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houses had no roofs in many cases ; there were pools of water upon the floors ; and the people were living upon potatoes and seaweed . One case had actually come under his ( Mr . Ellice ' s ) notice . A poor man was in the most destitute condition , and , by his advice , applied to the board for relief . What did the board do ? Why , they took away from this poor man ' s wife one-half of an allowance of Is . per week , which she had up to that time been receiving , and gave it to the man . The sheriff had taken some pains in this particular case ; but the apathy and inert opposition of the board had been too much for him , and he gave it up in despair . In another case , the horrible state of want to which his family were reduced had driven a man mad . " into this
The Board of Supervision did not inquire matter until nine months afterwards ; and they then sent their own chairman , Sir John M'Neil—the man who was in fact the board , and upon whom , if upon any one , the blame of the existing state of things rested . The report which Sir John made out , Mr . Ell ice charged with being an evasion of the truth . He concluded by stating that by the present bill he proposed to introduce inspectors having the same powers and the same duties as those officers possess in England ; and that these inspectors are to pay periodical visits to the places within their district , giving notice of their intention to do so in order that paupers and othershaving complaints to make might attend before them for that purpose .
The Lord Advocate thought there was a good deal of exaggeration in the speech of Mr . Ellice , and , although he did not mean to deny that the law might be amended , it was unwise , he said , hastily to disturb the existing settlement . His simple objection to the bill was , that while it would not secure the object in view as regarded the appointment of special inspectors , the provisions of the present act authorise the Secretary of State to appoint such officers . Sir John M'Neil and the Board of Supervision had had a very difficult task to perform ; and the sweeping charges against them were , in his opinion , not deserved . Without pledging the Government , he recommended Mr . Ellice to leave the matter in their hands . Mr . Christopher joined in this recommendation : and , after a short discussion , in the course of which the conduct of Sir John M'Neil was defended by Mr . C . Bruce , Mr . Ellice withdrew his motion , being satisfied with the assurance which had been given that Government would take the subject into consideration .
SUNDAY TRADING BILI ,. I / Ord Robert Grosvenor moved the second reading of this bill , which was supported by Lord Ebrington , the Marquis of Blandford , Sir George Grey , Mr . James Macgrecor , Sir J . Sheli . ev , Mr . Chambers , Mr . Kirk , and Mr . Masterman ; and wns opposed or objected to by Mr . Wilkinson , Mr . Doscombe , Mr . J . G , Phillimore , Mr . Hadfield , and Mr . W . J . Fox . The arguments for the measure were based on the principle that the amount of Sunday trading which goes forward nt present is a desecration of the Sabbath : the chief argument against it was to the effect that the suppression of trading on the Sunday morning would be a great hardship to the working classes , who receive their wages so late on the Saturday night , that they are unable to market until the following day . —The bill was read a second time . —Mr . Duncombe then moved that it be referred to a select committee ; but this was opposed by Sir George Grey , and the motion was withdrawn .
LAND AND A 88 E 8 SED TAXES DIVISION HIM .. Mr . Frewkn , in moving the second reading of this bill , explained that its object is to facilitate the formation of divisions for which meetings of the Commissioners may bo held under authority of the Treasury . The Ciianckuor of the Exchequer was not aware that any considerable inconvenience wns felt from the arrangement under the present law , and he therefore , and upon other grounds , objected to the further progress of the bill . If it could be shown , he snid , that the present law is seriously dofc ctive , ho would undertake , on the part of the Government , to introduce a measure to remedy the defect . —The bill was supported by Mr . SrooNFit ; but wns rejected , upon a division , by 125 to 35 . Tlie Intestacy ( Scotland ) Bill passed through
committee . COUUT OF CHANCERY ( iKKI . AN !)) . Mr . Whitk 8 Ii > I 3 moved the second reading of a scries of bills , the object of which was to adapt to the Irish Court of Chancery the beneficial reforms which had been introduced into the English Court . The first of these , bills abolished the Mastcr ' s-offlce altogether . The second amended the practice and course . of proceeding of the Court upon the model of the English Court . The third bill altered the law relating to the appointment of receivers ; it consisted of mutter of law , which was assimilated to that of England , and of matter of regulation . Tho fourth bill provided for tho sales of estate * , by engrafting upon the reformed Court of Chancery all that was good in the Encumbered Eatatcs Court about to
expire , and transferring the business of the latter Court to the former , giving it the power to add to its decree of sale a parliamentary title . As the business of the Court of Chancery would be by these measures much increased , it was necessary to provide a local Court of Appeal ; and this was the subject of the fifth bill , which did not create a new Court or a single new judge , but would affo rd the suitor an opportunity of a re-hearing of his cause before the Lord
Chancellor , assisted by retired judges . The last bill modified the stamp duties to meet the altered practice of the Court . —Mr . J . D . Fitzgerald opposed the bills , and said that all the abuses described by Mr . Whiteside had been reformed by the Act of 1851 . —After a brief discussion , the debate was adjourned for a month . The Dissenters Marriage Bill was read a second time ; and the Income Tax Bill a third time , and passed .
