§ MR. BIGGARasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Why the Memorial, dated 12th February 1873, endorsed by the note of the Right honourable Richard Assheton Cross, and signed by Sir Thomas Bazley, M.P., and Mr. Henry Brinsley Sheridan, M.P., on the case and claims of Mr. John Clare, the inventor, patentee, designer, promoter, and upholder of the Metal Ship-building of the State Navy since 1853, and the plaintiff in "Clare v. The Queen," has neither been replied to nor acted upon by either the Admiralty or Treasury departments, and that after Her Ma- 1213 jesty the Queen's command, bearing date 13th May 1874, to Mr. Clare "to apply to the Government departments "for the liquidation of his claims on the British Nation; and, whether he has any objection to lay the said Memorial, and the Letter that accompanied it to the Right honourable W. E. Gladstone, upon the Table of the House?
§ MR. HUNT,in reply, said, that Mr. Clare brought an action against the Crown in 1873, and a verdict was then given against him. Subsequently a letter to the late Prime Minister, and a memorial, undated and unsigned, were sent, but no answer to either was given by Mr. Gladstone. Under those circumstances, the present Government did not think it necessary to take any further steps in the matter; but there was no objection to that memorial being laid on the Table.