MR. CALLAN: Is he not aware, as | lingsgate; whether he is aware that Chief Secretary for Ireland, that it is persons who control this market prenotorious that the Lord Lieutenant of vent enormous quantities of fish coming Antrim is, and has been for 20 years, an to London, by telegraphing to the ports absentee? of supply, whenever there is a risk of prices being unduly lowered, thereby depriving the London poor of an impor [No reply was given.] STATE OF IRELAND-SHERIFF SALES tant article of food; whether it is the IN KERRY. THE O'DONOGHUE asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, If his attention has been drawn to the report in the "Cork Examiner" of the 13th instant, of the sale at Killarney on the 12th fact that three-fourths of the fish supply of London comes by rail, and has to be carted down to Billingsgate; whether it is not the fact that Billingsgate is Report made by Mr. Spencer Walpole to the Home Department, and whether he does not further state that the risk of fish going bad difficult of access, destitute of unloading accommodation, and utterly unfit instant of the interest of a tenant on the for the purpose of a land-borne fish estate of Lord Kenmare, named James market; whether the facts as to BilFlynn; and, if so, whether the sherifflingsgate are not confirmed in a recent acted legally in rejecting the higher and accepting the lower offer for the farm, even though the amount in notes was actually handed to him by the person who had made the higher offer; and, if it be lawful for the sheriff to distinguish at sales between offers made by emergency men and representatives of the Land League, or to show a pre- and, whether (in the absence of any ference to bidders in the actual employ-representative government in London) ment of the landlord? "is increased by the delays, constantly extending for hours, and occasionally extending over days, which are due to the inadequate approaches to and want of room outside of Billingsgate;" he will take any means to protect the interests of Londoners in the matter of an important article of food supply? SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT: The facts stated by my hon. Friend on this question are substantially true. There is no doubt that the market of Billingsgate is entirely inadequate for the supply of the Metropolis. That, I believe, is not denied on any hand, and is not denied by the Corporation or by the Fishmongers' Company. But the great evil is the want of access to the market, which leads to a deficiency of supply in one of the most valuable articles of food. I forwarded a few days ago to the Lord Mayor the Report by Mr. Spencer Walpole on this sub THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. LAW): In consequence of the Question, I have read in The Cork Examiner the report of the sale referred to. Of course, my hon. Friend knows that it is not any part of my duty to pronounce any opinion upon the course taken by sheriffs on such occasions; but I infer from the statements in the newspaper that in this case the sheriff regarded what is called "the higher offer" as merely illusory. So I infer, because I find it stated that the difference was only 18., one bid being £30 and the other £30 18. In answer to the last part of the Question, I have to say that at a public auction no distinction should be made between real bidders, to what-ject, asking that the Corporation would ever classes they may respectively belong. The highest bona fide bidder should be declared the purchaser. SUPPLY OF FISH (METROPOLIS) — MR. FIRTH asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he is aware that the Corporation of London claim to have a monopoly of fish markets over the Metropolitan area, and that the only existing fish market in London is at the river-side at Bil give me advice as to what measures they intended to take to obviate this great public evil. I have not yet received an answer to the question; but when I have received a Report I shall have to consider what further steps require to be taken in this matter. PEACE PRESERVATION (IRELAND) ACT, 1881 -- PROCLAMATION OF THE KING'S COUNTY. MR. MOLLOY: I beg to draw the attention of the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to the following extract from a memorial dated the 10th instant, signed by the vicars generals and priests of the deanery of Birr, and forwarded to the Lord Lieutenant, viz. : : May it please Your Excellency,-We, the priests of the deanery of Birr, have been surprised and pained by the proclamation of the baronies of Ballybrit and Clonlisk, in the King's County, under the Act for the Preservation of Life and Property in Ireland. As your Excellency must know, we are more intimately acquainted than others with the real state of the Country and the feelings and conduct of the people, and we have no hesitation in stating that nothing has occurred in the aforesaid baronies to justify the Government in the extreme course they have taken. Reports of outrages have, indeed, been industriously circulated by newspapers opposed as well to Her Majesty's Liberal Government as to the public opinion of the Country. In nearly every instance these reports, to our knowledge, were either totally without foundation or grossly exaggerated;" and to ask, If he will inform the House of the cause of such proclamation; and