SECOND READING. (Hansard, 13 April 1869)

THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN
, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, that the title of the Bill was hardly calculated to convey the object for which the Bill was originally framed. A series of Acts for the protection of naval stores had been passed, of which the earliest was in the reign of William III., and the latest in 1857. This Bill seemed to contradict the principle affirmed by those Acts, which provided, first a series of marks appropriated to the Admiralty, which no other trader is allowed to use, and then enacted that no private person should keep, possess, or sell any property on which these marks are imprinted. The consequence of this has been that not only had private persons been unable to sell stores on which these marks were imprinted, but the Admiralty had found themselves precluded from disposing of stores which were obsolete or partially worn out. In order to remedy that inconvenience he 673 had introduced this Bill, which would repeal all the previous Acts on the subject, and would then re-enact all the clauses which it was thought desirable to retain—omitting, of course, all those provisions which prevented the Admiralty from disposing of their old stores, when they found it for the public interest that they should do so. As it stood, the Bill also omitted the clauses retaining for the Admiralty the use of certain special marks; but on the Report he should propose to insert clauses which would still give the Admiralty the exclusive use of the "broad arrow" as their mark. The Bill was founded upon the recommendations of the Committee of the House of Commons on Dockyard Management, which sat last year, and was presided over by Mr. Seely.

§ THE EARL OF HARDWICKE
thought it a great bungle to bring in a Bill and then amend it on the Report. The better course would be to withdraw this Bill and bring in another.

THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN
thought that, in order to save time, it would be desirable to take the course he had proposed. The Government desired to pass the Bill as speedily as possible, and to withdraw this Bill and introduce another would cause delay. The Admiralty wished to sell several old ships, and they were anxious to pass this Bill first. By the present system the Admiralty had frequently to sell ships for very much less than they had afterwards to pay for the old copper. This was the case of one ship's hull that sold for £300, when the copper had to be re-purchased for £1,665; and with regard to the Medway, she sold for £2,180, and her copper had to be repurchased by the Admiralty for £4,210. Out of twenty-seven ships sold the same thing had occurred in every instance; and therefore it seemed to him that the sooner a law which produces such results is repealed the better it would be for the public interest.

§ THE DUKE OF SOMERSET
, while admitting the inconvenience of the present law, thought it would be more convenient if the Amendments were proposed in Committee, instead of at a late stage.

THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN
was 674 quite willing to move the Amendments in Committee, and then to have the Bill re-printed with the Amendments.