CAPTAIN TALBOTsaid, before putting the Question of which he had given notice, he wished, by way of explanation, to state he had lately received a letter, written by an eminent Member of Council. ["Order!" "Question!"] Well, his Question was, To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Government have received a letter, dated the 10th of June, from the Chamber of Commerce of Malta to His Excellency the Governor of Malta, expressing their hopes "that His Excellency the Governor will be pleased to direct the necessary steps to be taken in order to obtain from Her Majesty's Government the abandonment of the contemplated Dock at the Marsa, in view of the very serious inconvenience to which it will subject the Mercantile Marine after it shall have been extended from the French Creek;" whether he is aware that this letter was decided on in a very full meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, composed of the principal Merchants of Malta, and that the letter contains a request that it may be forwarded to the Home Government; and whether there will be any objection on the part of Her Majesty's Government to lay this letter upon the table of the House?
§ MR. CARDWELL,in reply, said, he had not received the letter alluded to by the hon. and gallant Member, but as soon as it arrived he would be happy to lay it on the table.
CAPTAIN TALBOTsaid, he would now beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, whether the report is true that the works of the proposed new Dock at Malta are being carried on with great activity, although the Vote for that work has not yet been sanctioned by Parliament, and the question is now under the consideration of the Committee sitting upon Docks and Basins.
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETreplied that immediately after he announced in the House that the Vote for the proposed Dock at Malta would not be proceeded with, a telegram was sent to the Admiral on the station—namely, on the 5th of May last—to the effect that while the Question was under the consideration of the Select Committee, the works of the Marsa Dock were to be suspended.