if he will now make strict inquiries into the truthfulness of the reports upon which such proclamation was made? MR. W. E. FORSTER: I can only state that the Government, after grave consideration, and acting on their own responsibility, for the prevention of crime and outrage, thought it necessary to take the course they have taken with regard to the two baronies mentioned. PRISONS (IRELAND)-SPIKE ISLAND PRISON. SIR R. ASSHETON CROSS asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he can now state what course the Government intend to take with regard to Spike Island Prison, in consequence of the Report of the Penal Servitude Commission? MR. W. E. FORSTER: The only answer I can make is that I am in communication with the Treasury in reference to it; but I am not yet in a position to state what course the Government intend to take. I hope to be able to do so before long. As the right hon. Gentleman is aware, the matter is a very important one, and there are many difficulties connected with it which require consideration. Mr. Molloy SOUTH AFRICA-THE TRANSVAAL (ADMINISTRATION). MR. CARINGTON asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Who is at present responsible for the administration of the Law and for the maintenance of order in the Transvaal, and before what tribunal it is intended to try the murderers of Captain Elliot, in the event of their being brought to justice? Government can be responsible in a vast MR. GRANT DUFF: So far as any and disturbed country, Her Majesty's Government is responsible. The persons accused of the murder will be tried by the existing High Court of the Transvaal, according to the existing law. LORD EUSTACE CECIL: Have they been apprehended yet? the noble Lord had better give Notice. MR. GRANT DUFF: I think so; but ARMY ORGANIZATION — COMPULSORY RETIREMENT OF OFFICERS - EX- SIR ALEXANDER GORDON asked the Secretary of State for War, If he list of the various appointments which will lay upon the Table of the House a will exempt the officers of the Army, who may, at any time hold them, from the operation of the proposed rule for compulsory retirement after five years non-employment; and, if he will state how long such appointments will require to be held in order to enable the holders to claim exemption from the non-employment rule? MR. CHILDERS: I really must appeal to my hon. and gallant Friend to take the answer which I have already given on this subject. He will find when the Warrant appears that we have fully provided, in the interest of the Public Service, and of the officers themselves, for the cases of Colonels now holding five years' appointments; and I have already explained that the aggregate cost of retirement is estimated at within the sum which I named in moving Vote 3 of the Estimates. JAPAN-INTRODUCTION OF DRUGS AND CHEMICALS. MR. R. N. FOWLER asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government have made any communication to the Government of Japan in regard to the introduction of drugs and chemicals into that Country? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires in Japan was instructed, in July last, to take such action as might be necessary for the protection of importers of drugs, in case there should be proper grounds for the intervention of Her Majesty's Government, and no further complaint has been received since that date. WESTMINSTER ABBEY-MONUMENTS. MR. MACDONALD asked the First Commissioner of Works, If he will lay a Return, in the form of which Notice has been given, upon the Table of the House, giving an account of all the Slab Memorials, Tablets, Busts, Statuettes, and other Monuments that have been erected in Westminster Abbey in recognition of the dead since 1800 ? MR. SHAW LEFEVRE: I have no right to call upon the Dean and Chapter for any such Return as the hon. Member asks for. I have, however, communicated with the Dean on the subject. He informs me that all the information which the hon. Member asks for as to the tablets, busts, and monuments which have been erected since 1800 is to be found in published histories of the Abbey, and in a small popular account of it sold outside the Abbey for 18. If the hon. Member prefers to examine these monuments on the spot, the Dean will undertake to show them to him, and to any other Members who may accompany him, in the course of half-an-hour, at any time he will name. With reference to the information required as to the fees, the Dean says that the fees for private monuments vary from £200 for a bust upwards, according to the size of the monument. The fees go entirely to the maintenance of the fabric, and not to the private emolument of the Dean or any other member of the Chapter. He adds that the space in the Abbey is very limited, the honour of a monument being very much coveted, the disfigurement occasioned by disproportionate monuments very incongruous, and the expense of the fabric of the Abbey very great. I would suggest, therefore, to my hon. Friend that, as his Motion is blocked by the hon. and learned Member for Bridport (Mr. Warton), he should accept the Dean's offer. He will spend a most delightful half-hour, under the guidance of a man who, beyond all his predecessors, has exercised a wise and generous discrimination in offering a place in the Abbey to the memorials of distinguished men." MR. MACDONALD