§ MR. WARDmoved that the following Members be nominated the Select Committee on the Holyhead Harbour Bill: Viscount Morpeth, Mr. Ward, and Mr. W. O. Stanley. On the question, that Admiral Dundas be one of the said Committee,
§ MR. FORSTERproposed that the name 815 of Admiral Dundas should be omitted, and that of Viscount Sandon substituted.
§ MR. SPEAKERinformed the hon. Member that he might move that the name of any Member be omitted from the list; but it was not competent for him to move the insertion of a Member's name without giving previous notice.
§ VISCOUNT SANDONasked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he intended to proceed with the Bill without having received the report of the Commission of Inquiry that was recently appointed? [Mr. WARD: Yes.] He regretted to hear it, and thought it would be advisable that the hon. Gentleman should wait till the Commission of Inquiry had made their report. That Commission was appointed to inquire into the expediency of selecting the locality which had been fixed on for the formation of the harbour; and it would surely not be very convenient to proceed with the Bill before the report of that Commission was before the House.
§ MR. WARDbegged to remind the noble Lord, that there was a distinct understanding at the time that the Commission was appointed that the Bill should not pass through the House before the report of the Commission should be received. Mr. Reynell, the engineer, had full instructions to institute an adequate inquiry into the security of the locality selected for the formation of the harbour, and that gentleman had reported favourably, and it was decided that the harbour should be constructed, and a money vote was taken for that purpose. The only question submitted to the Commission was, whether the site of the harbour was open to those objections which had been recently urged against it. Surely there could be no necessity that any delay should be interposed in proceeding with the Bill in the meanwhile. As to the composition of the Select Committee, the Government had no object whatever in appointing any particular set of Members on it. Any gentleman who was desirous to serve, was at perfect liberty to do so; and if the noble Lord was anxious to be on the Committee, he had not the least objection.
§ VISCOUNT SANDONthought there was a distinct understanding that no further progress should be made in the construction of the harbour until the report of the Commission should have been obtained.
MR. WILLIAMSsaid, that this was a question of great importance, involving an 816 outlay of the public money to an enormous; extent. He was astonished that the hon. Member the Secretary to the Admiralty should have brought forward this question until the Commission had made their report. It was not only important that the House should be convinced of the security of the foundation on which the harbour was to be constructed, but it was also most important that the amount of money to be expended in carrying out the work should be ascertained. He believed it would appear that upwards of 200 different descriptions of property had been purchased for the formation of the harbour; and some engineers of very eminent standing had pronounced it as their opinion, that instead of the cost of the undertaking being 600,000l., which was the estimated amount, it would be at least 1,500,000l., and that even with that expenditure it never could be made a complete harbour of refuge. Looking at the names proposed to constitute this Select Committee, he must say a more packed Committee he never had seen. He could not discover a single individual the hon. Gentleman had nominated who was not in some way connected by interest with that part of the country—he did not mean that they were individually interested, but through the medium of their constituents; though some of them, he believed, were even directly interested in the establishment of the harbour by being possessed of large property in that part of the country. He trusted, if a Committee were appointed, it would at least be one free from this objection. But the hon. Gentleman ought not to proceed till the Commission had made their report. Was it that the hon. Gentleman anticipated a report unfavourable to the prosecution of this work, and that he wished to have it in his power to bear down any such report by a counter report from a Select Committee of that House? He (Mr. Williams) could just imagine the possibility of such a thing.
§ MR. W. O. STANLEYobserved, that if the hon. Member would read the form of the Motion as it appeared upon the Notice Paper, he would see that it only contained the names of ten Members out of the fifteen that were required to form the Committee. Those ten were those Members who were locally interested in the question; and the appointment of the fire additional Members, who would have no interest to connect them with the formation of the habour, was to be made by the Com- 817 mittee of Selection. This was no new question. Last Session it was discussed; and the hon. Member (Mr. Williams) on that occasion put questions as to the competency of the engineer employed, and as to the expediency of the locality for the formation of the harbour, and the hon. Gentleman then appeared to be perfectly satisfied, and allowed the grant to pass. This Committee was only to inquire into certain points, and not to stir the question of locality.
§ MR. WARDwas quite ready to postpone till to-morrow the appointment of the Committee. The fact was, that it did so happen that he had not seen the names till he saw them on the Votes that morning; and he did not know by whom the Committee had been settled.
§ Motion withdrawn.