§ A new writ was ordered on the motion of lord Ossulstone, for the borough of Shrewsbury, in the room of sir W. Pulteney, bart. deceased.—Mr. Foster, by order of his majesty, in compliance with an address of the house, presented, an account of the estimates of the expences of the board of first fruits in Ireland; also An estimate of the expences for the improvement of the harbour of Howth, near Dublin. Ordered to lie on the table.—The Broadstairs Harbour Improvement bill was read a third time and passed.—Lord Archi- 158 bald Hamilton brought up the report of the committee, on t e petitions against the corn bill, which were ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed. The noble lord also gave notice of a motion for an early day, on the subject of the matter contained in the report.—Colonel Craufurd moved for the following accounts respecting the state of the regular army, to the production of which he understood no objection would be made. 1st, An account of the total effective strength of the regular army on the 1st of May, 1805. This he wished to have only in the aggregate, lest any objection should be made to the disclosure of the detail of distribution. 2d, A return of the number of men that had been raised by the additional force bill, in the few months from the 1st of January, to the 30th of April, 1805, specifying the number raised by the parishes, and by recruiting. 3d, An account of the number of men raised by the ordinary recruiting within the same period. 4th, An account of the casualties in the regular troops on the home establishment, within the same period; and, 5th, An account of the casualties in the foreign stations within the last four months, for which returns have been received at the adjutant-general's office. These accounts were severally ordered. Colonel Craufurd then gave notice, that on an early day after the papers should be laid before the house, he should bring forward a motion on the subject. After a few observations from the chancellor of the exchequer and colonel Craufurd, the motion was fixed for Thursday next.—Mr. Jeffery having mentioned in his motion of yesterday certain papers which were of importance to the full investigation of the subject to which his former motions referred, without any preface moved, that there, be laid before the house, a copy of the letter of sir A. S. Hamond to earl St. Vincent, dated Dec. 28, 1802; also a copy of the answer to the same from earl St. Vincent to sir A. S. Hamond, dated Dec. 29, 1805. Ordered.—On the motion of lord Henry Petty, the returns to the order of a former day, relative to certain sums paid by the receiver-general of the land-tax in Scotland, were ordered to be presented forthwith.—On the motion of sir W. Elford, pursuant to notice, an account was ordered of the quantity of timber of a certain description that had been used in his majesty's dock-yards for ships of the line from the year 1785 to 1805 Inclusive.—On the motion of the 159 chancellor of the exchequer, the house resolved itself into a committee of ways and means, Mr. Alexander in the chair. On the motion of the chancellor of the exchequer it was resolved, that from the success of the system pursued last year, it was expedient that a lottery to consist of 90,000 tickets, producing 900,0001. at the rate of 10l. per ticket, should be carried into execution in three lotteries for the present year, and that the lords of the treasury should be empowered to contract for any number of tickets for each, and to make such regulations as they should think fit, relative to the amount of prizes drawn. Ordered.—It was also resolved, that the charges of allowances to adjutants and serjeant majors of the British militia, and the allowance to British militia subaltern officers, should be defrayed out of the land-tax, and that the charges of the pay and clothing of the militia of Ireland should be defrayed out of the consolidated fund of Ireland. On the house being resumed, the report was ordered to be received on Wednesday.—The Universities Advowson bill was ordered to be read a third time this day se'nnight.—The Irish Excise and Customs bill, was read a third time and passed.—On the motion of Mr. Huskisson, leave was given to bring in a bill to amend the act of the 43d of his majesty, chap. 99, relative to the receiver-general of the duties of assessed taxes. The amendments referred to two points: first, to enable the commissioners of taxes in the different counties to administer the oath to the receivers, which, as the law now stood, was required to be taken before one of the barons of the exchequer; and 2dly, to supply an omission in that bill, by directing the receivers to repay the surcharges, now required to be paid in course, if, on appeal to the judges, the surcharges should be reversed.—The house, on the motion of Mr.Vansittart, went into a committee on the Dublin Paving bill, and the blanks having been filled up, the house was resumed, the report was brought up, the bill, as amended, ordered to be printed, and the report ordered to be taken into further consideration on Monday se'nnight. —Mr. Sturges Bourne brought up the report of the Irish Distilleries bill, which was recommitted, when the report was received, and after some conversation the amendments were agreed to, and the bill ordered to be read a third time on Wednesday. —After a short conversation between Mr. 160 Vansittart, Mr. Latouche, and Mr. Alexander, the Dublin Police bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Wednesday. —Mr. Huskisson gave notice, that on Wednesday he would move, that the report of the coal committee be referred to a committee of the whole house, with an intention of moving in that committee that a certain quantity of coals be allowed to be brought to London by the Paddington canal.