ment of one only of such members, subject to | the approval of His Excellency, to each such vacancy on the Board, in order that the Town Council, which is the fiscal authority of the City, may be, so far as may be expedient, duly represented on the Board.” They should be glad to have the three names submitted to them; but, of course, they could not fetter their action in the matter. TUNIS-THE ENFIDA CASE. BARON HENRY DE WORMS asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the reference of the Enfida case at Tunis by the Bey and the French representative at Tunis to a military court, and the interference of the Bey with the ordinary course of judicial proceedings in this matter, are a violation of paragraphs 1, 2, and 5, of the Treaty of 1863 between Great Britian and Tunis (subsequently confirmed by Articles 17 and 42 of the Treaty of 1875); whether such action is a violation of the direct promise which Her Majesty's Government (vide Note of Lord Granville to M. Challemel-Lacour of the 20th May 1881) (Tunis, III. p. 11), have declared that they regard "as an international engagement binding the French Government for the future," and of the direct promise given by M. Barthélemy St. Hilaire in his Letter to Lord Lyons of May 16, 1881 (Tunis, III. p. 5), which contains the following paragraph: "You wish first of all to place on record that I stated to you that the Conventions existing between Tunis and Foreign Powers would be maintained and respected. I repeat the assurance with greater pleasure, because by a special Article of our Treaty with the Bey, the French Representative guarantees the execution of all the Conventions of this kind which now exists;" and, whether Her Majesty's Government consequently propose to make any representations to the Governments of France and Tunis with regard to the violation above referred to of the international engagements entered into by those Powers with England for the protection of the persons and property of British subjects? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I can only refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave to the noble Lord the Member for Westmoreland (the Earl of Bective) on the 28th ultimo, and say that until the Report of the Law Officers has been received and considered Her Majesty's Government will not be in a Mr. W. E. Forster position to answer the Question. The Court referred to is not the Military Court, but the Maliki Court, one of the local tribunals. ARMY-THE STAFF CORPS (INDIAN SIR TREVOR LAWRENCE asked the Secretary of State for India, Whether it is a fact that service in a Queen's Regiment out of India does not count for pension in the Staff Corps, and that several officers who have discharged into or been transferred to the Staff Corps in ignorance of this condition have found themselves deprived of all the advantages of their former service, so far as pension is concerned; and, whether any alteration of the Pension and Retirement Regulations is contemplated, so as to give officers in the position described the benefit towards pension of the full period they may have served, whether in or out of India? THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON: The rule is that an officer's service for Indian pension counts from the date of his first landing in India; but he is only then entitled to pension after the fixed periods laid down for Indian retirements if not less than one half of the required period shall have been passed in the Staff Corps. There is no present intention of making such alteration in the Staff Corps pension rules as to admit as Indian service for the Indian pension service performed before an officer's arrival in India. All officers are fairly supposed, before joining the service, to have made themselves acquainted with the conditions under which they do so; but I will make inquiry whether they are subject in this respect to any disadvantages which require considera tion. PEACE PRESERVATION (IRELAND) ACT, 1881-GUN LICENCES. MR. O'SULLIVAN asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true that over one hundred respectable farmers and others in the district of Newcastle West, county Limerick, have been waiting for a licence to carry arms for over a month, though they hold duly qualified recommendations; and, if so, will he inform the House why it is the resident magistrate does not perform this duty? PARLIAMENT—ACCOMMODATION OF MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, I rities; and strong testimony given in its that he had received a telegram from the favour by seamen and other qualified obresident magistrate stating that he had servers; whether the Trinity House in sent an explanation of this case by post, January 1875 recommended the further so if the hon. Member will put his development of the system in Ireland; Question to-morrow he could, perhaps, whether with one exception no lightanswer it. house has since been lighted under that system either in England or Ireland; whether this is due to the opposition of the Messieurs Douglas, engineers to the Trinity House and the Board of Irish gineer to the Board of Irish Lights, is Lights; whether the Mr. Douglas, enthe Trinity House; and, whether he brother to the Mr. Douglas, engineer to would consider how far the develophouse illumination may be arrested by ment of an improved system of lightofficial opposition? MR. HUSSEY VIVIAN asked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether, when arranging for the increased accom modation of Members, he will provide means by which they may obtain press copies of their letters? MR. SHAW LEFEVRE, in reply; said, he had not had the matter brought under his notice; but he would make inquiry, and see what could be done. PROTECTION OF PERSON AND PRO- DER THE ACT. MR. CHAMBERLAIN, in reply, said, testimonials had been received from the gentlemen whose names were mentioned in the Question in favour of the system of illuminating lighthouses by gas, patented by Mr. Wigham; but it must not be supposed that they were in favour of the adoption of that system to the exclusion of every other system. It was the case that in January, 1875, the Trinity House, yielding a little its own opinions in deference to the recommendation of the Irish Light Commissioners, did consent to recommend the development of this particular system in Ireland. Since then one lighthouse had been lighted with gas, and another to be similarly illuminated had been sanctioned at Copeland Island. Proposals had