Star. — London, England, 1810-05-01 00:00:00

hi PORT. ritOM VIZ ETC. MITTEE ON THR PUBLIC, 1111:1 0 1111XTUR4 ETC. OF THE UNITED RINCAPOM. ofFICE OF PAYMASTER OF MARINE ; AND AMA? Oa ACCOUNTS. it I.IIC CoMPlNittie appointee, ti examine and con s'cler what Regulations and Checks haie been estab ilshej, in order to controul the several branches of ty, EipenditUre of Great Britain and Ireland; and how far the same have been effectual ; and what f at her measures can be adopted for reducing anp hart of the said Expe nditUre, or diminishing the Imodotof Salaries and Emoluments, without detri ment to the Public Service :-- Beinz informed that a considerable default had b een discoiiered in the Office of Paymaster of Maiihes ; h a re directed their first inquiries to the nature of the re n,liattons under which thatdepartment is conducted, f i t ,, 3 view to ascertain whether those regulations are lsu fficient in themselves, or ill adapted to the service; or whether there has been a culpable or negligent de.; pa rtnre fropm em. Th e aym th a.ster, whose duty is confined to the payment of the Marines while on shore, presents ' tont hly accounts to the Admiralty, stating his re ceipt and expenditure during the last month, and an est imate of the probable demands upon him for the current m onth, together with a statement of the ba lances rema;ning in his hands on the first and last days of the preceding month ; in consequence of which application, an order is forwarded to the Navy Office accompanied by a copy of the monthly account,. directing an imprest to be issued by the Treasurer of the Navy, who is the general banker, as the Navy Office is the general office of account for every branch o f Naval Service. A statement of the balances in the Paymaster's hands, included in the monthly ae. count, is transmitted with the order for each imptest the Navy Office. “ This statement of the balances in these monthly accounts affords, in appearance, -a secure and con stant guard against any undue accumulation of money the hands of the Paynuster ; but this appearance delusive : for these accounts, being necessarily un accompanied with voucher% do not admit of any ef f!ctual check, until the delivery, at a subsequent pe riod, of the general annual account : the consequence if which has been, that they have Unfortunately pro duced the effect of preventing, rather than forward * any useful examination into the real state of the ?Apia:oes balance, and seem to hate precluded all suOcion, either at the Admiralty or Navy Office of irnpr ;Per accumulation of money in his handL qu the printed regulations and instructions rela ite,to the Royal Marine Payees while ofi shore, the ninth article directs “ that the Paymaster is to , Pg an account with the Commissioners of the Navy; the end of every year he is to deliver a general :punt of all money received and paid within that f/me." If it was the duty of the Paymaster to pass, itbecame the chity of the Commissioners of the Navy to examine ; and your Committee cannot view with cut great dissatisfaction the delay which has prevailed in the &livery of the general annual Accounts ; the woof which will be noticed hereafter. The practice of the Office with respect to the ac counts of the Paymaster of Marines appears to have been this : The monthly accounts already alluded to, which are transmitted by the Admiralty to the Navy Office, receive no particular examination, and indeed do not admit of being checked, as before stated, ex cept in the articles of imprests and balances brought over from the preceding month but an examinaticn of these items alone would obviously not ascertain the correctness of the balance remaining. “ The general annual Account, wnen delivered, is examined with the Imprest Ledger on the one side, and with the Accountant's Vouchers on the other, by we or more of the Clerks in the Office of Bills and !aunts: by them the balance stated by the Pap; saner is confirmed or corrected. A statement is thesmade out by the person who has examined the lannt, of the disbursements only, detailing the na rte of them and of the 4ouchers, with observations Say irregularity in either, on the authority under rhich the payments were made, or on any other cir tenstance deserving notice. The statement so made out by the examining Clerk should be checked by the Chief Clerk, and is then submitted to the Committee ofAccounts; and it is their duty, after due consider ation, to direct the sums disbursed and` properly touched to be allowed towards clearing such Imprest rnay be standing out against the Accountant. To stint sum this Imprest may aniount, It not, however, brought under the notice either of the Committee of Accounts or of the Board.