Sitting of 9 January 1807

MINUTES.
Sir J. Newport, took the oaths and his seat. The hon. baronet, upon taking his seat, informed the house that having been returned for Waterford and also for St. Mawes, he made his election for the city of Waterford.—A new writ was ordered to be issued, to elect a member for the county of Sussex, in the room of general Lenox, who was called to the upper house, as succeeding to the title and honours of the dukedom of Richmond.—Mr. Dickenson informed the house, that being chosen to serve in Parliament for the borough of Lestwethiel and the county of Somerset, he made his election for the latter place.—Sir J. Newport gave
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notice that he would, on Monday, move to bring in a bill for correcting an error in an act of the 42d of the king, for regulating controverted elections, as relating to Ireland. The object of this bill would be to supply a defect in the said act, for though the commissioners were sworn to act, they were not empowered to administer an oath to the clerk who attended to take down the evidence; to empower them to administer this oath, was the object of the bill he hoped to have the honour of submitting to that house.—Mr, Adam moved that the order for the consideration of the petition, complaining of an undue election for Aberdeen, be deferred from the 23d instant to the 26th of March. In answer to a question from a member, to whom it appeared that the practice of the house, as laid down a few days since in the Thetford case, was against the enlargement, unless some special cause was assigned, Mr. Adam stated the distance of the place, and the necessity of having the attendance of Scotch lawyers, who could not attend till after the rising of the session. After a few observations from Mr. W. Dundas, the motion was agreed to.—Mr. Wingfield presented a petition, praying an enlargement of time for entering into recognizances to prosecute the petition, complaining of an undue election for the borough of Penrhyn. The petition stated, that the petitioners had completed their recognizance, and sent it up to their agent before their petition had been presented; but that this recognizance was considered as informal, and could not be received. The distance of the place, and the length of time taken in the conveyance by the post, had rendered the remainder of the time limited by act of parliament too short. Mr. W. moved for an enlargement of the time to the 19th instant. After a few observations from Mr. Swan, the sitting member, who thought the petitioners had not used all due diligence to correct their first oversight, and from Mr. Perceval, who recommended a cautious investigation of all grounds assigned for departing from the law, the motion was agreed to.—On the motion of Mr. Vansittart, the resolution of the committee of supply, on the 1st of Jan. for continuing the usual duties on malt, was read. Mr. V. then stated, that, in consequence of circumstances, into which it was unnecessary for him to enter, the bill already brought in on this resolution had been lost in another place; he therefore

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moved for leave to bring in another bill, which was granted.

BATTLE OF MAIDA
Mr. Wilder, seeing the right hon. secretary for the war department in his place, wished to be informed by him, why the name of colonel, now general Oswald, had been omitted in the vote of thanks for the glorious victory of Maida, to the achievement of which his conduct and gallantry had materially contributed.
Windhamsaid, it had been his wish, in framing the vote of thanks, to go as far as any former precedent would warrant him in mentioning the officers concerned, by name. No officer of a lower rank than major-general was mentioned by name in any former vote of thanks. But, as the rank of brigadier-general had been recently introduced into our service, he thought we might with propriety extend the compliment to that also. Colonel Oswald was not at the time actually a brigadier-general, though acting in that rank with great credit to himself, and great benefit to the service. The circumstances he mentioned were the only causes of the omission, and he hoped this explanation, which he was happy to have the opportunity of making, would prove perfectly satisfactory to the feelings of the hon. gent. behind him, and of every friend of that gallant and meritorious officer.
Mr. Wildersaid, he was perfectly satisfied with the explanation given by the right hon. secretary.

ORDNANCE ESTIMATES.
Mr. Calcraft, seeing an hon. gent. in his place (Mr. Johnstone), said he should take that opportunity of giving the hon. gent. every satisfactory explanation as to the questions which the hon. gent. had thought it necessary to put to him yesterday, with respect to the item for powder in the charges for the island of Ceylon. The hon, gent. asked, why the necessary supply of gunpowder had not been furnished by some of our settlements in the East Indies: to that question the best answer would be the simple statement of the fact, that the governor of that island had required a supply of English gunpowder, in preference to that of our Eastern settlements, owing to the superior quality of the former; and this too, not so much from the comparative excellence of our gunpowder, as the positive inferiority of that formerly supplied by the settlements. As to the apparent disproportion in the charges of 1000 l. for Eng-
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land, and 7000 l. for Ireland; for worms, turn-screws, &c. it was to be considered, that of the supplies hitherto furnished for the-service of England, 9,100 l. remained unexpended, so that towards the customary annual supply there was but a deficit of 900 l., whereas, there was no remainder to supply the yearly demand for Ireland; this statement, however, as it stood, put in this case the Ordnance Estimates of England to those of Ireland in the ratio of 7 to 3, which he was free to acknowledge was by no means in the due proportion. As to the officers of Ordnance, in Ireland, they were entitled to every praise for the strictest economy, and the most laudable attention to the duties of the department. If blame, therefore, was justly to attach itself to any quarter, it would rather belong to this side. He confessed that, upon this head, he was not sufficiently prepared, to be as satisfactory as he could wish, not having had sufficient time to possess himself of the fullest information upon the subject; he should, however, take the earliest opportunity to enable him to account for this apparent disproportion.
Mr. Johnstonefelt much obliged by the great anxiety the hon. gent. had evinced to give him and the house every satisfaction relative to the questions he took the liberty of putting to him yesterday. It was, however, very natural for him to suppose that in that country, where the material of which the gunpowder was made was to be had, it could be furnished at a cheaper rate than it could be contracted for in England. As to the requisition forwarded by the governor of Ceylon, he did not think that the responsibility to that house rested upon the governor, but upon the ministers, who were bound to judge of the propriety of acceding to it. This, too, he felt it necessary to add, that he had the fullest reliance in the capability of the governor of Ceylon, and thought that that gentleman had given proofs of a strict economy.
Mr. Calcraftsaid, that he had only to repeat that English gunpowder had been sent out to the Island of Ceylon, upon the positive orders of the governor, founded upon reasons already specified, that appeared to the government convincing.

MALT DUTY BILL.
The order for committing the Malt Duty bill, which also purported to be a bill for removing doubts respecting the issue of certain Exchequer bills, and for other purposes, having been read,
The Lord Chancellorleft the woolsack, to call the attention of the house to this bill, which appeared to contain matter foreign to the object of a money bill. His lordship moved that the standing order respecting bills of this description should be read. The standing order was accordingly read by the clerk, declaring, that to insert in money bills, clauses foreign to the objects of those bills, was unparliamentary, and destructive of the constitution of parliament.—The noble and learned lord said it would be wasting the time of their lordships for him to attempt to prove, what must be obvious to the house, that clauses were inserted in this bill, which had no relation to its object as a money bill, and which therefore rendered it obnoxious to the standing order of the house which had just been read. He therefore moved that the bill be rejected, which was ordered accordingly,