SCIENCE AND ART THE TRANSIT OF the authority of the Lieutenant Governor

IRELAND-THE UPPER SHANNON.

misinformed in the matter. The facts | held in 1872 as to trawling in Galway are that the Lieutenant Governor, in the Bay. The result of that inquiry was, exercise of the power vested in him, re- that experiments were directed to be mitted the fees of Court, amounting to made in every month in the year as to £12 88. 9d., due to the Treasury from the effect produced by trawling on the the plaintiffs in a suit, who were desti- fisheries in the bay. These experiments tute orphan children. It is only right were entrusted to the Coastguard, and that I should add that the Lieutenant were conducted in several months of the Governor appears to have exercised a years 1872 and 1873, but were then diswise discretion in the matter. continued, the officer conducting them being removed. His successor was understood to have resumed them, but he became of unsound mind, and on his leaving the district no record could be found of what he had done. The experiments were again resumed in 1875, and August is now the only month of the year in which they have not been carried out. It is expected that they will then be completed, and the Inspectors will be in a position to make a decision on the matter. In the meantime, fishing of every description is being carried on without interference.

QUESTION.

MR. ERRINGTON asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether, considering how little the Upper Shannon is used for navigation, he would be prepared to sanction and assist in removing or modifying the obstructions such as Termon Wall, by which the water is kept back and whole tracts of country flooded, and fishing interests sacrificed? SIR MICHAEL HICKS - BEACH: I am not prepared, Sir, to admit that the works at Tarmanbarry do so much injury to the Shannon Valley, or that the navigation of the Upper Shannon is so useless as would appear to be implied by the hon. Member's Question. If, however, it were proved that the injury which may be done would be materially diminished by the insertion of sluices in the weirs, and the landowners were prepared to bear their fair proportion of the expense, the Government would be ready to consider any proposals that might be made with that object.

MR. O'SHAUGHNESSY asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether any decision has yet been come to on the subject of the inquiry held in 1872, as to the use of trawling vessels in Galway Bay; if not, whether he can explain the cause of the great delay in arriving at such a decision; and, whether he will impress on the fishing authorities the propriety of deciding the question without further delay?

SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH: Sir, I think I informed the hon. Member, at an early period of the Session, of the reasons for the delay in arriving at a decision on the subject of the inquiry

Mr. J. Lowther

ITALY CASE OF MR. WILLIAM
MERCER.-QUESTION.

SIR WILLIAM STIRLING MAXWELL asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, What steps Her Majesty's Government have taken or are taking to obtain from the Government of the King of Italy repayment of the expenses incurred by Mr. William Mercer at his trial in 1873 on certain false charges by the police of Castellamare, and payment of compensation for ill-treatment received at the hands of the police, for which Her Majesty's Minister in Italy, in August, 1873, was instructed by Earl Granville, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to prefer a claim?

Union Steam Shipping Company; but as the Correspondence with the Cape Government had passed through the Colonial Office, he must consult the Under Secretary for the Colonies as to what portion, if any, of that Correspondence could be laid on the Table.

MR. BOURKE: The proceedings, | in 1872 was not submitted to the House Sir, in regard to Mr. William Mercer by the Government of the day; but occurred in the Italian Courts in 1873, probably what the hon. Gentleman reand resulted in Mr. Mercer's acquittal. ferred to was the contract of 1868, for Sir Augustus Paget, then Her Majesty's the conveyance of the Cape Mails, and Minister at Rome, was instructed by which terminated at the close of last Her Majesty's Government to represent month, the usual 12 months' notice the whole of the facts to the Italian having been given. The Home GovernGovernment, and to express an opinion ment did not intend to enter into any that the Government ought to consider new contract, the South African colonies the equity of the claim Mr. Mercer had having been left to make their own aragainst them for the sufferings he had rangements for the future conveyance endured. To this representation of Her of the Mails. He had no objection to Majesty's Government the Italian Go-produce the correspondence with the vernment positively refused to listen in the way in which Her Majesty's Government expected them to do. Under these circumstances the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown was taken, and another representation was made to the Italian Government, who represented that they had already tried the police of Castellamare, who had caused the sufferings of Mr. Mercer, and that they had been punished. They added that if Mr. Mercer considered he had been ill-used the Courts of Law in Italy were open to him, and that his case would receive exactly the same consideration from a tribunal as if he was an Italian subject. Mr. Mercer had not, in the exercise of his discretion, chosen to appeal to an Italian Court, and, under the circumstances, Her Majesty's Government thought they could not interfere further on his behalf.

TURKEY THE PAPERS ON THE
EASTERN QUESTION.-QUESTION.

MR. E. JENKINS asked the First Lord of the Treasury, If he will state definitely the day on which the Papers on the Eastern Question will be in the hands of Members?

