COLONEL NORTHasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether he would produce certain Papers relating to the payment of the sum of £120, for six mortars for the Guards' Monument, Waterloo Place, as stated in the account of Civil Contingencies, 1861–2? He thought that these Russian guns had been scattered broadcast over the country with inconceivably bad taste. It was the first instance on record in which a nation like the Russian nation had been subjected to such an insult. The Russian army was one of the finest in Europe, and had nobly fulfilled its duty to its country. But no Russian could now travel through Great Britain without having one of these captured guns pointed at him. Such an act was utterly at variance with our national character, and would be a lasting disgrace to 1095 us. He should like, also, to know what had become of the money paid for these guns. He also wished to know whether some reform could not be made in the distribution of prize money, and of military decorations? They were told that there was very little prize money from the Russian war; but there must have been a considerable quantity of stores taken. There was so much delay in the awarding of prize money that it was too frequently given to the representatives of the person who had earned it, and much of it was lost to the captors and their families altogether. There was a Return before the House, which showed a balance of £1,162,332, arising from forfeited and unclaimed shares of prize-money. With regard to medals, instead of their being given with some degree of éclat by the officers to the men while they were in the regiment, they were, generally speaking, delayed so long that some village official was called on to distribute them in consequence of the men having left the regiment, and he believed that the general way in which they were distributed was something like this—"Here Jimmy's some' at for you. Are'e goin' to stand a pint o' beer?" He thought that it was high time that some reform should be made in the mode of the distribution both of prize money and of the medals granted for distinguished service.
MR. PEELsaid, he could give no assistance to the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Vance) with regard to the increase in the fare of the railway passengers between Dublin and London, because there was nothing in the contract between the Government and the Railway and Steam Packet Companies which at all referred to passenger fares. As to the Post Office arrangements at Dublin, the difference was this—that whereas letters were formerly received until six o'clock without any additional fee, and until a quarter-past six o'clock on payment of sixpence, letters might now be posted till half-past five o'clock without a fee, from half-past five till a quarter-past six o'clock on payment of a penny, and until half-past six o'clock for sixpence. These alterations had been rendered necessary owing to there having been too short a time for making up the bags, and the change was not carried into effect until it had received the unanimous sanction of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. As to the guns for the Guards' Monument, an application had been made to the Government for a grant of gun 1096 metal. The Treasury had assented to this application; the value of the guns was paid out of Civil Contingencies to the account of the sale of stores belonging to the War Department, and the disposal of this sum would, he assumed, be shown in the War Estimates.