The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1822-03-19 00:00:00

MI OM OF W . . , 1 47 tli. o eH presentad.dk _ tandh . hero of the Conittf.let .filereford, complain. ip; l lll,th depressiona Abe apiculture' interests , aptijr,fitig for rebof. re.arserved that it bud teen sod ;het the distress of which the aoricul turista coMpleined was merely temporary, but he concurred with the Petitioners in thinking that un less some measure calculated to afford sheen relief were speedily deoisesl,the pressure would is of inef ficient duratiou to ensure the rum of dm present race f..farmers some landed propel...a in ro , . Ili,,sac (Zoirato did not shish dia n ti ecta in ). iflve[priashire weer so gloomy sah di r Gentle inan 114 ;toted. t• !Ili,' - 4r. lions presented a Petition at al limiter mature from the Owuers and Occupiers of land in the Western District of Strathmore, in Forforshire, in Scelland. .13.041 there Petitions were referred to the Agri cultural Committee. TREATMENT OF MR. HUNT. Mr. BpIGHT presented a Petition from a numer 'os beidor of the iuhabitootoof Bristol. pruyiug the i1. 4, 4:t0 toke into its consideration die case of Mr. I loot: . Ile said that he had at first hoped that the .taterneots and complaiuts of the management of ti.e gaol in which he was confioed, oud of the treatment he'haill experienced, would not be borne eta by the evidence, hut he was sorry to find that i hey had 11140 ositto be but too true ; mid lie masted tow House Would not be led away by the nine. ..iitatiOrt of respectable persons from taking fall ci 4 misaoce of the ease. !VP. I uitig presented a similar Petition from Chti , ocrt m r in Wiltshire. fie said he had been (oily eon rot t ed io the epittion which be bed from Ow gest e:moftleittord of ihe conduct of the gaoler, and thafillr: [lout was suffering such snore than I'll iiOfets- Tiffs yelitions were ordered to be printed. IRISH FIFE PER CENTS. The Citsnc6Ll.oll of the Excusatitlt said, the time having expired, 0 the House meat be .were, eatieh had been ullowed to the **lets to aigaify their dissent from the plan which he hail proposed for the reductiou or the Foglith 4.ltar Celt*. it w as ha intention to bring fpreeril a .stersiler ,proposition in regard 'to the fttat,ilitt tents.; with that view he men moved spelt 4e_ outset no to-morrow (this '141I) resolve itsrlf to a I,:wanutittee on the Irish 5 per Crnt. Acts.—Ordered. Mr. /luster asked whet was intended to be done with respect to 1,940,000/. doe from Government to the Bank of Ireland; whether it. was intended to pay them off, or to reduce the rate,of interest on that sum P Vu '4l The Cu AncELLOR of the Excilistuita mid, that he had comtnnuicated to the Bonk of Ireland an offer of the same terms which be intended to pro. pose to the holders of five per cent, stock, to which he had not received any answer; he therefore in. fi-rred that those terms would be acceded to: bat should the Bauk decline that arrangement. then a provision would be made to pay them off in the saute manner as other dissent tug parties. He then inuved that there be laid before the House copies of two Treasury minutes, on the subject of redac tion in the civil offices of Governing:B4.SW the returns made to the same.—Ordered. The CitAIICKILOA of the Eicalt6ollll -meet moved, that there be land before the Howe an estimate of the even that may be reqnieed is 16114 to pay off those proprietors of the navy five per cents. who dissented flven the term. offOred by Par liament. The Right Hoc. Gentleness' (as for as we elftlitt Olddrralopti him, leer be 'poke in ii tone 'brioging Meet. - • to know, ; old usage grounds this me hod been made en etcephoo. Some cams of delinquency 'having been allTged as occurring io the Victualling Board, an inquiry had been directed into the circumstaaces, which Was conducted by his gallant Friend ISir G.. Cock. born) end the Roo. Member for Edinborghabire (Sir G.Clerk). It struck him. end he believed mast of the officers of the navy, with some surprise, and it could not but be disagreeable to the feelings of Mr. J. C. Serie, that after having filled the Chair at the Victualling Board for years and a half—having been during the course of -the war so much appruved of at the Treasury as to have been highly rewarded, and to have premed 'for his lady a pension of 300 f. a year, which it was hardly pos sible for any merits, however great, in his place at the Board to have deserved—that he should have been suddenly struck from his seat, as it were, by a flash of imperial displeasirre.—(Much laugh ter.)