§ ADMIRAL WALCOTTasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether the Cupola Shield, on board the Trusty floating battery had not been altered from the condition in which it was used in the practice firing which took place when it sustained successfully the shots from a 68 and a 110- 1561 pounder gun, it being now proposed to submit it to an experimental firing from a 150-pounder gun; and whether Captain Cowper Coles, of the Royal Navy, the Inventor of the Shield, had been consulted on the propriety of using such a severe test in the present state of the Cupola Shield; because, if not, he considered Captain Coles's interest and patent might be seriously prejudiced?
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETreplied, that the Admiralty had been in communication with Captain Coles with a view of preparing the shield, as far as possible, according to Captain Coles's own wishes?