is qualified for the full retiring pension. The Regulation now in force at the Admiralty, to which the hon. Member alludes, was promulgated at a time when great changes were being made. I am not aware of any case which calls for a new general Rule; it is, however, in the power of the Head of any Department to propose to the Treasury for adoption the Admiralty Regulation. ARMY ORGANIZATION-THE NEW SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: If the noble Lord will turn to the Convention with Tunis, which was laid before Parliament in 1876, he will perceive that Article 40 provides that at any time after the expiration of seven years from the date of the Convention, either of the high contracting parties shall have the right to call upon the other to enter upon a revision of the same; but until such revision shall have been accomplished by common consent, and a new Convention shall have been concluded COLONEL KENNARD asked the Se-vention shall continue and remain in and put into operation, the present Concretary of State for War, Whether the full force and effect. With regard to vacancies created by the new Army Or- the second Question of the noble Lord, ganisation will be filled up in the batta- I have to say that the Convention of lions in which they occur, or in the new double battalions, according to seniority; Consular Court, and the subject is there1875 determines the jurisdiction of the and, will officers, who by existing regu-fore covered by the reply which I have lations are already disqualified from fur- given to the noble Lord's previous ther promotion, gain any benefit in pro- Question. motion by the new Warrant, or be obliged to retire at once? WARRANT. MR. CHILDERS: In reply to the hon, and gallant Gentleman, I have to state that the question to which his inquiry points has been fully discussed; and that in the General Orders, which will give effect to the new organization, clauses will be inserted fully providing for the equities of these cases. I do not think that I need, at the present time, give further detail as to a portion of the very elaborate scheme which will shortly be before Parliament. AFFAIRS OF TUNIS-THE CONVEN- THE EARL OF BECTIVE asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is to be inferred from Lord Granville's letter of the 20th England does not recognise the Treaty May to the French Ambassador that forced upon the Bey on 12th May; whether, as a matter of fact, Her Majesty's Government does or does not recognise such Treaty; and, whether the Order in Council of the 18th May does or does not treat Tunis as a part of the Ottoman Empire; also, if Her Majesty's Govern ment is aware that M. Roustan has ordered the Bey of Tunis to surround the house of the Sheik-el-Islam with soldiers; and that M. Roustan has sent an intimation to the Sheik-el-Islam as to the decision he must deliver in the Enfida case? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I am THE EARL OF BECTIVE asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If Her Majesty's Government has taken any steps to ascertain the views of the French Government respect- unable to give within the limits of a ing the renewal of the Convention of reply a full statement of the views of 1875, which expires in 1882; and, if so, Her Majesty's Government on the points if he will communicate the answer of raised by the noble Lord; and I must the French Government to the House? leave him to appreciate the views exHe also asked, If Her Majesty's Go-pressed in Lord Granville's Note. With vernment consider that any alteration in the jurisdiction of the Consular Court at Tunis is required under the present confused state of affairs in the Regency; and, if not, will Her Majesty's Government obtain an undertaking from the French and Tunisian Governments that the jurisdiction of the Court shall be as extensive in the future as it was when the Court was first established? regard to M. Roustan, Her Majesty's Government have received no information of the kind referred to from Her Majesty's Consular General at Tunis. OPEN SPACES (METROPOLIS)-LIN COLN'S-INN-FIELDS. SIR EARDLEY WILMOT asked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether any arrangements are in progress, and, if so, what arrangements, for opening | pared to acquire it immediately they the inclosure in Lincoln's Inn Fields as came into Office. They had, however, a recreation ground for the public? been defeated by local opposition. Now MR. SHAW LEFEVRE: I believe they were thrown back upon the Kildare that a proposal has been made to open Street site, and they were making ar Lincoln's Inn Fields to the public; but rangements for a public competition in I am afraid it has not made much pro- respect to the plans and valuations gress, owing to the legal difficulties for the proposed new buildings. Every raised by the householders in the neigh- facility would be given for the criticism bourhood. The question is one which of the plans by the Corporation and the concerns the Metropolitan Board of public generally before a selection was Works more than the Office of Works. made. The hon. Member might rest assured that the Government