—For his own part, he was sore that the gallant Officer was not capable of any thing that could, in the slightest degree, reflect upon his chat- ratter, nor did he mean to question the royal prerogative with respect to promotions, but ibis was a case so extraordinary in the apparent circum• *tutees as to stand in need of some explanation, and he hoped to hear that he was wholly acquitted of any delinquency. The Hon. Member then pro ceeded to animadvert upon the appointment of . a Colonel of the guards (Colonel Stapylton) to succeed Mr. Serie in the chair of the Victualling Office, it having been before decided that the situa tion was one to be properly filled only by a naval officer, Mr. Marsh, the former Chairman, having its consequence of that decision been removed from the chair, to mike way for the appointment of Captain Serie, and there being a naval officer a junior Commissioner at the Navy Board, from which the Colonel had been removed, who was above him on that Boyd. Sir G. CocEnuan said, that in justice to the Rem-Admiral whose promotion had formed the subject of the gallant Officer's humorous speech, 'he fete- bowed to state that his removal had nut been occasioned by any thing in the smallest degree derogatory to his character, but only by the neces sity of a cheap in the system of management in the office for the purpose of a more efficient check ow the clerk. ; and when that was determined on, it was thought due to him, in justice, to place him in the nine situation in the service as he would have been in if he had taken his flag in hi. regular turn, instead of choosing to retain that situation, front which he bad been in a manner arbitrarily removed, not for any misconduct or demerit, but for public cooveoience. .Mr. ELLIcE bore testimony to the high charac ter of Captain Serie, and spoke in the strongest terms of the `satisfaction to the public with which he had filled the chair of the Victualling-Office during the long war, which was also signified to Captain Serie, on his removal, in a letter from Lord Melville, which he (Mr. Ellice) had seen. Si, 1. Corm said, the conduct or the Gentle 'nets in question at the Board had given the highest satisfaction to the Admiralty and the merchants. Mr. Caottalt said, the appointment of Colonel Stapyltoo to the Chair of the Victualling Baud 111111 set takes place in consequence of soy oppli• cation in his behalf, nor was the Gentleman himself previously aware of the intention; but, in consider ing, the various mums whose services rendered them applicable to the situation, he appeared to be the one most fitted. In addition to which, it being theu.to contemplation to reduce two of the Commis- - Wait /4at:y Book], it was (leased advise economy to enpoiet one of them . iustrad of lilting it by • new whereby • envie& of 1,4001. a year . to nablie maid he lied weer entertoined any insocandeet ea the part of Contain a fact,-6-11.41 itsegieed that the -Ad. A tattWitott y htoi, and gazet let p way of a the broken head. NAVY ISTIIIATES. then west Wood Committer of So pply, moved a grant of 64.4191. 111 c 6d. expenses of the Navy Office. ' the charge for this office is 1794 1796, the third or fourth year of 40,0001. ; and he wished to know there. seventh year of peace, it could not the.amount of this estimate. The from lavt year was 3,0001.; it would 'snow 'Witter say further reduction said the reduction this year amount. The establishment was placed on possible. This Beard was divided Item and there were but two Com ). which was certainly the smallest id form a Committee. said, if the Hon. Member would whole estimates he would find Alt r i inwioners had been reduced iu the last et the Board. sod three, at the Ports. Commissioners of Naval Inquiry had recont - division of the Board into three Com then the atinesation of the Trans the Navy Board rendered a fourth necessary, and, less than two Commis. well form a Committee. The ...said the superannustions allow- Inesereed the amount of the reductions. Hoo. Member would not object to a issocitewas to persons who, of public service, were nnexpeet. without any fault on their part.