§ LORD ELPHINSTONEBefore the noble and gallant Lord puts his question whether Her Majesty's Government are now in a position to state what reward they propose to give to Admiral Colomb for his invention of flashing signals, I hope I shall not put him to any in convenience if I ask him to postpone it. The fact is, I am not in a position to give him an answer, for the matter has been out of the hands of the Admiralty for a considerable time now, and is before the Treasury. My noble Friend, however, must not imagine from that that the matter is in any way hung up or has found its way into the proverbial pigeon hole, because it is only a few days ago since we received a letter at the Admiralty from the Treasury asking for further particulars in the matter. If he will postpone his question until next week, I hope to be able to give him an answer.
§ LORD SUDELEYMy Lords, I am very happy to put off the question, but I sincerely trust we shall soon receive an answer as to when this matter is likely to be settled. It has been pending now for several years, and it certainly seems a long time to have the matter hung up.