(unless specially called for) the statement itself not containing the Imprests, or the balance remaining ; and the original annual ac mn never undergoing their revision. And here your Cotbmittee cannot but express their surprise, that general practice of the Office should have sanc tioned so extraordinary mi omission in the statement of any account, as that of the sum tiwing by thl Ac «untant to the public : and that in this particular in =lance the examining Clerks should not have deemed it their duty to bring tinder the immediate notice 'of !hat Criltlmitft?, ith article of such magnitude and 79"Trfnet. they trust this practice has been at. '2 l o , efeetually corrected by a minute of the Navy Board, dated 17th January, 1810. In other re- P ects, it appears to your Committee from the inspec , f m.ny of the statements which have been laid before them, t h at t h e d i sbursements in the Paymaster's it "tom have received an attentive and accurate in "'Pion. And it further appears, from g docrt aciaeat produced by the Navy Board, that few of the counts in the Office of Bills and Accounts are in rrear,iinn re and none g reat l y so ; an d t h at t h e b a l ances of them a re so l arge as to exc i te susp i cion. ?or ' n he Hon oura bl e George Villiers was appointed • aster of Marines b the Board of Admiralty, 9th March, 1792 , and r y e-appointed as Paymaster and InsFector,9th May, 1803, with particular direc tions as to the mode in e sr *h . h 1 . k department wait to be conducted r enjoini ng - him to make frequent visits different divisions and stations of Marines, 1 , 11 Z: 1 , 0/ant or neglect of which great abuses had His salary was raised by that warrant " 41 0, cle• tif clear o all deductions, with an allcwance and a ' )3° for clerks, RI9O for house -rent, &c. a further allowance for travelling expences ac tually incurred. w " No examinati on as to the state of his accounts, Ciu h d ichJe e.i in . a i ned unsettled for seven years a the pe vi ns r e•appointMent, appears w have taken rn OCF I ig side Fsht thir 2nd flat part goo oleo beet have reg' f it! insu or par p a l Inc Cei Cst cu fen daj whi Off dire tbc Og d the coil to tl leer stan tl is di acc( f.itt !kid r:Ev duo ray sosi ire tri r t t i t er it b to I dCI in Cal Cll be 0 dl cc Ot et cc et 11 e- - eihi 1? Ta le, lam e Nunn s Iril.iltCe knOwn inquired into, which it now gliCettahled to have been,' at the end of the year 1802, 4177,847. " His actomits; Which had been pasieel with tcle. rabic regularity and expedition in the rears 1794 arid 1795, MI into great arrear iii the subsequent tears, both as to the time of delivei7 and the settlethent of theth. AN ACCOUNT, SHEIVING THE DATES OP MR. VILLIERS'S ACCOUNTS, TEE TIME WHEN THEY WERE RECEIVED A/1D PASSED, AND THE BALANCE UPON HACH. Dates of Ac.- When Ac- When Ac.: Balance due counts. counts were counts were from Mr. Vil received. passed. lemasacknow ledged by hint. £15,4511 IS From Jan. 10 to Dec. 31 Sept. 20, 1793 1792 For '1793 Not known. Do. 59,317 15 9 1794 July 28, 1795 Dec.3l, 1795 33,540 11 6 1795 April 26, 1797 Dec. 9, 1802 26,142 154 1796 Not known. Nov. 4, 180.5 65,150 884 1797 July 7, 1805 July 6, 1206 74,124 18 44 1798 Not known. Dec. 6, 1806 111,66$ 2 3 1799 Dec. c 3, 1806 Apr 1120,11107 25,693 10 6t 1800 Aug. 22, 1807 Oct. 24, 1808 129,113 15 4 1801 Oct. 24, 1893 Aptil24,l BOP 166,298 11 7 1802 Feb. 21, 1809 July 21,1809 177,847 98t 1803 April 11, 1809 Do. 956,539 7 8 . 1804 Aug. 14, 1809 Oct. 6, 285,038 15 44 " Pram tre time that annual accounts ceased to be delivered with punctuality, additional opportuni ties were afforded for an improper accumulation of money in his handi," the increase of which became almost continually progressive ; 'and the Commissio ners of the Navy, whose duty it was to call for and enforce the regular produttion of those accounts, ne glected to dei so. " It is, however, in evidence before your Commit tee, that the late Comptroller of the Navy frequently represented to Mr. George Villiers, that his accounts ; ought to be more regularly delivered in, and received .assurances from him that they should be so; at the same time Mr. Villiers stated the necessity of having the imprests made to him in full, when the pressure of the public service, about the year l 7 9 8; made it expedient to pay only in part ; and the Comptroller was led to believe, from his conversations with Mr. George 'Villiers, that