No. XLIII.-EDUCATION (IRELAND).

Annual Report of the Commissioners of Education in Ireland for the year 1855-6. (291.)

[Pursuant to Act of Parliament 93 Geo. III., c. 107.]

SOME alterations have been made in the course of studies for the candidates at the competitive examinations for the exhibitions or royal scholarship founded in Trinity College. The Commissioners referred to the expenses incurred in the repairs of some royal schools, and to the want of funds for granting well-deserved superannuation allowances.

No. XLIV.-MUSEUM OF PRACTICAL GEOLOGY.

Return to an Address of the House of Commons, dated 21st May, 1856, for Copy of Correspondence between the Director-General of the Geological Survey and the President of the Board of Trade. (Mr. William Williams.) (248.)

In a letter to Lord Stanley of Alderley, dated 25th January, 1856, Sir Roderick I. Murchison, recalled, under the circumstance of the removal of the Department of Science and Art from under the control of the Board of Trade to the control of the Committee of Privy Council for Education, the benefit derived from the department of Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, and the School of Mines. The survey, which is the base of the whole establishment, has its analogue in most civilized lands, and the country void of it must remain ignorant of that knowledge of the crust of the earth which is indispensable in every effort to promote the material interests of man. Considerable stimulus would be given to those schools of mines if no one of the 12 inspectors of coal mines, each receiving a salary of 400l. per annum, were appointed, except he had undergone the preliminary studies which such an institution affords. At present, nearly 100 officers of her Majesty's or the Honourable East India Company's services have spontaneously taken advantage of such scientific instruction, and 600 working men attend the courses of evening lectures delivered gratuitously by the professors. The letter further showed the importance and advantage of the establishment in aiding the development of mineral wealth, &c. Dr. Lyon Playfair answered on the part of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, stating that the institution in question, notwithstanding the transfer from the control of that board, will receive the same amount of support under the new arrangement as heretofore, and that any minister entrusted by her Majesty with the charge of education will anxiously endeavour to promote and to give fuller development to the instruction afforded by the professors of the school.

No. XLV. SCHOOLS IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

Return to an Address of the House of Commons, dated 4th March, 1856, for Return of the Number of Schools which have been erected under the Minute of Her Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council of Education, of the 2nd day of April, 1853, for promoting Voluntary Assessments towards the expense of building Schools in Rural Districts. (Mr. Miles.) (97.) FROM the 20th August, the date of giving effect to the minute, to 31st December, 1853, no payments were made. From the 1st January, 1854, to the 3rd March, 1856, there were made payments to 164 schools. The return is confined to schools erected, exclusive of schools enlarged or improved.

No. XLVI.-CHURCH LEASEHOLDS.

Return to an Address of the House of Commons, dated 24th April, 1856, for Return of the Number of Leaseholds in the several Dioceses of England and Wales, in respect of which Applications have been made for the purchase of the Reversion, or for the sale of the Term, or for both in part, &c., in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 375, Session 1854. (Mr. Ingram.) (399.)

No. LI.-SLAVE TRADE.

Correspondence between Great Britain and Brazil, respecting the Slave Trade. [Presented to the House of Lords by command of Her Majesty, in pursuance of their Address, dated July 21, 1856.]

THIS correspondence between the Earl of Clarendon and Consul Cowper and Mr. Jerningham, commencing the 18th January, 1856, contains remonstrances of the British Government against the slave trade still carried on in Pernambuco, and especially against a slave trade transaction at Serinhaem. On the 7th March Mr. Jerningham sent a note to Senhor Paranhos, to the effect that if the Brazilian Government do not use their utmost efforts in prosecuting with all the rigour of the law, and in punishing all such as have been engaged in slave trade transactions, the British Government will be obliged again to put in force the provisions of the Act of Parliament of the year 1845; and that while British cruisers will exercise on the coast, in the rivers, and in the harbours of Brazil that watchfulness and activity which the agents and officers of the Brazilian Government neglect to use, British courts of justice will pronounce those sentences of condemnation from which Brazilian courts may be found to shrink. Mr. Jerningham reminded also the Brazilian Government, that by the treaty of the 23rd November, 1826, they stand deeply pledged for the total abolition of the slave trade. Senhor Paranhos, sent a note in answer, showing that there was no intention on the part of the Brazilian Government not to prosecute vigorously those implicated in stealing Africans in Serinhaem; but that in consequence of the epidemic which had lately invaded that province, and the ravages it had committed, there arose a necessary delay, and the proceedings of the police authorities were embarrassed. Senhor Paranhos referred to the menace of the British Government to enforce the bill of August, 1845; that bill he said would excite and provoke odious collisions, but would be completely useless towards ensuring the extinction of the slave trade.

On the 11th April, 1856, Consul Cowper, in a letter from Pernambuco, informed the Earl of Clarendon of the particulars of a conversation he had with the President, from which he came to the conclusion: 1st. That the President, in order to provide for the security of the slave vessel, and in order to screen this criminal adventure, which was undertaken by friends of his, took care beforehand to remove the public authorities from the district of Serinhaem. 2nd. That he purposely contrived that the preliminary process of legal inquiry as to the facts of the case should be conducted at Rio Formoso, a place distant six leagues from the spot where the slaves were landed, instead of having it held at the Barra, at which place, and not at Rio Formoso, persons were to be found who could identify the men who carried away the slaves. 3rd. That in order to suppress the evidence of the only eye-witnesses of the crime by making them the accused parties, he included in the process of accusation Dr. Antonio Drummond and all the other captors of the slaver.

