TYNWALD COURT. DOUGLAS, TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1899. Present: In the Council, the Lieut.-Governor, the Lord Bishop, Deemster Sir James Gell, Deemster Gill, the Attorney-General, the Receiver-General, and the Vicar-General; and in the Keys: the Speaker, and Messrs J. A. Mylrea, J. Joughin, J. Qualtrough, J. D. Cluoas, J. R. Kerruish, T. Clague, T. Corlett, T. Allen, R. Cowley, W. Quayle, D. Maitland, F. G. Callow, J. R. Cowell, J. T. Cowell, E. H. Christian, J. J. Goldsmith, J. Mylchreest, W. Quine, J. C. Crellin, and T. Corlett. Mr Aitken was in attendance as clerk to the Council, and Mr R. D. Gelling, the sec- retary of the House of Keys, was in attendance. Jap, NEW SPEAKER. Mr Mylrea: May it please your Excellency, I have the honour of presenting to your Excel- lency our newly-elected Speaker, Mr Arthur William Moore, whom the House of Keys have unanimously elected, and in whom we have the strongest possible confidence that he will follow in the footsteps of his distinguished predecessor. The Governor : I am very glad to welcome you to this Tynwald Court for the first time as Spanker, and to congratulate the House of Keys on the choice they have made. It has been my good fortune since I came here to claim him as a friend, and as long as I am here I hope we shall be friends, and work together for the good of the Island. The Speaker: I thank your Excellency for your very kind good wishes, and I cordially recipro- cate them. While upholding the rights and pri- vileges of the House of Keys, it will be my pleasant duty to co-operate with you in maintain- ing the good relations which have, almost uni- formly, existed between the two branches of this ancient Court of Tynwald. (Hear, hear.) THE LATE SPEAKER. The Governor : Perhaps the Court will join with me in standing up for a minute while I try The New Speaker.—The Late Speaker. TYNWALD COURT, January 24, l899. 73 — -- - to say a few words upon our late Speaker. I have been here of course only a short time, but I had learned to know Sir John Goldie-Taubman very well. I knew his worth and good character in many ways towards us all, and all he has done for this Island, and I trust you will join with me in offering our sincere sympathy to Lady Taubman and family at the loss which has fallen upon them. I am perfectly certain of one thing, that he would have been quite pleased that it has been your pleasure to elect in his place my friend Mr Moore, the new Speaker. I am sure you will join with me most heartily in according our sympathy to Lady Taubman and family at the loss which has fallen upon them. If you will allow me to do so, I will draft a resolution and send it on to her from you—from us all in this Court—of sincere sympathy with her in the ter- rible trouble which has fallen upon her. (Hear, hear.) The Speaker : I thank your Excellency on be- half of the Keys for What you have said in refer- ence to our late lamented Speaker. The course which you have proposed to adopt will have our unanimous approval. As we have already paid our own tribute in our own chamber, it is not necessary to add anything to what you have said. The proposition was seconded by the Lord Bishop and unanimously agreed to. BOARD OF ADVERTISING. Mr J. R. Cowell: With regard to the Board of Advertising, I may explain to the Court that I have taken the somewhat unusual course with the object of saving time to approaCh your Excel- lency, and get your permission to have the report printed and circulated before it is laid before (le Court. That I did, of course, with the object of saving time, and giving members the earliest in- timation possible with regard to the proceedings of the Board. I trust the Court will accept what 1 have done, and will allow me formally to pre- sent the report and lay it on the table. (Agreed.) EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY. Mr Mylrea : The question which I have given your Excellency notice of, is to ask whether it is your Excellency's intention to introduce legis- lation into the Island dealing with the liability of employers. The Governor : In answer to the question which has been asked by the hon. member, I have Board of Advertising.—Employers' Liability. 74 TYNWALD COURT, January 24, 1899. 11.3 intention of introducing that measure into this Court. I have suggested already to the hon. member, and he courteously listened to what I said, that the proper place to introduce this Bill was in the popular assembly of this Island. When this question comes forward, I shall be only too pleased to consider it very carefully, and I am perfectly certain the Council will join with me in doing so. But, at the present time, I think it is the right thing for the popular branch of the Legislature of this Island to deal with the ques- tion in the first instance. Mr Myfree : I think I shall have to give your Excellency notice that at the next Court I shall wove that a committee of five members of this Court be appointed to consider the existing state of the law as to the liability of employers, and the expediency, or otherwise, of introducing legislation, and that the committee have power to take evidence. The Governor: I have no possible objection to that, if you wish to do it in that way, instead of the other. I think the other way would be best. BUILDING GRANT FOR ANDREAS. The Governor : I have received private notice of a question from the hon. member for Ayre. Mr Allen. The question I have asked your Excellency is whether you will be prepared to sanction a vote for a building grant in the school committee district of Andreas. The Governor: In answer to the hon. member, I have only to say this—that the expenses of education at the present time are very large and are increasing greatly. I hope that before long, as I have said before in this Court, that some arrangement will be made with regard to our loans which may be of service to the Island. Of course the time has not yet arrived for it. The money market is very disturbed at present, and I think the best way will be for me to answer in this way—that I cannot promise the grant. At present, I am not in a position to promise any further grants with regard to building until the end of the financial year, when I shall know the position of the finances of the Island better than I do now. It is my desire to promote education. But it is not my business alone to do that, but I have also to protect the finances of the Island. That is the answer I have to give to the hon. member. Building Grant for Andreas. TYNWALD COURT, January 24, 1899. 75 DOUGLAS TOWN COUNCIL. Mr Kneen presented a petition of the Douglas Corporation for authority to borrow a sum not exoeeding L1,225 for acquiring the Oddfellows' Arms, North Quay, Douglas. The Attorney-General suggested that he should, first of all, read a report of the Oommittee upon the application, and that afterwards counsel should have an opportunity of addressing the Court. This course was assented to. The Attorney-General then read the following report : - The matters referred to the Committee were the purposes numbered 2 and 3 respectively is the said application. The Committee met at the Court House, Dou- glas, upon Tuesday, the 19th July instant, when the whole of the members of the Committee were present. Mr Kneen appeared as advocate for the Cor- poration, and certain witnesses were called is and heard. The Committee first took into consideration Purpose No. 3, viz., the application to borrow "12,450 for improving the existing buildings, said for the erection of additional buildings, at the Borough Isolation Hospital." The hospital at present consists of the main building and of a small pavilion at the back, situated at a distance of from 70 to 100 yards from the main building, and which was erected some five or six years ago to meet a possible outbreak of smallpox. It appears that nurses do not form a portion of the Permanent staff, but are engaged, from time to time, as occasion requires. According to present arrangements, nurses when so engaged have to reside in the main building, but there is no pro- per provision for accommodating them. On dif- ferent occasions, when the hospital has been crowded, and a large number of nurses required, it has been impossible to provide a bedroom for each nurse, and bedrooms have had to be occu- pied by the nurses night and day for sleeping purposes. The Committee have no hesitation in condemning this condition of affairs. Further beds for patients are also desirable. The present mortuary is badly placed, and the arrangements thereof are quite inadequate, and, in some respects, objectionable. A new scullery is also required, as are certain alterations to the main building. The proposals of the Corporation are: (1) To remove the smallpox pavilion to another part of the grounds of the hospital, and upon the pre- sent site of the same to erect a new pavilion, a building of one storey, which will provide 12 beds for patients.