§ MR. PERRY WATLINGTONsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is the fact that certain improvements in the construction of ironclad Ships and in the working of their guns, proposed by Mr. Alfred Hamilton, have been lately under the consideration of the Board of Admiralty for two months, and have been rejected by the Board? And whether there is any objection to lay Copies of the Reports and Correspondence of those Officials who have been charged 1171 with the examination of the said impovements before the House.
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETsaid, that Mr. Hamilton had made two distinct proposals to the Admiralty—one for raising and lowering guns by machinery, and the other for a peculiar construction of iron-cased ships. Both had been under the consideration of the Admiralty, and in the opinion of the Board, neither was likely to be efficient in Her Majesty's Navy. The Board thought it would be decidely objectionable to produce the Reports and Correspondence, because, if that were done, it would be impossible to refuse a similar concession in the case of every other inventor whose proposal was rejected by the Government.