— in the present instance had not been Ile of the existing Act of Portia. that of the Act in contemplation, `e economical principle of the gr am& of the establishments in of the Admiralty, the Navy ,•ouri the Victualling Offices, was, ibe whole, 317 clerks; now it was Vachon of 54. The expense of e shmetits it was not easy to cal. ..poseislou (hear, hear!). on account period, of each clerk's service ; each clerk `to hive served ten years, believed to be a fair average, the ex ' year would be 108,000/., for the being it saving of 94,000/. He . the whole of that sum did not come public pockets as a saving, some snow men being made for the support of the clerks who Mid been reduced ; but the dinrinutiou in that ac &runt would not ex ceed2o,ooo/. That would be gra. dually reduced by casualties, sod by the filling up of tiny vacancies that might occur in the establishments ; from the list ofcler ks *hotted been reduced last year. The.reductions had been carried as far as, on the moat +i id inquiry, it appeared posed* to extend them. The Admiralty-office had been reduced so low, 'that the illness of two of the clerks had been pro ductive of great inconvenience to the progress of The business. It was therefore not likely that any farther redactions could be effected. Sir T. B. MARTIN said. the Committee of 1784 recommended the distribution ,of the business of *Navy Board into Committees of Correspondence, .Stores, and 4tccouots, which new arrangement was carried into effect by Lord Spencer in 1796, so that the consequent increase of the establish. anent would appear in 1797. Since then the annexation of the business of the Transport Board to the Navy Office rendered another Committee necessary. The former regulation required three Commissioners to every Committee, but now they had only two, and it was not possible to do the busi ness with less. The actual reduction on the whole estimates of this year, as compared with last, amounted to 989,0001. on a total of 9,311,1991. He hoped the Gentlemen opposite would cony that fact in their minds through the discussions out these estimates, instead of quibbling at small items. Mr. BERNAL disclaimed all imputation on the part of himself and his lion. Friends of quibbling, or intending to harass auy of the departments of Government ; they only required satisfactory explenstions on points that were presented to them as requiriug elucidation, and he thought that but for their discussions many things now known to the Boards would never have come to their knowledge. Sir J. S. YORK thought the present estimate was cut down as low as it possibly could, consist ently with with the benefit of the public service. Sir 1 COFFIN said. all the reductions had been contemplated by the Admiralty for months before any suggestion from that side of the House, mid they carte carried as list or it with poS•ibte to carry them. The service could not 'be cut down all at once. Mr. HUME said, according to his tr.easu►! of the reductions. the. country would not be immediately benefited to the amount that had been stated. But by Ins mode of making the comparison, the ex pense of the four establishments mentioned by the Honourable Secretary, in 1792 was 58,7191. ; in the last year it was 185,0001. The reduction. which the Honourable Secretary had stated amounted to 33,0001., which left the e.tablisliment for the pre sent year at 153,0001. Of the reductions which the Honourslsle Comptroller had mentioned, amounting to 989,0001.. but a very smell pro portion applied to the establishments; and it was of those chiefly that he complained. Taking the whole estimate for these establishments, together, in cluding the half-pay, andsuperannuation allowances included, they amounted for 1821 to 2,484,0001.. and for 1822 to 2.453.0001., which ga►ess the amount of the redoctious 31,000/. on what to called the living establishments. He now came to the dead establish ment, namely, the building. The gentlemen oppo site had taken great creditless the reductions they had made in the article of ship-budding. end improving theysrds, but he was not disposed to give them err much credit for those reductions, and he wished the House not to be disposed to value them too highly. lie should be extremely happy to find that the Hon. therefore some little lime shionlil' in fairness be al. •Of 'lrate sitreeetly losi) slid, that he bikini 'alba of tile Nary lowed tlii-.0 to dispose of sucb stocks ; bat, coo- to lay an estimate of the nee that Oat We era the of I 0 peeled a. he was with the trade, if the brewers neemsery to payoff the digerati's& to the 'their persisted it their refu s al to a dopt the prepay course H ow es the attimme wield mate ' tl L. 4 Wage appoin where of loweri.i ß th•ir peter when the reduction of the ' exact situ that might be required, but would es- was effected to the ' dety en malt should become mailoble to them, he eedd that elm by about 1 00 . 6 .01. in order to meet Sir J. Yhitle sal ohoeld be ready to seised this propose' of the duty' -euuttoggioeise. The Right Host. Centimes (if we suspicion of norm tit by the Right Honourable Gentleinan.- - • godersesod his rightly) proceeded to own Opt Ills _Sale; bet, in fact, . lie.t4 ... - • • 7. 