HC Deb 06 August 1881 vol 264 cc1166-8

(12.) £209,980, to complete the sum for Superannuations and Retired Allowances.

(13.) £19,550, to complete the sum for Merchant Seamen's Fund Pensions, &c.

(14.) £17,900, to complete the sum for the Relief of Distressed British Seamen Abroad.

MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR

said, some extraordinary charges upon this Vote had been allowed by the Treasury. There was a case in which a black seaman on board the Daisy committed an assault on a white seaman. The man was put in irons and ordered home. Before the arrival of the ship at New York, however, he was brought up on a writ of habeas corpus and discharged, and the expenses of those proceedings were charged to the public funds in this Vote. The case could not, however, under any circumstances, come under the head of "Distressed Seamen Abroad."

MR. EVELYN ASHLEY

said, that was an exceptional case, and would not occur again.

MR. ARTHUR O'OONNOR

was afraid that the case was not exceptional, for there were two other cases mentioned on the same page. Some seaman on board the Ocean Express at Rio Janeiro went on shore and got drunk. He was locked up, and the captain of the vessel made an allegation before the Vice Consul that the man had deserted, and so got an endorsement on the man's articles, and then proceeded to weigh anchor. But before he got away the Vice Consul learned that the man was locked up, and notified that to the captain. The captain, however, went away, and the seaman's wages now appeared on this Vote. The authorities ought to have looked after the captain, and obtained the man's wages from him. Then there was a third case, in which a seaman was described as a deserter, but whose wages were charged on this Vote.

Vote agreed to.

(15.) £423,000, to complete the sum for Pauper Lunatics, England.

(16.) £39,588, to complete the sum for Pauper Lunatics, Scotland.

(17.) £49,852, Friendly Societies Deficiency.

(18.) £2,021, to complete the sum for Miscellaneous Charitable and other Allowances, Great Britain.

MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR

asked why a sum of £680 was paid to Polish refugees; and also why £1,300, under the head "Her Majesty's Charities and Bounties (Scotland)," should be voted? There was, he added, nothing so demoralizing as these charitable doles, and he did not understand their appearing in a Liberal Government's Estimates.

LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISH

replied, that the grants to Polish refugees were diminishing; and the charitable doles in Scotland were fixed by Act of Parliament. Therefore, although he agreed that they were worthy of consideration, they could not be dealt with.

MR. HEALY

asked whether the Polish refugees were persons who had been in rebellion against their Sovereign?

LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISH

said, he was unable to inform the hon. Member; but the grants were fixed in 1864.

MR. O'KELLY

inquired whether these people were connected with the Polish Committee in London?

MR. O'DONNELL

said, he could assure his hon. Friend that these people were not connected with the Polish Committee. They were the historical representatives of the Polish cause in this country, and had nothing to do with the Nihilists. Russia had no more right in Poland than England had in Ireland, and he should support the grants to these refugees.