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THE SEBASTOPOL COMMITTEE . MONDAY . Captain Milne , of the transport service , was re-examined , and furnished the committee with several details relative to the Commissariat transports . He stated that the number of large steam-vessels now emploj-ed is 113 , and the number of sailing vessels 103 . The sum of money expended in this service during the past year was 3 , 000 , 000 J . In answer to Lord Seymour , the witness acknowledged that it would have been more economical to purchase the vessels at once ; but then , he said , the Government had not the means of manning them . In consequence of complaints made in the department , returns were ordered to be made by the senior and
commanding officers as to the proper performance of the service , the regulations for which were read by Captain Milne and put on the committee records . When the Admiralty chartered vessels for the transport service , the owners undertook to supply the troops with stores . In consequence of complaint about the Trent and Kangaroo , the Admiralty caused inquiries to be made , and had power to inflict a fine on the owner of the ship , if there was anv irregularity or insufficiency in the supply of stores . " Several other eases had occurred in the course of the last eighteen months , and the Admiralty had refused to pav the money . The master and mate of the Robert Lowe were changed on g-iing out from Portsmouth ; but it was not reported to the Admiralty . If
the crew did not know of their cargo , it was the fault of the owner . Every viesel was bound by its charter party to have an authority on board to give , on arrival of the ship in harbour , an account of the ship ' s cargo . The witness admitted that the Admiralty ought to have taken notice of this breach of the charter party , and that it was answerable for not having done so . When the Prince was lost , the Admiralty did not know what the Ordnance had put on board , but they could ascertain through the Ordnance . He could not say whether it was a transaction of the Ordnance , or not , that some portions of iron bedsteads were sent out in one vessel and some in another , and that ultimately they never met . ( Txiughter . ') It was certainly desirable that the
legs of bedsteads , to be useful , should meet the bedsteads themselves . In the month of August , Admiral Boxer complained that he had not a sufficient staff to perform the duties . The Admiralty then sent out the Harpy to be attached to him . If , as had been stated in the papers , a vessel was sent to purchase boots and shoes with a cargo of them actually on board , the Admiralty were not aware of it , aud , from communications he had received from the authorities , he believed no such transaction had occurred . Supposing the sick and wounded , in being conveyed from IJalaklava to Scutari , had suffered dreadful hardships , the fault would be that of the
principal agent of transports . lie had of course heard of the horrors of the sick transport ships ; but he was not aware that any official intimation of them had been received at the Admiralty . Ho then read a letter from Admiral Boxer to Lord Raglan , written in January last , in which the admiral asserted , that while ho was at Constantinople he had used hia utmost exertions to render tho landing of tho sick and wounded as comfortable as possible , but that there was a want of men to carry them to the hospital . The Admiralty never received any requisition to provide hospital ships : ships ought to have boon fitted for tho purpose .
