Viscount Strangfordmoved for an Account of the Sums of Money paid under the authority of the Lords of the Treasury to Corporate Bodies and individuals in compensation of the loss sustained by them from the reduction of Port Duties on Foreign Vessels in each year, from the 1st of January, 1826, to the 1st of January, 1832. He must observe, and no doubt the noble Lords opposite were fully aware, that the appropriation of the public money to such a purpose was perfectly illegal. He did not, however, intend to cast any censure upon them on account of these payments, as the practice had been established by a former Administration. He moved for the Return, not for the purpose of censuring the principle of the payments, but as the only means of arriving at an accurate knowledge of the expense which the reciprocity system had imposed upon the country.
§ Lord Aucklandsaid, that it was quite true, as stated by the noble Viscount, that these payments were illegal. His Majesty's Ministers had, however, inherited the irregularity from the former Government. It was only a few days ago that he became aware of the course which had been pursued being illegal, and it was the intention of Ministers to apply to parliament for an indemnity.
§ The Motion agreed to.