MR. DISRAELI: Every effort, Sir, is being made at the Foreign Office in order that these Papers may be laid on the Table. It is impossible for me to say definitely on what day they will be produced, because it does not depend merely upon Her Majesty's Government; but I saw my noble Friend the Secretary

POST OFFICE-CAPE OF GOOD HOPE of State for Foreign Affairs before I

MAIL CONTRACT.-QUESTION. MR. GOURLEY asked the Postmaster General, If it be correct that the contract for the conveyance of the Cape of Good Hope Mails, dated 19th December 1872, with the Union Steam Shipping Company has been cancelled; if so, if he will state upon what terms; whether it be his intention to submit the future conveyance of the Mails to public competition, or enter into a private contract with the owners of one or both the existing steam lines; and, if he will consent to place upon the Table of the House all correspondence between the Post Office, the Cape Government, and owners of vessels now carrying the Mails?

LORD JOHN MANNERS, in reply, said, that the contract entered into by the Post Office with the Union Company

came into the House half-an-hour ago, and he told me he thought he might count on their being laid on the Table at the beginning of next week.

made upon some native villages by a | Armstrong referred to is the same insection of the neighbouring mountain dividual as the "Richard Armstrong " tribes. The Governor reports that the whose name was returned by the Comoutbreaks were of a purely local charac-missioners appointed to inquire into the ter, that he had taken prompt steps to restore order, and that he had no apprehension respecting the peace of the colony.

SALMON FISHERIES ACT, 1861-THE

SOLWAY.-QUESTION.

existence of Corrupt Practices at Elections for the Borough of Sligo under Schedule D, as "guilty of bribery;" whether the said Commissioners further reported that "Serjeant Armstrong" had "expended £1,480 in bribery;" "that the number of voters so bribed amounted to 97; of these we have ascertained the names of 65, among whom the sum of £1,200 was distributed;" whether, in consequence of the said report, the borough of Sligo was disfranchised; and, whether, in view of the foregoing circumstances and the precedent in the Stonor case, Her Majesty's Government are still prepared to appoint, or, if ap

MR. STAFFORD HOWARD asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If he can state why it is that, whilst all the stake nets on the English side of the Solway were done away with by "The Salmon Fisheries Act, 1861," those on the Scotch side have been allowed to remain; and, whether he can render any assistance in remedy-pointed, to cancel the appointment ing what is felt by the English fishermen to be a great injustice?

MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, he was not in any way responsible for the legislation of 1861, but the fact unfortunately was, that the law on the two sides of the Solway were different. The subject was mentioned in the Reports of the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries for 1875, who said it was desirable to remove the anomaly, but the Scotch proprietors were indisposed to adopt the necessary legislation. The Esk was under the English Acts; but there would be a strenuous opposition among the proprietors on the north side of the Solway, which was only the estuary of the Esk, to come under the same law.

LAW AND JUSTICE THE IRISH
JUDICIAL BENCH-SERJEANT

ARMSTRONG.-QUESTION.

MR. CALLAN asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether the insertion of the names of the Serjeants at Law in the Commission of Assize is not such a matter of ordinary routine as not to confer any right, in case of the existence of a vacancy amongst the Judges, to be selected to go as Judge of Assize; whether the statement which has appeared in the Dublin newspapers, to the effect that Serjeant Armstrong has been appointed to go as Judge of Assize, is correct; if so, whether, at the time of the appointment of Serjeant Armstrong to go as Judge of Assize, the Irish Executive were aware that the Serjeant

Mr. J. Lowther

of an individual reported and scheduled as." guilty of bribery," to the important judicial office of going Judge of Assize?

SIR MICHAEL HICKS - BEACH: Any official action, Sir, in the nature of making or revoking an appointment such as that alluded to in the Question rests with the Lord Chancellor of Ireland rather than with myself, and his Lordship has, therefore, forwarded to me a statement in reply to the hon. Member, which, with the permission of the House, I will read

"In Ireland there are three Queen's Serjeants, who are always named in the ordinary Commissions for the Assizes together with the Judges. The Queen's Counsel are not named in these Commissions, and if one is sent as Judge, a special Commission is issued for the purpose. When a Judge does not go circuit the proper person to take his place is a Serjeant. If no Serjeant goes, a Queen's Counsel is sent. The first Serjeant is Serjeant Armstrong. The other two Serjeants are in Parliament, and could not and because the payment they would receive go as Judges, both on Constitutional grounds might vacate their seats. Serjeant Armstrong was, under a Royal Commission, issued in June, 1869, to inquire into the existence of corrupt practices in the borough of Sligo, found to have been guilty of corrupt practices at the previous election of 1865, when he was returned to Parliament for the borough of Sligo. The Act of held 16 & 16 Vict. c. 57-being with a view Parliament under which the Commission was to inquiry and not punishment, protects every person who, like Serjeant Armstrong, is examined before such a Commission and makes a full disclosure, and declares that he shall be freed from all penal actions, forfeitures, punishments, disabilities, and incapacities. Serjeant Armstrong was not disturbed in his office of Serjeant either by the Government of the day or any succeeding Government, and has been

NAVY-TENDERS FOR SHIPBUILDING. into abeyance those rights of sale which he may