there was no balance of public money at that time in the Accountant's hands. " It is to be remarked with great regret, that the inefficient state of the Navy Office, for a period of no less than eleven years, is given as an excuse or palliation for this omission on the part of the Board ; and some of the new regulations adopted under an o;der in Council of Jur:, 8, 1708, at the iecommen dation of the Commissioners of Inquiry, are alledged as a principal cause of the defective state of this Office. Dee. 31,17% 44 The strongest representations from the Navy Office to the Admiralty were made ori this 'object, at different times, from 1800 to 1807. One great and obvious inconvenience was pointed out as arising from making the Chief Clerk in the Office of Bills and Accounts Secretary to the Committee of Ac counts, (which was recently formed of three Members of the Board, agreeably to the directions of that Or der in Council) while the same person had the super intendence also of the Foreign Accounts ; this incon venience the Navy Board endeavoured to remedy by some official arrangements, which diminished, but did not remove the evil ; and it continued to be felt until the duties of these separate departments were allotted to three distinct officers. " The hardships suffered by the Clerks in general from the low state of their salaries and the abolition of fees, the consequent inactivity and languor which prevailed in the different departments, and the diffi culty of carrying on the business, are enumerated in this correspondence : but the actual evils from the accounts not being passed are not, perhaps, set forth with sufficient force, or with those details which were calculated to impress the Admiralty with a due sense of them. Your Committee, however, cannot but re mark the neglect with which these representations were treated No answer whatever appears to have been made to them before June 1806, and no remedy was applied by the Admiralty until November 1807, tb a case which involved the efficiency of this great and most important office of account. " The balance exhibited in Mr. G. Villiers' monthly account immediately subsequent to 31st December, 1802, when the balance was 4177,847, amounts to no more than £2255 ; and after the 31st of Decem ber, 1803, when the balance upon the settlement of the general account of that year proved to be £256,539, the balance to which his name was sub scribed amounted only to £12,055. IS I Your Committee, notwithstanding some pains taken to discover the method by which these monthly balances were made to exhibit so fallacious a view of the whole sum actually in the Accountant's hands at any given thne,.have not been able to satisfy them selves as to the particular mode by which the real balance was kept out of sight. It was suggested by one of the late marine clerks, that such parts of the irnprestS as were not received within the current month, wer4 never subsequently brought to account ; , but, with the exception of RlOOO (drawn out on 10th July, 1799) there is certainly no foundation for this suspicion ; and it seems probable, that the generality of the statements of expenditure in the monthly at counts, accompanied as they necessarily were by any ' vouchers, may have served as a cover for large sums of money, which in fact never may have been applied ito the public service. 1 " Nut deeming it essential to pursue this part of the subject - further, your Committee applied them. selves to ascertain what steps had been taken upon the discovery of these deficiencies, to secure the public ' from loss ; and they find that extents were issued to the *hole amount of the Accountant's property ; which , however falls far short of the amount for which" Mr. G. Villiers appears to be responsible to the. public, tittles: there should be articles of discharge tliiinOtfli to your CoMmittee or to the Navy Office, itittifpreserit Unsettled state of his accounts. debt for which the extent was issued is R 264,307. Its. ; the value of the landed property is " estifhated at ,593,507. 2s. Bd. There is also £21,619. 10s. 10d. three per cents consols, and the se curity given on his first taking of the office, which was Jor £lO,OOO. The bond executed in 1792 is how ' ever not forthcoming ; and there is reason to think that no bond, w a s exetuted'on Ins subsequent re-ap pointment in 1803, although it was made a condition of his holding the office, that he shotfldsive security in the sum of £lO,OOO vrithourrefetin& to the -secu rity taken in 1792. .. ~ cc Your Comm i ttee cannot avoid &sem . ing n' Obn it lie eapenT &tire' , and laying elsesii bet= the Rita as an omission of duty in the Board of Admiralty; bt It i much earlier pbrihd. . . whotii he was r e- appo i nted, not to have taken a se- . 