Charges were then transmitted by the Earl of Clarendon to Mr. Jerningham, desiring him to communicate them to the Brazilian Government, and suggesting that the President and the chief of the police of Pernambuco should be dismissed, and that Dr. Antonio Drummond and the other captors of the slaver should either be immediately brought to trial or be liberated. On the 12th of May Mr. Jerningham informed Lord Clarendon that M. Macedo was appointed to succeed the former President of Pernambuco, and on the 18th June a memorandum was communicated to the Earl of Clarendon by M. Moreira in answer to the note of the 7th March, explaining all the steps taken by the Brazilian Government with reference to the affair of Serinhaem, and complaining of the distrust manifested by the British Government, which of itself neutralizes the action of the Brazilian Government. Further correspondence thereupon issued, but the specific charges were never sufficiently refuted; and although the chief of police of Pernambuco was dismissed, and the captors of the Serinhaem slave vessels were prisoners, the chief culprit was still at large, and 29 Africans still in slavery.

No. LII.-SALTED PROVISIONS (NAVY).

Return to an Order of the House of Commons, dated 19th February, 1856, for Returns relating to Salted Provisions for the Navy. (Mr. Fagan.) (162.) IN October, 1854, the Commissioners of the Admiralty advertised for 24,000 tierces and 12,000 barrels of beef, and for 36,000 tierces and 20,000 barrels of pork. The tenders for the same were for 39,350 tierces and 7,980 barrels of beef, and 46,300 tierces and 21,750 barrels of pork. In December, 1854, the Admiralty advertised for 8,000 tierces and 3,000 barrels of beef, and 16,000 tierces and 6,000 barrels of pork; and there were tendered 26,250 tierces and 5,750 barrels of beef, and 35,300 tierces and 21,730 barrels of pork. In February, 1855, the Admiralty advertised for 6,000 tierces and 600 barrels of beef, and for 1,000 tierces of pork; and there were tendered 23,500 tierces and 1,600 barrels of beef, and 10,700 barrels of pork. The same were to be delivered at Deptford, Gosport, Plymouth, and Haulbowline. A large quantity of beef and pork was rejected for bad quality.

No. LIII.-ARMY PRIZE MONEY.

The Account of unclaimed Army Prize Money, from 18th January, 1809, to 31st December, 1855. (395.)

[Directed to be annually laid before the Houses of Parliament by the Act 2 Will. IV. c. 53.]

THE receipts arising from forfeited and unclaimed shares of prize money, grants, &c., were 1,388,250l. 16s. 2d., and the payments 1,420,1471. 98. 8d., leaving a balance of 31,896l. 13s. 6d. ; but there was held 57,1027. 19s. 10d. in the Three per Cent. Consols.

No. LIV.-TRANSPORTS.

Return to an Order of the House of Commons, dated 10th April, 1856, for Return of Ships engaged as Regular Transports between 1st January, 1855, and 1st April, 1856, inclusive, showing their engagement, their register tonnage, rates of freight, mulct or deductions, and why made; and in steam ships, the horse-power, the time occupied in their passage, and, where information has been received, the quantity of coals or fuel consumed per hour. (Mr. William Lindsay.) (345.)

THE return gives particulars of 245 vessels chartered for Constantinople, Marseilles, Genoa, Balaklava, Gibraltar, &c., &c. The mulct or deductions amounted to 182,475l. 48. 11d.

No. LV.-MILITARY AID TO CIVIL POWER.

Return to an Address of the House of Commons, dated 12th March, 1856, for Return of all Applications which have been made to the Secretary of State for the Home Department for a Military Force in aid of the Civil Power in England and Wales in each of the last ten years; of cases in which the Military Authorities have reported that a Military Force has been so employed, and of cases in which a Military Force has been so employed without previous application. (Mr. Drummond.) (126.)

In

MILITARY aid was applied for in 1846, in February, at Derby and Penrith, and in May at Bangor. In 1847, in May, at Salisbury, Taunton, Nether Stowey, Bridgewater, and Wellington; and in July, at Oldham. In 1848, in January, at Dudley and Cardigan. In February, at Cardigan. In March, at Birmingham, Bath, and Liverpool. In April, in Dudley, Liverpool, Nottingham, Newark, Leeds, Barnsley, Birmingham, Nottingham, Brecon, and Bradford. In May, at Bradford, Bingley, and Leicester. June, at Sheffield and Bolton. In August, at Ashton-under-Lyne, Rochdale, and Doncaster. In September, at Morpeth. In 1849, military aid was employed in February at Derby, in April at Ely, and in August at Morpeth. In 1850, in March at Aberdare, in July at Holywell, and in December at Birkenhead. In 1851, in January at King's Lynn, in February at Barham, Ipswich, and Great Yarmouth, and in March at Berwell and Newmarket. In 1852, in February at Derby, in April at Burlington, and in July at Macclesfield. In 1853, in July at Kidderminster, and in November at Blackburn and Wigan. In 1854, in January at Exeter, in April at Stockport, in August at Northampton, in September at Kidderminster, and in October at Frome. In 1855, in February at Liverpool, in March at Wolverhampton, and in April at Birmingham.