COVE OF CORK NAVAL STATION. (Hansard, 2 August 1832)

Mr. Callaghan

presented a Petition agreed to at a public meeting held at Cork, which, however, did not bear the signature of the Mayor of Cork, who presided at the meeting, he having been induced to withhold it, in consequence of a resolution being passed which was embodied in the petition. It contained, nevertheless, the signatures of the most respectable inhabitants of the city of Cork, and complained of the removal of the Naval Dépôt at Cove, a measure which had been effected on the plea of economy, but that pretext had never been warranted, for the expense to the country had not been diminished. He was not able at the moment to say, of his own knowledge, whether the latter allegation was, or was not correct; but he certainly regretted that the right hon. Baronet, the First Lord of the Admiralty, was not present, as he thought it of great importance that the House should be aware of some of the statements in this petition, because they went to show that if any excited feeling existed, it was caused by the conduct of his Majesty's Government, and did not originate from bad motives on the part of the people of Ireland. The petitioners complained that they were deprived of a great many advantages, that all nationality had been destroyed, and all national advantages removed since the Union, and that Ireland now appeared rather in the character of a conquered province, than in that of a country which was once a kingdom. The part of the petition to which the Mayor of Cork had objected was that in which the petitioners stated, that 6,000,000l. were annually voted for the service of the navy, and that only one-twentieth of that amount was expended in Ireland, and that therefore the petitioners 1027 thought the British Government, while it was the most exacting, was the most exhausting ever known. The petitioners had no desire to allude to the soreness beginning to be felt, at the progressive increase of pauperism, and the correspondent breaking down of all the middling classes, a condition in which no country could by possibility prosper. He would not dwell longer on the general subject of this petition; but he must say that public occurrences had shown the absolute necessity of keeping up the establishment at the harbour of Cove; and while he ventured to hope that it would be re-established, he could not forbear saying, that the removal of the establishment was most injudicious and impolitic. In consequence of the public being given to understand, from a variety of past circumstances, that the Naval Dépôt at Cork would be a permanent establishment, many persons had been induced to lay out their money in the purchase of houses, and from the deterioration of property which now existed, those persons had been ruined by their speculations, while a number of artizans had, of course, been thrown out of work. Since the removal of the Dépôt, ships of war had no means afforded them of undergoing repairs at Cove, and they were, consequently, obliged to remove to England for that purpose. He knew of one instance in which a greater expense had been incurred by the repair of a man of war, at his Majesty's dock yard at Plymouth, than had been known at the arsenal of Cork for many years. It had been said, that the removal of the establishment was founded on a principle of economy; but it was well known that the wages of workmen at Cork were much lower than in England, as indeed, was every other charge connected with the navy, and, therefore, upon all points of economy, he thought the removal most injudicious.