would do all it could to secure the best possible arrangements for the Library; but it would be premature to state before the plans were prepared what those arrangeHe could assure both ments would be. the hon. Gentlemen the Government were as anxious to push the matter forward as they themselves were. GROUND GAME ACT, 1880-REMISSION OF FINES ILLEGALLY INFLICTED. MR. P. A. TAYLOR asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If he has yet come to any decision in regard to remitting the fines levied upon three men (John West, Isaac Martin, and John Basset) at the West Powder Petty Sessions, for killing rabbits, on the invitation and at the request of the occupier of the land? SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, that, after careful consideration, he had come to the conclusion that the magistrates had misconceived the law, and that the conviction could not be sustained. He had, therefore, directed that the fines imposed by the magistrates should be remitted. SCIENCE AND ART-MUSEUM AND EVICTIONS, &c. (IRELAND). MR. DAWSON asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, since the 5th May, the Government have received any information on the subject of the neces sity of suspending evictions in Ireland in the case of tenants unable to pay their rents; whether that information has received the close and early attention of the Government; and, whether, in view of the delay of legislation, he will bring in some provisional measure to check evictions in such cases, and thus remove serious sources of disturb. ance in Ireland? MR. DAWSON asked the Vice President of the Council, Whether before deciding on any plans for the building of MR. T. P. O'CONNOR inquired whethe new Science and Art Museum and ther the attention of the right hon. GenNational Library in Dublin the Corpo- tleman the First Lord of the Treasury ration of Dublin will be consulted; and, had been called to a Return issued that whether in the construction of the Na-morning, stating that there had been tional Library regard will be had to the improved mode of construction which separates the public reading rooms from those in which the books are stored? MR. A. M. SULLIVAN asked whether, considering the number of years the project had been under consideration, the Government would use all their exertions to bring it to a speedy completion? MR. MUNDELLA, in reply, said, there had been no delay since the matter came into their hands. The only hindrance they had experienced, they had experienced in the City of Dublin itself. As the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Dawson) was, no doubt, aware, the acquisition of the Leinster Lawn site was wanted, and the Government were pre Sir Eardley Wilmot 91 judgments entered in the High Court of Justice between January 29 and May 1, and that ejectment decrees had been granted during the Easter term to the number of 3,003? MR. GRANTHAM asked whether the right hon. Gentleman was aware that many tenants who were well able to pay their rents refused to do so under pressure of the Land League; and whether he would consider the propriety of simplifying the procedure for the recovery of rent in Ireland? MR. GLADSTONE: My attention is not commonly called to Papers such as those to which the hon. Member for Galway refers except upon some collateral suggestion; and I have not had the opportunity of considering these Returns. I am afraid it is the case that a considerable number of persons who are able to pay their rents are under sinister suggestions to avoid payment; but I cannot at this moment say whether it is desirable to take any steps, or, if any, what steps, in the peculiar state of the law, with regard to the recovery of rents in Ireland. In answer to the Question of the hon. Member for Carlow (Mr. Dawson), I believe it refers to a previous reply of mine, which reply seemed to invite some further information on the subject to which it referred. I can only say that, so far as the Members of the Government in London are concerned, and so far as my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland is concerned, at the time when he left London, we had not as yet received any such further information; but, undoubtedly, all information which we do receive will be for us a matter of very serious consideration. With respect to exceptional legislation, I would remind the House that our Compensation for Disturbance Bill last year met with no success. I fear that further legislation of the same kind now, while very uncertain in its own direct issue, would cause serious delay to other legislation which we hope may be of a more permanent character. ARMY (INDIA)-BENGAL STAFF CORPS MR. GRANTHAM asked the Secretary of State for India, Whether after the holding of the Court of Inquiry on the state of Captain Chatterton, as mentioned by him last Thursday, there were not general, brigade, and divisional orders issued in reference to his case, dated respectively March 15th, 16th, and 17th, 1869, and whether in consequence of such orders Presidency Surgeons Baillie and Brougham, and Garrison Surgeon Powell did not place Captain Chatterton in the officers' hospital