66 Without an effectual and speedy audit, the cond bond ; and the 164 of the first; which remained House may rest asiured that all other checki and in the Admiralty abotit the year.lBo6, shews g cul. provisions Will prove ineffectual to secure the interests pable 'carelessness as to the-custody; of such impoiteat Of the public against fraud or negligence. Tne evile instniments. . Securities ought to b e ta k en more Ire- of both have been long felt, and frequently . exposed nettedc er s in quently than has hitherto been the usage, from' all offi- to view ; and varions atte.npts have been made to w ev it er h e th de e pa r rr ce e iv n t t, o w r lelphennldditsuiretuatoiofnps public time counteract them, by regulations, which have from and tour Co mm i t t ee recoMmend that rogue time to time been altered, modi fi ed, and revised; money ;with what Success and utility your Committee n ill, lations should be established to that effect, under the proceed to consider in the second part of this Report:" . directions of his M a j est y i n C ounc il, or o f the Corn- --- .. . mis:sioners of the Treasury."'" I LORD ERSKINE': LETTER: ‘.‘ In the course of these investigations, it becdme a , matter of consideration hoW far the continuance of _ The following is the fetter addressed by Lord P i —lt S -IN It to I. B. the oaicnof Paymaster of Marines may be necessary , for cenductino this branch of the public service; your lic en onnoost e l siez in , n Eli a g ga . i z n t st ihe time of the discusilon id the House at ntons on the subject of tie resolution •f the Bench of b the Pros. It win be read wits a lively Ins Committee bearing in mind that all useless offices ' terest by all those who desL - e, like ourselva, to preserve respect ought to be suppressed ; and that every additional; fur the character of the Learned Body to whom it &adva channel through which public money flows, affords DF.AR SissamAN—From someciing that has been an additional hazard of the misapplication, detention, stated to have fallen from my friend, Anstruther, upon or kiss of a part of it. your Motion on Friday, the public (and naturally " Recent experience in the cases of the Acts for enough) are up in arms against me—l am sure he regulating the office of Treasurer of the Navy 25 did not intend to hurt or injure me, as we have Geo. 3. c. 31.) and Treasurer of the Ordnance 46 always lived on' terms of intimacy and friendship. I Gee. 3, c. 45.) induces a reasehable mistrust as to could have pievented that misapprehension had I the efficacy of all legislative provisions and directions. foreseen it, by authorising you to state in the House In cases where the temptations to a contrary practice of Commons what had passed between us upon the are great, the means of evasion have not beeen found subject of the Resolution ; but, I asked your confi impracticable. , deuce, to avoid even the appearance of acting invi. " The Commissioners on Fees, &c. (1787) in their diously towards friends in the professiortiiwith whoni I third Report, p. 101 , and 5, referred to, and printed I have spent the greatest part of my life, and to whom l in the proceedings in consequence of the Finance Re- I am sincerely attached; but, as things :have turned Iports, G. 11. pronounced an opinion as to the inutility out, I cannot do justice either to them or to myself; of this office, which, ' besides being an unnecessary ex. more effectually, than by stating the facts regarding pence, tends to multiply accounts, and disperse the this proceeding exactly as they stand : . public money ;as there will always be a balance left I Went to Lincoln's Inn on the 3d of February, in the hands of each officer to whom any portion of it two rears ago, not with the view of considering any is issued.' They continue, that , this office ought, in public business, but to dine at the Bench with my old their opinion, to be carried on in the Office of the friends and companions at the Bar. It happened on Treasurer of the Navy, not only as being a branch of that day when the Benchers were chinking their wine the pay of the navy, but that the officers may be con- . after dinner, in their own apartment, that a report of tiguous to check the pay of the marines on ship board, several propositions was brought up to them from the debts due from those who embark, and tor other Gentlemen of the