of the animals which were unaffected at my plague, and in addition to these other cases had also occurred. A summary was attached to this last-named report, which is here repeated:-February 22, 1866-Unaffected 11; affected, but not to-day I found that the whole of the 11 animals severely, 5; died, 5; dying, 4—25. On my visit referred to in the summary, and which had been regarded by Mr. Worms as having been cured, had been attacked, and that nine of them had died. Under the peculiar circumstances of the case, it

first and second visits had been attacked with the

may be as well to add the result of the treatment herd. Numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 are dead, and numbers 2, 8, 9, 11, and 19 are convadescribe the general state of the remaining portion lescent. Passing from these cases I have now to of the herd, the disease, as previously stated, having made fearful havoc among the animals since the 22nd of February. In the sheds were five heifers

of these 25 animals as distinct from the rest of the

Petition read, and ordered to lie on the rapidly sinking from the disease. In contiguous Table.

THE CATTLE PLAGUE, EARL GRANVILLE said, their Lordships would be interested to hear the following Report by Professor Simonds :

yards were lying thirteen cows and heifers which had been shot, some on the previous evening, and the remainder on this morning, all having been so severely affected as to be beyond all hope of rethe same fate just as I arrived on the premises, but covery. A bull and a heifer were about to share were allowed to live until my inspection was completed. I may here remark that none of these animals were destroyed by the orders of the local "Veterinary Department of the Privy Council authority. In No. 1 extemporized yard were Office, Princes Street, March 3, 1866. twenty-four cows, ten of which were dying, and the "Sir, I have the honour to report that, acting remaining fourteen were all more or less affected. on your instructions, I have to-day visited Ment- In the eight other yards were thirty-five heifers, more for the fourth time, for the purpose of ascer- all of which were affected. Several were dying, taining the progress of the cattle plague in Baron and three were dead. The general state of these Rothschild's herd, and the result of the treatment animals was such that in a few days scarcely one of adopted by Mr. Worms. Since my last visit. them may be expected to be alive; and so great February 22, the disease has made rapid progress, has been the mortality, and so rapid the progress and I regret to add that the fatality has kept pace of the disease, that I was informed by the bailiff with its advance. It appears that, in consequence that all treatment had been abandoned for some of the deaths which had occurred up to the 22nd of few days, and the animals left to their fate. Graves February, and the number of animals which were were being prepared as quickly as possible, and all then sinking more or less rapidly from the disease, the requirements of the law were being properly it was determined to give a trial to Mr. Worms' carried out. The almost total destruction of this remedy as a prophylactic as well as a curative herd will, it is to be feared, be followed by a seri agent, and, accordingly, all the remaining animals ous loss among the dairy cows on the estate. On of the original 119 were dosed on succeeding days the 24th of February the malady unfortunately with the mixture. With a view also to limit the made its appearance among them, and on my innumber of cases, the unaffected animals were taken spection to-day, I found that two had died, six out of the straw yards and placed in small lots in been slaughtered, and two others were dying. Two nine different yards, distant from each other, and bulls and seven calves were also rapidly sinking. temporarily fitted up on the south side of one of The entire stock on the dairy farm consists of the plantations. The location of these yards, and twenty-nine cows, twenty-four calves, and four the manner of their construction, were well suited bulls, all of them being animals of great value. for the required purpose. Before describing the In concluding this report I cannot refrain from state of things as now existing, it will be necessary expressing my sincere regret that another supshortly to refer to my former reports of the 15th, posed means of arresting cattle plague by medical 19th, and 22nd of February, in which the parti-treatment should have proved abortive.-I have culars were given of the first twenty-five animals the honour to be Sir, your obedient servant, which had been removed from the herd and put "JAS. B. SIMONDS. under Mr. Worms' treatment. In the first of these reports it was stated that ten animals, which, at the time of my examination, gave no evidence of

"The Clerk of the Council."

44

thousands of people, was one which ought | line. He concurred, he might add, with to be decided by a Committee of that the proposition which had been laid down House, or be submitted to the consideration a few nights before by the right hon. Genof a Joint Committee of both Houses, such tleman the Member for Kilmarnock, that as that which sat in 1864 on the subject it was not desirable as a general rule to of the railway schemes affecting the Me- have discussion on the second reading of tropolis. That Committee recommended, Private Bills, which had better be left for among other things, the prosecution of the the more searching investigation of a Comscheme known as the Inner Circle," but mittee upstairs. That was a rule which before that scheme was completed, or in- his experience as a Member of the House deed well begun, and therefore before its of Commons taught him to regard as adadvantages could be tested, it was proposed mitting of exceptions; and the present by the Bill to run a line through a large case was, so far as he could see, one of an portion of the same district, for the Mid- exceptional character in several respects. London Railway, if constructed, would pass His noble Friend had referred to a line from Notting Hill, along Kensington Gar- known as "the Metropolitan Inner Circle," dens, between Hyde Park Corner and which received two years ago the sanction Paddington, and so on between Oxford of Parliament. That line was not yet comStreet and Grosvenor Square, till it joined pleted. He saw Mr. Fowler, the engineer, the London, Chatham, and Dover near a few days before, and was informed by Farringdon Street. Now, on the Joint him that it would probably be opened in Committee which he had just mentioned eighteen or twenty months; not taking into sat the hon. and gallant Gentleman the account that portion of it which would run Member for North Lancashire, the right along the Thames Embankment. When hon. Gentleman the President of the Board it was opened it would pass through a of Trade, and his noble Friend the Member large part of the district intended to be for King's Lynn, and he should like to have accommodated by means of the Bill before their opinion-an opinion to which he was the House. It was impossible, therefore, sure the House would attach great weight he contended, until the Inner Circle scheme -as to whether there would be such a was fairly at work to know how much breach of the policy recommended by the traffic would remain for the Mid-London, Committee in sanctioning the Bill under and what the necessity was which existed discussion, as to justify its being thrown for its construction. But then it would out on the second reading. He regretted be asked, what had the question of traffic that the President of the Board of Trade to do with the providing of additional railseemed already to have come to a decision way accommodation if companies were willon the matter, inasmuch as he had stated, ing to supply it? The force of that he in answer to a question which had been was ready to admit in the case in which put to him a few evenings before, that he the House had to deal with small provin saw no reason for departing in reference to cial towns or rural districts, in which the it from the usual course of legislation, and inconveniences of making a new line were he wished simply to add that if the right comparatively insignificant. But the case hon. Gentleman would assure him that, was widely different in a great city like under the exceptional circumstances of the London, where the displacement of popucase, he would consent to send the Bill be-lation and the disturbance of traffic caused fore such a Joint Committee as that of 1864 he should not object to withdraw his Amend

