THE MARQUESS OF CLANRICARDEwished to put a Question to the noble Lord at the head of the Postal Depart- 1884 ment, of which he had already given notice, and he hoped some positive answer would be given with regard to the intentions of the Government respecting the postal communication from the port of Galway to the North American colonies. They had been told in that House that they must wait for the answer of the Government until the Committee to which the matter had been referred had made their Report. The Committee had made its Report, the time for which the Prime Minister asked to consider their recommendations had been granted, and it would now be rather strange if Parliament were allowed to separate without any statement of the intentions of Government. If the Government could be supposed to be animated by the most deadly spirit of enmity towards the Galway Packet Company, they could adopt no measure more directly calculated to injure and crush it than by leaving in uncertainty the course which they would ultimately pursue. The Company were not only restrained from pushing their operations with vigour, and from adding to their fleet, but if ultimately no contract were to be granted or revived for establishing a direct postal service between Galway and America, it would be better that the affairs of the Company should at once be wound up. It was notorious that ever since the suspension of the contract the Company had been put to great expense—he would not say in consequence of any promise or engagement, but by the hopes which had been held out that a valuable contract would once more be given to them. In consequence of those inducements a sum of from £50,000 to £60,000 had been expended in the preparation of vessels. Of the whole of this money the shareholders will have been unfairly deprived through the delay of the Government in pronouncing its decision, if eventually that decision should prove unfavourable to their interests. In justice, not only to the shareholders but to the people of Ireland, who felt deeply interested in this question, he hoped their Lordships would receive from the Treasury bench a distinct statement of what the intentions of the Government were, and what the Company had to expect.
§ LORD MONTEAGLEsaid, that before his noble Friend the Postmaster General gave any reply to the Question which had been put to him, he wished to call their Lordships' attention to one point which the noble Marquess had overlooked. This subject had been discussed in the other 1885 House of Parliament, where naturally a money question should first be agitated; and the answer then given by a Member of Her Majesty's Government in effect was that the Government were not indisposed to take into their consideration, and, if they thought fit, to submit to the House of Commons, a proposal for establishing a communication between Ireland and America which should he founded upon open competition, and which upon consideration might appear well calculated to answer all the required purposes. He would remind their Lordships that in the report of a Commission on the Packet Service drawn up and presented to Parliament his noble Friend's eminent predecessor (Earl Canning) laid down a rule that, to prevent favouritism to any party, there should be established the principle of open competition for postal contracts. In the case of Galway that wise and just rule had been set aside. The Galway contract did not now exist. It had been put an end to by his noble Friend the Postmaster General, and that decision had been approved be the Ministry at large. Under those circumstances he trusted the Government would, in conformity with Lord Canning's Report, with Lord Palmerston's declaration, and with sound principle and usage, make the future contract a matter, not of favour, but of open competition.
§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLRYsaid, that when the noble Marquess asked him a similar question on a former accasion, he was not prepared to express any decided opinion on the part of the Government in regard to the proceedings which were then taking place before the Select Committee. That Committee had since reported, and the result of the evidence taken before the Committee and their Report was that, under the circumstances of the case, the Government were justified in putting an end to the contract, as the Company were in a total state of inability to perform its conditions. At the same time the Committee stated that there were circumstances which undoubtedly entitled the Company to favourable consideration, and they expressed an opinion that it would be desirable, if the Company were in a competent condition to continue the contract, that the matter should be reconsidered on a future occasion. The Chairman of the Company, in his evidence before the Committee, distinctly stated that under no circumstances would the Company be prepared to resume the contract until Feb- 1886 ruary 1, 1862, and he also stated his opinion to be that the contract could not be conducted with advantage without a considerable departure from the terms originally granted by the Government and accepted by the Company. As he bad already stated, the Committee were of opinion that, under the circumstances of the Company and the unfortunate accidents that had occurred, they were entitled to the favourable consideration of the Government. Her Majesty's Government were disposed to give every consideration in their power to the recommendations of the Committee, if at the end of the year, when the proposed time came for renewing the contract, the Company showed they were in a situation faithfully to continue it in conformity with all the conditions of the contract, particularly as to speed, and carrying the mails to St. Johns. As, however, it was impossible for the contract to he entered into until February, 1862, by which time Parliament would have met, it was out of the power of the Government to give any decided or positive opinion, although there was every disposition to deal with the Company as favourably as possible, and to receive any representations they might make as to their position and their ability to fulfil the contract.