Bar, assembled in the Hall, one of purposes.' : them, (as appears by the minutes of the society) being " There was at that time an Agent as well as a - the Resolution in question—what passed in conversa- Paymaster, the former of whom acted as Deputy, and don on the subject I do not remember, my attention transacted almost the whole of the business ; and the had never been called to it, and coming as it did from Commissioners recommended the continuance of the' the Bar, it is extremely likely, since no decision was efficient person in the office, with a salary of se6oo, . to be come to upon the subject, that I might not have and the discontinuance of the Paymaster ;—but the . opposed any view that the other Benchers were dis- Board of Admiralty, deeming it more expedient to posed in such conversation to consider it, and the ra reverse the suggested improvement, abolished the ther, because I had and have the highest opinion of first; and continued the second ; the great diligence and the greatest confidence in the learning and into. and regularity of Mr. G. Villiers, who was represen- grity of those who were present, more accustomed ted in the report from the Admiralty of . August, than myself since I left the 'Bar, to attend to the con -1799, G. 11, as an able and attentive officer, by terns and duties of the Society. An answer was sent whom, since his appointment in 1792, the business of to the Bar, that the Bench would take into its cowl nearly the whole of the Marine Department had been titration the suggestions of their report, which contained conducted, being given as a reason for disregarding several different subjects for its future deliberation.— this recommendation of the Commissioners. The re- . According to the usual forms of the Society my name moval of the Agent, after a service of 28 years in the appears, as of course, to that answer, and stands first, Marine Department, was attended with an annual ex- from the courtesy of the Bench to rank of seniority ; pence in the nature of a compensation, paid out of die but it is most evident that no sanction was given to marine poundage and stoppages, and directed to be the proposition by this proceeding. We were sitting inserted in the Paymaster's annual account. • • • over our wine and sending an answer of respect to the 68 Your Committee do not hesitate in recommen. Bar. From that time forward I never heard more ding to the House, that the office of Paymaster should upon the subject, having removed to a distant part of be forthwith suppressed; and that the business should ; the town, until I heard not long ago that the Reso- - be transacted in the office of the Tr.eistirer of the lution in question had been adopted and confirmed in Navy', under whose direction drafts may be prepared the May following the February, when I had dined . of such an establishment as may be necessary for that in the Hall. I heard at the same time that it was purpose, which ought to be submitted to and approv. considered by many to be objectionable. ed by the Commissioners of the Treasury. I What part I should have taken, bad I attended 66 It may deserve consideration, whether some of , with the Benchers who adopted it, it is impessible for the houses in Somerset-place, as they become vacant, , me to say—whether the objections which now most may not be applied to the extension of such offices as ' forcibly present themselves to my mind upon the sub are at present cramped for want of room ; your Com. ject of the Resolution, would then have occurred to mitree being of opinion,. that official houses are (ex- me, since they do not Appear to have occurred to cept in some special cases) au improvident mode of ' others, or how far, if they had occuried i they might adding to salaries, or of paying public servants, inas- , have yielded in decision, from confidence in die judg much as the charges upon the public, for building in . ment of my friends present, I will not even venture the first instance, and for continual repairs afterwards,' to conjecture, because it would be invidious towards are out of all proportion to the benefit or accommoda- : men whom I highly respect for their talents and h ,- lion which is derived to the officerrrho inhabit them. ; nour, and would besides be arrogating to myse f, •.- In 1 without any certain foundation, that I should have The discovery of Ivit. G. Villieres default led to the detection of another of very inferior amount, but' arising principally from the same causes, in the Cm ductor's Department under the Treasurer of the Navy. * * Mr. Charles Barrow (the late Conductor) was ' responsible for the balance of £3713, at the end of 1808, which was increased to £5689 in January 1810. An extent has been issled against him for the sum due, but there is no probability that more than £5OO will be recovered. No security was taken for the due discharge of his duty, nor has it been usual to require it in that department. A case has been laid before the Crown Lawyers for their opinion as to prosecuting him criminally. been wiser upon this subject than those whom I hid always considered, and still consider to be my eq labs. Be this however as it may, I can never be taken in my absence, to have been concurring in a dec.sion of such importance, when i had no opportuni:y of exercising a deliberate judgment upon a matter that was to affect the interest of others. But this I can firmly say for myself, that if I had ken present when the Resolution in question was adopted, and had concurred with those who adopted it, I should not the less on that account (with the opinions I entertain at pre. sent) have hesitated to propose that it should be rescinded I have always considered the retraction of errors in public men, acting sincerely, but without due consideration, to be not only no humiliation, but Me highest and most grateful illustration oftalents and virtue ; yet in nothing is the world than from the general blindnus obvious •truth, #C A default to the amount of 893,926, in the ac ount of the Treasurer of the Ordnance, would natu• rallythave found a place in the present Report, if it had not undergone the investigation of the Commis sioners of Military Inquiry, who have lately present ed, in their Twelfth Report, an ample and distinct detail upon this subject: Your Committee, however, desire, in passing, to call again the attention of the House to the practical inefficiency of the late Act for the regulation of this Office, and to enforce the ob servations of the Commissioners in p. 17. ' That upon the second appointment of Mr. Hunt, in 1807, the not taking any security from him, was a great omission of duty.' I,' From the inconveniencies and losses attending either an imperfect Oitirdy examination of accounts, your Committee are' led to the more extensive subject of the general audit of accounts, and to the constitu tion of the present Board of Commissioners under 46 Geo. 111. c. 141. 44 It was noticed in their Report upon the Pay- Office and some part of their attention in the two succeeding Beskions has been directed towards this most essential object, while they were carrying on their other inquiries. 4‘ The novelty and untried effect of some of the regulations under which the Board of Auditors were beginning to act in 180? ii.n& 1808, formed one of the chief obstacles which prevented your Committee from proceeding further to collect materials for a full Report upon the present system of examining knd passing the accounts of all the great bunches of pub• more perpetually :erring, of mankind. to this obvi( .. We see NO merely intli vidualr exposed to the greatest cluantiticf .v isit)Tessiiations undone avid ruined, to cover a mirtahe nede4tift 40icedt and complicated policy of the State. " I may appeal safely to you, my dear Sheridan, for the sincerity of this remark, because you know that though I was not a party to the Resolution, I com municated to you in confidence my determination to move for its repeal, and expressed an opinion, that the Benches would reconsider and rescind it on the prin ciple adverted to. It is one of the greatest blessings attendant upon our own free Government, that we Are instructed in our duties, and corrected in our errors by public opinion, and they who refuse to be so in structed and corrected, are unworthy of the most in significant trusts. The Inns of Court, without any incorporation or clearly defined jurisdiction, have preserved-for a long season the character of the English Bar, and I have no doubt that they will continue to preserve their im memorial reputation. You will not wonder that I am very anxious upon this subject—you know my subscription to the Free dom of the Tress, and in very critical timcs to other branches of public liberty.—You haveciten done me more than justice by eloquence, which 'though not requiring the warmth proceeding froth i partial regard and opinion, has iltiayi been so retiicrkable when I have been thesubject. . I mean to call upon my friend Anstruther tt. . morrow morning, who, I am quite sure, will be ready to do me justice. Your's, most. faithfully, • Saturday night. EitSLUUL. 111