§ The Report of the Committee of Supply having been brought up by Mr. BOUVERIE,
§ MR. A. STAFFORDsaid, be had given notice that on bringing up the Report he would call attention to the medical ar- 539 rangements for the sick and wounded in the Crimea, with the view of eliciting from the Government some explanation of those arrangements, which ought by this time to have assumed a definite form. He was not aware, however, whether there was any Member of the Government present who could afford any explanation on this subject, and he would, therefore, suggest that the Report of Supply be postponed to some future day, when he might have an opportunity of putting to the hon. Under Secretary for War the questions of which he had given him notice. This was the last occasion they would have for discussing subjects of this nature before they completed the system of Votes which had placed in the hands of the Government nearly 40,000,000l. for the public service in connection with the war; and, considering the state of opinion out of doors, the mode in which the funds hitherto voted by Parliament had been administered, and the condition of some of the public offices, the organisation of which was in a transition state, he conceived that, before receiving the Report of the Committee of Supply, some explanation should be afforded by the Government on the subjects to which he had called their attention. He regretted that the hon. Gentleman the Under Secretary for War, to whom he had given a double notice of the questions he intended to put, was not in his place to answer them.
§ MR. WILSONsaid, it was a matter of some consequence that the Report of the Committee of Supply should he received, in order that the Government might be enabled to complete their financial arrangements, and he would suggest that the hon. Gentleman should postpone his questions until Friday, when he would have an opportunity of putting them early in the evening, on the Motion for the adjournment of the House.
MR. FREDERICK PEEL—who had just entered the House—said, he had been in attendance from an early period of the sitting, and was quite prepared to answer the questions of which the hon. Gentleman had given him notice; but, as it was now near six o'clock, he thought the most convenient course would be for the hon. Gentleman to postpone his questions till Friday.
§ MR. A. STAFFORDsaid, he would adopt the suggestion of the hon. Gentleman. Resolutions agreed to.
§ The House adjourned at ten minutes before Six o'clock