at Fort William, Calcutta, for urgent surgical treatment, as the operation, however simple it might have been if performed in the September previous, had become a serious one owing to delay; whether Garrison Surgeon Powell has not certified that after full examination he found Captain Chatterton suffering from a contracted limb, for which he considered the division of the left tendon achilles necessary; that he attended him daily; prepared his papers, and proposed to take him before the Medical Board in Calcutta on the 28th April, with a recommendation that he be granted twelve months' leave of absence to visit England, in order that the operation might be performed under POST OFFICE-THE MAILS IN ARGYLL- favourable circumstances, but that he SHIRE AND THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND. was unable to take him before such MR. FRASER MACKINTOSH asked court in consequence of an order from the Postmaster General, Whether he has the India Council being served on him now concluded negotiations for expedit- on the 26th April requiring him to dising the mails to and from Inverness and miss Captain Chatterton from the hosthe North of Scotland; and, if so, whe-pital; whether that India Council order ther he will be good enough to indicate the new arrangements? MR. FAWCETT informed his hon. Friend that negotiations had been concluded for the acceleration of the mails to the Highlands; but he would not trouble the House with the details. He might say that the London night mail would arrive at Inverness an hour and a quarter, and at Wick two hours and 20 minutes earlier than at present, while the day mail would arrive at Inverness 50 minutes earlier. He had decided upon all arrangements as to arrival of the mails, and he could send the hon. Member a copy of them. He would only add that this improved postal arrangement would come into operation on Wednesday next, the 1st of June. was not founded on the previous Despatch of January, and in ignorance of the opinions subsequently formed by the highest medical authorities in Calcutta; whether, in consequence of Captain Chatterton being so hastily and improperly turned out of the hospital, he was not left to find his way back to England to undergo the operation the best way he could; and, if he will allow this officer to be examined by the Medical Board at the India Office to report to the House whether Captain Chatterton is not now a cripple for life, notwithstanding five operations performed in England, in consequence of the delay in attending to his case in India, owing to the differences of opinion existing among the medical authorities in India? SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON asked, whether the question had been considered of selling the present valuable site of the Post Office, and erecting a new Post Office which would be nearer the principal railway termini-in the vicinity, for instance, of Bedford Square? THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON: | necessary to say that no negotiations Since this morning, when I first ob- have been entered into with regard to served this Question on the Paper, I the purchase of Christ's Hospital. have not had time to examine the details of Captain Chatterton's case. The General Brigade and Divisional Orders issued with reference to it have never been received at the India Office, as it is not the practice to send such Orders home from India. I will have the matter carefully examined, in order to ascertain whether it requires further inquiry in India; but I cannot hold out to the hon. Member any hope that it will be possible to take further action in reference to it in view of the amount of consideration it has already received and the number of Secretaries of State before whom it has been brought. ARMY-THE 50TH REGIMENT. MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR asked the Secretary of State for War, If he will state the reason why the 50th Regiment of Foot has been kept at home since June 1869, while every other regiment in the service has had its tour of foreign service? MR. CHILDERS: For the reasons which I gave to the House on the 23rd instant, when I was asked about the 58th Regiment, I do not think that the House will expect me to give detailed explanations as to the time during which the 50th Regiment has been at home. beyond this-that there is nothing exceptional in the case. MR. FAWCETT: Of course, the question has been carefully considered; but no definite conclusion respecting it has yet been arrived at. THE PUBLIC SERVICES-VOTE ON ACCOUNT. MR. PARNELL asked the Prime Minister, Whether he proposed to take any Vote on Account before Whitsuntide? MR. GLADSTONE said, he believed it would be necessary to do so. CENTRAL ASIA-THE TEKKE TUR- MR. O'DONNELL asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Government had received Russia had formally annexed the country any confirmation of the report that of the Tekke Turcomans? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: We have received no information on the LICENSING LAW (IRELAND)-PUBLI- MR. BIGGAR asked the Secretary to the Treasury, If it is the intention of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to instruct their officers in Belfast to permit persons, whose applications for transfers and confirmations of publicans' certificates may not be heard until the annual licensing sessions on 30th October, to continue trading from the date their licences expire until that date, without requiring such person, as last year, to obtain ad interim authority from the Lord Lieutenant? LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISH: The Board of Inland Revenue intend to instruct their officers not to interfere with the sale of intoxicating liquors in the cases mentioned by the hon. Member pending confirmation of the licences at Quarter Sessions upon deposit being made of the proper amount of licence duty. This course has been approved by the Lord Lieutenant, and will be pursued in all similar cases in future, so that it will no longer be necessary to apply to the Lord Lieutenant for his ad interim authority. Humble, and Lord Cloncurry were among those who were pushing things to an extreme against their tenants; and whether he would endeavour to establish something like a truce between the relentless landlords and their impoverished tenantry? EVICTIONS, &c. (IRELAND). MR. A. M. SULLIVAN wished to put a Question to the Prime Minister with reference to an answer given by the right hon. Gentleman to the hon. Member for Carlow Borough; and, with the indulgence of the House, he would preface his Question with one or two observations, which would be confined within the narrowest possible limits. He desired to make a suggestion, or, rather, an appeal, to the Prime Minister with reference to the present lamentable state of things in Ireland, as to evictions on the one side and as to the retaliatory spirit in which the Land League was resisting them on the other. He could say that there were some Irish Members who deplored both of those evils, and who were honestly desirous of seeing some truce established which would spare the country the horrors which were now being enacted. He would, therefore, appeal again to the Prime Minister, Whether it would not be practicable to do something whereby the rush of evictions could be eased, and at the same time the people could be called upon to discharge their honest obligation to pay rent where they could? He was the ambassador of no one; but he could say that there were some Irish Members cordially acting with their Colleagues round about them in his part of the House who would heartily throw themselves into an effort to effect, in the interests of peace, an honourable adjustment of the terrible state of things pre-postpone his Question till that occasion. vailing in Ireland. MR. MITCHELL HENRY wished, before the right hon. Gentleman replied, to ask him whether he was aware that at the meeting of the Land League which the hon. Member had just referred to, the gentleman who was in charge of the League (Mr. Kettle) suggested a propaganda for the non-payment of any rents whatever; whether he was aware that many persons had refused to pay any lawful rent, though admittedly well able to do so; and also whether he was aware that the evidence given before the Richmond Commission by Mr. Kettle showed what was the position he held as a tenant farmer. MR. T. P. O'CONNOR asked the right hon. Gentleman whether he was aware that at the meeting of the Land League held on Tuesday, the list of evictions for the past week was larger than any list made at any previous meeting of the League; also, whether his attention had been called to a statement in The Irish Times and Freeman's Journal that the Lord Chamberlain (the Earl of Kenmare), the Earl of Arran, the Earl of Courtown, the Earl of Charlemont, the Earl of Granard, Bishop Alexander, Sir W. M Mahon, Sir Nugent MR. GLADSTONE: In answer to what has fallen from my hon. Friend the Member for Galway, I have to say that I heard with great dissatisfaction and pain generally, though not in the precisest terms, of the announcement at the Land League meeting to which he has referred. Every such announcement, of course, adds to the difficulty, not only of governing Ireland, but likewise takes away from the chances of bringing that country to a state of peace and prosperity. I have not received the particulars mentioned by the hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. T. P. O'Connor). It may be my fault in his opinion, but I am not in possession of the most recent details on the subject; and I would suggest that, as the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant will be in his place on Monday, the hon. Member should MR. T. P. O'CONNOR said, he would sooner make the appeal to the right hon. Gentleman himself. He asked him whether, in his opinion, the number of evictions by landlords did not largely increase the difficulty of governing Ireland at the present moment? MR. GLADSTONE: It is extremely inconvenient that I should be called upon to give any answer with regard to the particular character of any set of evictions unless I had an opportunity of examining into the circumstances in detail. Harsh, cruel, and needless evictions are at all times most censurable, |