further asked the First Commissioner of Works, If he is aware that the bust erected to the memory of the late Sir Rowland Hill within the Westminster Abbey cost £200; and, whether he is further aware that the fees for allowing it to be placed there amounted to the sum of £201 18. and to what purpose is such money applied under the term "fabric?" MR. SHAW LEFEVRE said, that this Question had been already answered. MR. MACDONALD gave Notice that when the Estimates of the First Commissioner of Works were proceeded with he should move their entire rejection, and call the attention of the House to the scandal of selling places in such a venerable Institution. TUNIS (INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS). MR. MACIVER asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government has already taken or intends to take such steps as will insure to our Maltese fellow subjects resident in Tunis a continuance of those commercial advantages which, under Turkish Suzerainty, they have hitherto enjoyed; or if, under French Protectorate, their trade, which to some exent is in British manufactures, will be subjected to disadvantages similar to those under which our trade with the French Republic is already subjected by our system of one-sided Free Trade, and which conditions do not seem likely to be much ameliorated so long as we continue to receive Foreign manufactures free of taxation, while demanding no similar privileges from foreigners in return? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE said, that he should answer the Question in general terms in reply to the Question of the hon. Member for Portsmouth. SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF asked, Whether any steps have been taken to secure for British subjects in Tunis all the rights, liberties, exemptions, and privileges obtained for them by the Conventions between the Governments of Great Britain and Tunis, concluded on 10th of October 1863 and the 19th of July 1875; whether any communication | has been received from the French Government as to the validity of the capitulations in Tunis; and, what would be the position of British subjects in Tunis as to the administration of civil and criminal justice; and, whether Her Majesty's Government have recognised or acquiesced in the state of things established at Tunis by the recent action of the French Government; and, whether they will defer any decision on their policy in this respect until Parliament has been enabled to consider the Papers about to be laid upon the Table on the subject? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I propose to give in a few words what information I can with regard to the commercial side of these Questions. If I entered on the political topics to which these Questions refer, I should have to read out the whole of our despatches from Tunis, Nos. 2, 3, and 4. I may state that all existing Conventions are to be maintained and respected; commercial and other rights and privileges will remain undisturbed in so far as they are guaranteed by Treaties, unless new Conventions freely entered into should be substituted for the existing arrangements. The General Convention between the Governments of Great Britain and Tunis still remains in force; it secures to British subjects, vessels, and commerce the treatment of the most favoured nation, and we, of course, continue entitled to the privileges of the later Treaties. SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF: I see by the new French Treaty with Tunis, that while the Treaties are to be maintained the French Government are practically to carry on the foreign affairs of Tunis. The Convention of 1875 is limited to a term of seven years; and I wish to know whether the French Government would, on its expiration in 1882, be competent to give notice for its termination in 1882? I have to ask this particularly, because by the Treaty of 1875 an ad valorem duty of 8 per cent was placed on British imports; and in view of the unsatisfactory nature of the present negotiations for a new Commercial Treaty with France, I wish to know whether the French Government would have the power to refuse to renew the Convention of 1875, and to impose on British goods a higher duty? Sir H. Drummond Wolff SIR CHARLES W. DILKE said, that he should like to have Notice before answering the Question. SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF sail. he had already given Notice. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE said, that no Notice had been given of the Ques tion then asked. The Convention d 1875 was undoubtedly in force and remained in force; but the question he was asked to deal with was in respect of a renewal of the Treaty. MR. MAC IVER said, that his Que tion raised substantially the same question. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE said, the the Question on the Paper did not spe fically raised the question just asked which was a question dealing with the future. SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF gave Notice that he would call attention ta this subject on Monday next, and ess what the Government intended to de with regard to the Financial Commission at present in existence, and which con sisted of English, French, and Italian Commissioners. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE said, that the financial side of the question had not escaped the attention of the Govern ment. The Government had heard nothing from the French Government, except that they had been desirous of maintaining all the existing Treaties. If any desire should be expressed to change the constitution of the Financial Commission, the Government would take the opportunity of expressing their views. MR. MAC IVER said, that he felt obliged to say something on the subject of Malta and Tunis, and that to keep himself in Order he would conclude with a Motion. The relations between Malta and Tunis were of great importance, and Tunis had been a great resort of the surplus population of our fellowsubjects in Malta. He contended that the Maltese had not received fair treat ment at our hands. They had petitioned Parliament to redress their grievances; but their Petitions had been disregarded. One of their chief wrongs was that we sent our troops and our war vessels to Malta, and that the troops and Navy were relieved from the food taxation which the people of the Island had to bear. Another grievance suffered by the Maltese was that they were com pelled to defray the whole expense of the salary of the Governor of the Island, | deal with this question of those unand that the Imperial Government con- timely Motions for adjournment. He tributed nothing whatever in respect of had given Notice of his intention to his military services as Commander of move a Resolution limiting, without the Garrison. We should be doing the abrogating, the power of Members to Maltese another wrong by continuing to move the adjournment of the House at conduct commercial negotiations in the Question time. He therefore appealed childish spirit which distinguished the to the Government to take this matter transactions of our present Foreign Office. in hand. He had no wish to say anything ungenerous about our French neighbours; but it was a duty from which he could not shrink to urge upon the Government that the trade facilities hitherto enjoyed by the Maltese in their relations with Tunis should be continued in the future. In conclusion, he begged to move the adjournment of the House. MR. FINIGAN seconded the Motion, his reasons for doing so being the same as those which had influenced the hon. Member who had just sat down. Touching the question of Free Trade, he observed that he had received information from an eminent statistician which showed that while £280,000,000 worth of foreign manufactured goods had in 10 years been introduced into this country, the nations who sent those goods had drawn an immense revenue from the articles exported to their respective countries in return. The charges imposed upon goods by America amounted to between 25 and 60 per cent. He was of opinion that the industry of this country would soon have to be conducted on sounder economical principles than at present. Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."(Mr. Mac Iver.) MR. ANDERSON said, he was as anxious as anyone could be to have the affairs of Malta discussed in that House, because he believed that Malta was not being properly attended to by our Colonial Government at present; but he deprecated entirely its being brought up in this irregular fashion. It was not doing justice to Malta, any more than it was doing justice to the House, and it was because he wished to see some justice done to the subject that he deprecated it. He therefore declined to go into the subject at present, but would be ready to discuss it if brought forward in a regular manner. He wished, how ever, to appeal to the Government, after the experience they had had to-night, to MR. MAC IVER asked leave to withdraw his Motion, adding that the hon. Member for Glasgow (Mr. Anderson) was one of the Members who had done their best to effect a "count" on the occasions when he had tried in a regular manner to bring forward the subjects to which he had drawn attention that evening. MR. SPEAKER: Is it the pleasure of the House that this Motion shall be withdrawn? ["No!"] Question put, and negatived. ARMY ORGANIZATION--ROYAL ARTILLERY GUNNERS. CAPTAIN AYLMER asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether, before deciding upon limiting the service of gunners in the Royal Artillery to seven years, he will give due consideration to the fact that it takes at least six years to make a skilled gunner, and to the serious consequences to the Country which would follow the loss of the services of such men ? MR. CHILDERS: In reply to the hon. and gallant Gentleman I must entirely demur to his statement that it takes at least six years to make a skilled gunner. For such a theory there is in practice no foundation. But we have been carefully considering under what circumstances gunners in the Coast Brigade and in the Garrison Artillery should serve beyond seven years, and I think that our decisions will fully meet the necessities of the Service. The formation, I may say, of a gunner's reserve is most important. ARMY ORGANIZATION-COMPULSORY RETIREMENT OF COLONELS IN COM. MAND OF DEPOT CENTRES. MAJOR NOLAN asked the Secretary of State for War, How many Colonels now holding the command of Depôt Contres, or equivalent positions, will be compulsorily retired under the new Warrant before completing the period of five years' command for which they were |