2326. Did you allude to the penalties for non-arrival in proper time?--Yes. 2327. I suppose you have read these contracts attentively?--Yes. 2328. And know them by heart, probably?--No, I do not think I know them by heart. 2329. Has it escaped you that there is this clause in the contract: “The contractors are not to be liable to any penalties under this contract for any matters arising from circumstances over which they and their servants had not and could not have had any control, and which shall be so proved to the satisfaction of the said Commissioners?”--I do not recollect that particularly; there was some such clause. 2330. Did you ever see that clause before?--I see that if a vessel should have a very foul wind and could not get on, that clause would perhaps meet that case. But there are a great many causes from which an engine might break down, which would not be provided for by that clause. 2331. You particularly specified stringent clauses, and alluded to the penalties for arrival after time; you said that the clauses were so stringent that no honest man, or no man intending honestly, would sign the contract, because there were penalties for arriving over time?--I was speaking then with reference to the tenders, which I got in 1840. This is the contract I was speaking of. I saw that the first condition was, that they were to be properly built and efficient vessels of 400-horse power; and then there are a number of clauses which I have marked here; the result of them is, first, that the contract was to provide for the passages being performed in a certain number of hours, under a penalty of £500 for twelve hours’ delay. 2332. With such a clause as that you would be afraid to make such a contract?--It exactly amounts to what I say; it is of no use to put such a condition into a contract, except to keep people away. 2333. In answer to a question put to you by the Chairman (1816), which was, “Whatever the nature of the arrangement between the India Company and the Peninsular Company was, the result is that they received £20,000 a year for five years, from the spring of 1841, for doing certain services; is that so?” you answer, “Yes.” Is that answer correct, that for five years they received £20,000 a year?--That is a mistake; they were to receive that. 2334. For how many years did they receive that £20,000 under the letter of the East India Company?--For two years. 2335. You have been speaking about screw vessels; did you ever command one?--No. _Inspection of the Company’s Affairs by the Government._