§ MR. NEWDEGATEsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, What arrangements for the defence of the Bristol Channel have been made?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONreplied, that his noble Friend at the head of the War Department had made arrangements for the purchase of sites at Portishead, with a view to the erection of batteries for the defence of the south side of that channel. There were two Holmes called the Steep and the Flat Holmes in that vicinity, and also another point, he thought, on the north side. Surveys were being made, and steps would be taken in order to obtain sites at those places in the event of batteries being required there.