been made for two more lighthouses on the same system; but, in December, 1878, the MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, Irish Lighthouse Commissioners sugas he only saw the Question on Saturday, gested that further consideration on this he had not as yet been able to get an an-subject should be postponed, and subswer to it; but probably he would be able to supply the information to-mor MR. HEALY asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether any reports on, copies of, or extracts from the letters written by political prisoners confined in Irish gaols and addressed to persons outside, are submitted to the Irish authorities by the gaol officials; and, if so, whether he will direct that, after the proper prison official has perused the letters and allowed them to be sent forward, such official shall be instructed to regard their contents as of a confidential nature? row. THE TRINITY BOARD-ILLUMINATING sequently they withdrew their proposal with regard to Fanad Point; but he was told with regard to Tory Island that estimates had been sought, and were now being prepared. With regard to the three other Questions he regretted they had been put upon the Paper, beMR. GRAY asked the President of cause they implied an imputation upon the Board of Trade, Whether the sys- two very honourable public servants. tem of illuminating lighthouses by gas, The Messrs. Douglas were brothers. patented by Mr. Wigham, of Dublin, They were engineers to the Irish Lighthas been strongly recommended by Sir house Commissioners and the Trinity William Thompson, F.R.S., Admiral Sir House. It was their duty from time to Leopold McClintock, and Professor Tyn- time to offer their opinion upon the difdall, scientific adviser to the Board of ferent systems of lighting which were Trade, the Trinity House, and the Board submitted. He had no reason to beof Irish Lights, and by other high autho-lieve that they had over exceeded their duty in this respect; but the responsi- | Milne was in a state unfit to be put in bility of final decision rested entirely charge of the engines at the very mowith the respective Boards. NAVAL DISCIPLINE ACT - COURTS AND JOSEPH MILNE. MR. MACDONALD asked the Secretary to the Admiralty, If the "Danæ," in which Charles P. Stamp, engine-room artificer, was tried by a court martial at Sydney, New South Wales, in December last, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour, has reached any port of the United Kingdom, or whether Stamp was sent by any other vessel to this country; if his case has as yet been reviewed by the Board of Admiralty; and, if they have confirmed the sentence passed upon Stamp by the court martial, or remitted it, and to what extent they have done so ? MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSH asked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether he will lay upon the Table of the House, Copy of the proceedings in the court martial for alleged drunkenness held in Gibraltar Bay, 7th April last, upon Joseph Milne, engineer, of Her Majesty's Ironclad, "Northumberland," which resulted after the briefest trial in Milne's instant dismissal from the Navy, after nineteen years' honourable service, and within a short period of his being able to retire upon a pension? ment when it was his duty to undertake MR. FRASER MACKINTOSH MR. TREVELYAN said, he did not think medical evidence better than that of any other man as to saying whether or not a man was fit for duty of this kind. MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSH gave Notice that he should call attention to this subject on a future date, on the Naval Estimates, when he hoped to satisfy the House that flagrant injustice had occurred. PROTECTION OF PERSON AND PRO- MR. BIGGAR asked the Chief Secre MR. TREVELYAN: The Dane arrived at Portsmouth on the 24th of June, having Stamp on board. Stamp was sentenced on the 20th December last to be dismissed the Service and imprisoned for 12 months. On the arrival of the ship at home the case was re-tary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, considered by their Lordships; the dismissal from the Service has been confirmed, and the remainder of the imprisonment has been remitted. It is most unusual to lay the proceedings of a court martial before Parliament. The Court was open to the public; and a copy of the proceedings can always be obtained under Section 69 of the Naval Discipline Act. As regards the case of Joseph Milne referred to in the Question of the hon. Member for Inverness (Mr. Fraser-Mackintosh), there was nothing brief or hurried in the trial. The chief engineer and the commander of the ship gave positive evidence that Mr. Mr. Chamberlain Is it true that Philip Brady, Charles O'Beirne, and four others, were arrested at four o'clock in the morning of Friday 3rd June; that they were conveyed by car and rail to Mullingar, not arriving there till seven o'clock in the evening, and that instead of being allowed on their arrival at Mullingar to take some refreshments and occupy an airy room, they were thrust into a dirty lock-up where they had not a seat to sit on? MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, he had been informed that the prisoners in question, having arrived at Mullingar on their way to Galway, while in the police barracks were visited by some of their friends. They were supplied with refreshments. They were placed in the lock-up for only 10 minutes. The lockup was not dirty; there was ample accommodation. The prisoners made no complaint; the only thing they took exception to during their stay at the barracks was, that they could not send off telegrams, which they had written, asking their friends to assemble at the different railway stations they should pass. TURKEY IN ASIA-REFORMS. that on the previous occasion the noble In the undesirable that it should be raised MR. BRYCE asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether there is any truth in the statements made by the Turkish newspaper the "Vakit" (as reported in the "Daily News" of Wednesday June 29th), that Mr. Goschen made certain preposals to Prince Bismarck regarding reforms in Asiatic Turkey, that Prince Bismarck disapproved these proposals, and that Her Majesty's Government in consequence abandoned the instructions which after half-past 12 o'clock; and, under it had drawn up for Lord Dufferin ? those circumstances, instead of taking SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I the usual course and getting a private pose