ment.

Amendment proposed, to leave out the word "now," and at the end of the Question to add the words "upon this day six months."-(Earl Grosvenor.)

LORD STANLEY said, it was quite true that he had acted as Chairman of the Committee to which his noble Friend alluded. He therefore had naturally looked into the question at issue, although he had no interest whatsoever in the proposed

by the construction of a railway for two or three miles through the very heart of it were matters of considerable moment, although these inconveniences must, of course, be endured whenever the real necessity for such a line could be established. He was not opposed to the creation of all new lines through London, but he thought the House ought not to sanction a new line unless it was a work of real and urgent necessity. There were objections to the proposed line in points of detail, such as that it interfered with Kensington Gardens and Lincoln's Inn Fields, and did not connect itself with the existing Metropolitan line, but he

freely admitted that those were matters | House to consider whether the line by the which might fairly be considered by a Thames Embankment or the Metropolitan Committee upstairs, and the only reason Railway could afford the smallest accomwhy he opposed the reference of the Bill modation to the mass of population along to a Select Committee was this-that as Holborn, Oxford Street, and down the long as the works of the Inner Circle were Bayswater Road. If not, this proposed incomplete, and that line was not opened, line would form no interference with the the Committee would not be able to decide scheme laid down by the Joint Committee. that which was the real question-namely, It was to go under and not over Oxford whether the traffic could not be safely pro- Street, and interfered with Kensington vided for without opening a new line, which Gardens only by running outside of them. would cause an enormous interference with With Lincoln's Inn Fields it only interfered various localities. for the purpose of passing through one of the worst districts in London; and it passed through Holborn for the purpose of getting rid of Middle Row, which, to the reproach of the Metropolitan Board, had so long been allowed to remain an impediment in the thoroughfare, and of throwing that part open for the benefit of the public. It was proposed to do all this in a manner the least interfering with the public convenience, and the promoters came before Parliament with more liberal clauses than had ever been proposed to meet objections on the ground of the displacement of the poorer classes. They ought not, therefore, to be prevented from laying the merits of their scheme before a Select Committee. He did not agree with the noble Lord who thought that the Select Committee would not possess all the necessary materials for forming a just decision; for that body might have before them the Report of the Joint Committee of both Houses, and the opponents of the measure would be sure to urge every possible objection against the proposed line.

MR. ROEBUCK thought that the noble Lord had missed the real question before the House. The points on which he had placed his finger were just the points for the consideration of a Committee upstairs. The real question was whether the House should take an exceptional course and throw out the Bill on the second reading. The noble Earl who moved the Amendment stated that the provision made by the Joint Committee of both Houses was contravened by the present Bill, and therefore it was desirable that the House should learn from the hon. Member for North Lancashire (Colonel Wilson Patten) whether such contravention had taken place, justifying the rejection of the Bill on the second reading. COLONEL WILSON PATTEN, in answer to the appeal just made to him, stated that his opinion very much accorded with that of the noble Lord the Member for King's Lynn (Lord Stanley). He and the noble Lord were members of the Joint Committee which, after the consideration of much evidence, came to the conclusion that a system of two Circles would, on the whole, afford the best means of railway accommodation to all classes in the metropolis; that certain Bills not in accordance with that system should be rejected; and that only the lines which carried out that general view should be submitted to a Com-connect by underground communication the mittee, over which the noble Lord very good-naturedly undertook to preside, and which came to the resolution already mentioned. He thought it would be a pity, after all the consideration given to the matter, that the general view then adopted should now be upset, and another system MR. DODSON hoped the hon. Gentleof railways established in its place. The man who moved the second reading of this main recommendation of the plan of two Bill would not give the House the trouble Circles was that it would distribute the of dividing upon it. He should be sorry to traffic among the different localities better express any opinion that the Bill was unnethan a system of two straight lines, and hecessary, or that it was any interference with would regret to see that plan interfered the scheme recommended by the Select with. Committee of 1864; but he thought that to deal with the Bill this year would be

MR. THOMAS CHAMBERS asked the
Lord Stanley

SIR JAMES FERGUSSON said, that the Bill expressly proceeded on the principles laid down by the Joint Committee of 1864 and the Lords' Committee of 1863, which were mainly to the effect that companies seeking lines through London should

great through lines of the country. The promoters of the present Bill had observed those conditions, and proposed by an underground railway to connect the London and North-Western Railway with the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway.