SUPPLY—HARBOURS OF REFUGE. (Hansard, 1 August 1850)

§ MR. THORNELY
said, this was a very large sum, and he found that there were prospective votes under this head, amounting altogether to 1,283,000l.

§ MR. HUME
should wish a Committee to be appointed on this vote. He advised the House not to vote any part of this money. He took the trouble to go over to Guernsey and Alderney, to look at these harbours. At Alderney he was not for- 644 tunate, for he was a few hours after the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Chancellor stayed two or three hours, but he (Mr. Hume) stayed long enough to enable him to see the works at high and low tide; and if the Chancellor of the Exchequer had stood, as he had done, at Catherine's Bay, he must have come to the conclusion that a more useless expense was never incurred. There was a girdle of rocks all round, and it was absurd to expect that a ship, running for refuge into that harbour, was an occurrence which would take place more than once in twenty years. He had moved for some papers on the subject, but they were quite useless. The Tidal Harbour Commissioners had recommended that those matters should be placed under competent authority, and that there should be reports every year. But in this case there was no report except from the contractor. He believed that the money was completely thrown away. They had besides purchased land to the amount of many thousands of pounds, with the view of fortifying the heights against some supposed enemy; whereas they might laugh at all those defences, whether on the right or left of the basin. Had these works been necessary, he should not have quarrelled with the mode in which they had been set about; no doubt the formation of a railway was the most economical plan which they could have adopted. But what did the Government mean to do with those wings of St. Catherine Bay? There were five rocks in the middle; and a single vessel could not swing inside without dragging some of the rocks, unless they were blown up; and then there would only be sufficient depth and space to swing three frigates in. On two occasions a considerable portion of the pier of St. Catherine's Bay had been knocked down; he wished to know to what extent it was intended to repair it.

§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, he was sorry he had not had the pleasure of meeting his hon. Friend on the spot. He was mistaken in supposing that the north pier of St. Catherine's Bay had been washed away; it was the north pier at Alderney, the western arm of which had been destroyed by a violent storm. Reports had been made in favour of these works by very eminent engineers, as well as naval and military officers. They had been designed to serve partly as harbours of refuge, and also for steamers at high tide, the services of which might be required for the protection of the island and 645 of trade, and to guard against hostilities, which he hoped, however, would not occur. Several other places had been named, but this site had been selected as the most eligible for the purpose. On the southern arm of St. Catherine's Bay the works would not be continued without the fullest inquiry and due deliberation. It would not be advantageous to stop altogether the works on the northern arm; but they would be proceeded with exceedingly slowly.

§ MR. HUME
wished to know if any fresh authority or reason had been given for prosecuting those works; for it was clear that the Commissioners who had given evidence before the Select Committee on the Navy Estimates were panic struck; and he was sorry that the Duke of Wellington appeared to have lent himself to all these alarms. He could find no authority for the works that had been executed. Not a single individual could be found on the island to sanction the works, or say that they were necessary. He admitted that the northern arm at Alderney might have boon thrown out to screen steamers engaged in watching ships from the opposite coast; but the place would only accommodate two or three. He considered that every shilling-spent in those islands was wasted, and he hoped the expenditure would be brought to a close as soon as possible. It was; painful to see the gold and silver of England shovelled into the sea in such a manner. All that had been done would only afford security for one vessel in the event a war; and the loss would be much smaller were that one vessel taken. Indeed the whole island was not worth the amount that had been expended—300,000l. He hoped the Chancellor of the Exchequer would take another visit to the spot. He (Mr. Hume) would meet him there with a jury, if he chose, whose verdict would satisfy him that the whole thing was unnecessary, While retrenchment was going on in every department at home, it was most painful to see this lavish expenditure.