my hon. Friend has put this Ques- Member to put down a Notice of oppotion believing the statement to be un-sition, I thought it would be more frank true, and desiring it to be contradicted. and fair to the noble Lord to put the There is no truth whatever in the state- Motion in the name of the Parliamenment. Mr. Goschen was not charged tary Secretary. with any proposal of this kind, and did not make any such proposal to Prince Bismarck. The general conversation that occurred on the subject of Armenia was of a very satisfactory character. sup THE NEW FRENCH GENERAL TARIFF. VISCOUNT SANDON asked the Prime Minister, Whether he was aware that the Secretary of the Board of Trade had given Notice to oppose his Motion for a translation into English of the Return presented to the House in May, which gave, in the French language only, the articles and changes of duty of the new French Tariff; and, if so, whether that course had the sanction of Her Majesty's Government? MR. CHAMBERLAIN rose, amid calls for Mr. Gladstone: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is not in possession of the facts, and he has therefore asked me to make a statement in reply to the Question of the noble Lord. In order to make my self clear, I must remind the House VISCOUNT SANDON: It is necessary to remind the House that I said to the right hon. Gentleman I should not be satisfied with the answers of the Chambers of Commerce. I beg leave to say that if I am to consider this as a refusal I shall withdraw my Notice of Motion, and at the earliest possible opportunity call attention to the persistent refusal of Her Majesty's Government to give the country the fullest information, in the English language, respecting the changes and large increase in the duties proposed to be levied by France upon articles of British produce and manufacture, so that the information should be accessible, not only to Chambers of Commerce and to manufacturers, but also to all the large classes of workmen whose various industries are most seriously affected by the French Customs duties. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: Perhaps I may be allowed to remind the noble Lord, in answer to the Notice ho has just given-because I think it is really an answer to a part of it-that it has already been stated to the House ["Order!"-it has already been twice | force to Sfax. The Monarch left Goletta stated to the House that the negotiations-["Order!"] MR. J. G. TALBOT: I beg to ask you, Sir, whether it is in accordance with the custom of this House for an hon. Gentleman opposite to give any reply to a Notice? MR. SPEAKER: I understand the hon. Baronet was offering some information with reference to the matter of which the noble Lord has given Notice. As far as the hon. Baronet went before he was interrupted, it certainly did not occur to me that he was out of Order. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I only wish, for the information of the House, to state a bare fact, which has a close connection with the subject of the Notice of the noble Lord-that the Tariff which has formed the basis of discussion between the English and the French Commissions in the recent negotiations is not the General Tariff, and is a confidential document at the present time. VISCOUNT SANDON: I shall be very glad if the Government will give a day to discuss this. It is a very important question. [Laughter.] I hope hon. Members will do me the courtesy, when an appeal has been made to me, to allow me to reply to it. There is plenty to be said on the subject of these confidential negotiations, of which the country knows nothing. for Sfax, and arrived there on Saturday. The Condor also proceeded to visit various towns on the coast. A telegram from Her Majesty's Agent at Tunis on Saturday states that the whole European and Hebrew community had embarked and were out of danger. Some Maltese attempted to return to Sfax for the purpose of buying provisions, and were fired upon by the Natives; one was killed, and another seriously wounded; but we have not heard of any mutilation taking place. I may mention that, in addition to the English and French Naval Forces present, there are also Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish menof-war on the coast. LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL: Is it the case that we have withdrawn from Tunis and sent to Sfax the only British man-of-war on the African Coast? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: There were two British men-of-war on the coast, and both have gone on to Sfax. LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL: Is there any ship-of-war at Tunis? MR. TREVELYAN: Captain Tryon proceeded to Sfax with the Monarch and with the Condor as a gunboat, which could at once give help. The first telegram which we received from Captain Tryon states FRANCE AND TUNIS-PROTECTION OF That was followed in about half-an BRITISH SUBJECTS. LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL: I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Government have ordered a ship or ships of war to proceed to Sfax for the protection of the 800 British subjects and the extensive mercantile interests belonging to them; and, if not, why not; whether it is true that already a Maltese British subject has been slaughtered and mutilated by the Arabs; and, whether the only protection for which British subjects can look is that which shall be afforded to them by the French Military and Naval Forces already there? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: On Friday last, after communications between the Admiralty and the Foreign Office, orders were despatched to Captain Tryon, of the Monarch, to send down a Sir Charles W. Dilke hour by this telegram "Your order to afford protection to British and other foreigners is to be limited to giving refuge to those who seek it and assisting in the operate in any hostile operations with the French." embarkation of those who wish it. Do not co The third telegram was— "Send the Condor to Tunis when you can spare her." LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL: I will, to-morrow, ask whether the French contemplate bombarding the town of Sfax; and, if so, whether the English Government will make representations with reference to the warehouses, goods, and other property belonging to British subjects in that district? SIR H: DRUMMOND WOLFF: I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether there is any British vessel at Goletta? |