" Then you are not aware , " asked tho Chairman , " that l > r . Andrew Smith represented early in the year that such ships ought to bo provided ? " —I never heard of it till this moment . " Whoso duty was it to tell you ? " —It was the duty of tho Cominnnder-in-Chirf to communicate , through tho War-olHee , with tho Naval department . No doubt , tho difficulty with regard to bedding was owing to tho want of stores of those artioloa in llnlnklavn . Sir J . Pakington . — " The suggestion was made by Dr . Andrew Smith to tho War Department ; was any sent from tho War Department to you ? " — I never heard of any . For what wns wanted out there , it wns tlvo duty of the Commnndor-in-Chief . 1 Lord Soymour . — "If tho whnrftt nt Scutari wore insufficient , an landing places , whose duty wn « it to report tho fact ? " fin explanation , witness road uu extract from a
letter from Admiral Boxer to the Secretary- of the Admiralty , in January last , referring to those wharfs . He stated that he called the attention of Lord Raglan to the necessity of providing proper wharfs for landing the sick and wounded early in the year . One was partly constructed , but was washed away in November . In a strong south wind boats could not go alongside the principal landing-place ; the . only landing-place at Scutari sheltered from the south wind was between two and three miles from the hospital , which was a great objection . ]
To Mr . Drumraond . — If any horses sent out in transports died in consequence of being placed too close to the engine , he had never heard of it . Several of the horses soon went mad on the passage , and were obliged to be shot ; but that was not owing to their exposure to the heat of the engines so far as he knew , but to some internal disease of the horses themselves . He believed it was owing to the horses not being able to stale . ' A portion of the sitting was then occupied by a discussion between Sir Charles Trevelyan , who was recalled , Mr . Roebuck , and Mr . Layard , as to an alleged mis-statement by the latter of a phrase used by Sir Charles on a former examination . It appeared , however , that Mr . Layard had only put an interpretation upon it which Sir Charles had not intended , and that he had omitted to quote some subsequent phrase of a qualifying nature .
Captain Tallon , commander of the Sea Nymph , was next called , and deposed to having taken out from this country for the Government , a cargo of provisions for the use of the army , and , among other things , twenty-four casks of boots and shoes ; that he had made repeated attempts to land the boots and shoes at Varna , Eupatoria , and Balaklava , but to no purpose , the commissariat authorities , and also those of the Quartermaster-General at those places , refusing to receive them , on the ground that they had no authority to do so ; and that between the latter end of October and the beginning of November his ship was kept dodging about the Black Sea with those boots and shoes on board . At length , on the 8 th November , he succeeded in shoving them ashore at Balaklava —( a laugh )—into one of the Quartermaster-General ' s stores . Captain Hilyer , one of the naval brigade in the Crimea , gave evidence as to the superior condition of that brigade during the winter , as compared with the state of the troops generally , which he attributed to the brigade being mostly picked inen , to their being well-3 easoned , and to their having had their food regularly and 'well cooked .
TUESDAT . Sir John Burgoyne , under whose superintendence the engineering works before Sebastopol were carried out , gave evidence on Tuesday chiefly with respect to the want of a proper road from the harbour to the camp . He was of opinion that great evils arose from the absence of such a road , though not so many or so bad as the public supposed ; but the army could hot spare the men for the work—they were wanted in the trenches , which it was necessary to make at once , or the Allies might have been disastrously attacked by the Russians . If , however , Lord Raglan found the force insufficient for making the road , he could have sent home for men . Navigators would have been useful , and it would have been a better
measure ' if early in November 1500 " navvies" had been sent out to make the road , than the subsequent construction of the railway . He did not attribute the deaths and loss that occurred in the commissariat to the state of the road ; but undoubtedly the state of the road increased the amount of work . No doubt the carts and horses often stuck in the deep mud ; and soon after he got before Sebastopol , he found the horses of the commissariat overworked and in bad condition . The generals of division complained of the excessive work the men had t o perform . All this was the fault of our
military institutions , which in the field were notoriously insufficient . The commissariat , he considered , was not equal to tho requirements- Ho heard no complaints about the tools ; but there ' might have been a few accidental exceptions that were bad . The great mass of the tools is provided by tho Ordnance , and under n system of contract . That system is to take tho lowest tender , provided it is made by a respectable manufacturer . Many of the tools used in the Crimea came from Malta , where they had been stored' for many years . Tho witness concluded his evidence by giving some technical
opinions upon military . AV KDNKSDAY . Mr . Grant for thirty years in the service of tho Admiralty , and in the Victualling and Transport departments , entered into varioiiH details oncoming tho system of tender-taking by tho Admiralty , and tho amount of htoros sent out to tho troops in tho Cnmca . Referring to tho abortion that , aftor some of tho tcmlors had boon accented , tho accompany ing samples had been changed , he slid that no one could change tho samples without bro-ikin" tho seals . Tho head messenger had charge of thorn until tho individuals who owned them camo for them lie did not recollect of any representations having boon made as to change of samples or unfair play with thorn , or of complaints on tho part of tho public that this had taken place ; and ho conscientiously believed that no unfair play had taken or could take
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May 5 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . 413
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Leader (1850-1860), May 5, 1855, page 413, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2089/page/5/
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