1 3. baxit ar6 eil if thalidditional tits 4 1111 ;00 6 .40 141" 1. . pp v Amato Ise Ilia enteisil o would be mirth,' bed been ti • •' had afterwards gam 016. aficliniese ihe price were teemed; but he Mr. LoestWW'ggli brought ep aa mama albs , &Meter foe the broh ta itcmdty "humid Ides " " - - • anima aviosid /it by ibithiti F i f ai. onto jfi ( - • flAi i ; :C, tAlc..qp el, twocilblifipb lifibb i beoesige ehogeer.—Ordeted to be referred toile Ceinmittee• The House then s t iin ; : o,grosta;). , , _ _. ~ us ! I i.. - -1.4. • of sup p ly. . mad 1_ g ; PriVlolJ4M . it, Beltibethe &tot if o Bill' 11ffiPIIRANNVATION. Sir J. Osaoan s ... . 'O l / 4 mg ...teg,•;),ieins i 6yiwg ow the tax. of whiett he - The Ord.. DIY hr the Committee of INF. *Permit* Hotta ingea d r e -.t tkii) Vs ilPt oilaut ollkor smith! be quite at pl y he I. rti , ittoddodece a clean /Of the purpose which, was 14,0001.; in 11 ~t4tria ltO b utteil ; bet for his own port he could chair he - said, Ori befo iice re o at ti :te S ta Pe er:t lie w r hi l e eft h had the ~,,,, it um 40.0001. . it 31. ot :g . ilertake ,to be the framer of such a been made on • former night by his Hon. Friend f„r e w hy s : i n the se , be reduced below tl ler,,Pc'r,P) be the Wier wader its operation.— the Member for Aberdeen, relative to Mr. Samp- " itizglarti . . see, lOW ferment held the office of Comptroller of re d uct i on i n i t hots Whew sod, tie bad set from th e cote- the Cosines at Dover. The Hon. Member had . 4 ,, „ . . . Sillw(4 tiglittipated any relief to the nubile , • stated thiethat iedividual had been superannuated ill_ f i ; s grfitt Sircreit.e in the consumption of barley, ea a 'pension after fifteen years service. Now ha be desirable to kno , might be expected. SirJ.Ositorte mai • .ht'uLtlg 'ygeril of the tax on salt • audit, tees I*A:tenant) was requested to say, in correction of ed to 10,600/. TI olje,,t that sweet's' introduction o f this that statement, that although the service of the gen- so i„ a wale as in Ntle e i thii m e r, h r e l el hw car t rt he to t i bia eotocl l ur d iisu be . that they oeatl , C ""*" ..,74 ' tr e'ben at * Dover " l y itit at it t ed hat t t o h:= n p y e e r tl ic r i s d aolf into m . four C tw omnii h iti '!U ;tit as, Agit tat' has off • and if•Governeneat his public etrviees should have been augmented in number e m that could e.c ~ , , . , '4 Acep r eeo p:tcovalie the one for the other, he that statement bri ft eeir years more, winch he passed Mr. Caoeia sal : ..1 1 , quid ;,,,gladly stapport Ahem in the ' iesarious sitwatiews of Plymouth and elsewhere pre- look through the re viols to hie appointment to that comptro l lership, five Consinissioners •` e ~' Els, DascoVjg, thought that time bad better sod that he left the weeks at 63 years of • age, sod I year; two at the I ` - for the 'graideraties of the pemiesities hi as harm Mote of h ea l th. . i ‘ • • •The Commissioner •,, , t . , • 'gist lion.• 'oatmeal, sod suggested the Mr. Hutto raid he had no recollection of the mesded the divan° vo l t y ie fo b:e t i ;i t at of the , third reading of the Bill wail . eaf the Je t reo he n to t whom t w th h L h H t i t t e n iu G d e m nt a l d ent e i l i t : in i t t o , s; sdinee tht h cl to , 7 , 1 1 k. illu be r under the gallery saW, he could 'not reed referred , fres vile • printed Taurus to the order of the vocur iii the suggestioe of the Hen. Member for Hamm -40,-.1146 it lippitertd,tbot the individual Committee .t nimbi airmen could not r,sverpool s for any delay in the posing of this Bill eboio-aboAsi *motioned :wit supessimeated from H on G ee d,,,, Writild now produce a very orifeeourable impression ibovoiootif weggptrelkr after ilftien'yeate service, • • the public mind. A. lion. Member opposite ,• without say mention of any other service. He was sure the H • , nggested ;list the pulic•it •geaeral wooliiiime , - NAVAL PROMOTION. wee . had lessened the ellowance of - begsr pleesed with.the retested' the saltage, ' Sir J. 'S. Tease Said he now rose to cell the a f ter some t i me o f • . i s , 44.5014,1ent that if a redaction of asp • gee • emeriti's' of the Home to a subject that was I godly removed wit) • . woe tame desirable as • meow* of purely steal, which bad excited great interest Th e e ih mences i n i Ibiglienotber, the•redestiou• of the by museig the officers of the navy, and deeply mode on the scale ' it . AP , 2 t 1 , 401141 . . be fused to Illoory with it lib ' • Iffirffifeined the professiou. He .meant the ease •scent, b ut 00 t h e 4. , , igloo's: of deblietuoggebatimil -. :to! wbich he had !before alluded to of Captain which proved the ' • * Irtaitlit soggetillid Re ii• Abu. Misitit .41.41.;Setie,se« ar'Rear-Adunrolef the White, Who rangement. The ' - ,jg vas not the egieges sologios ilaidissatike lia•beea.preesoleil‘to the rank of Rear-Admiral, the f our o ffi ce , ( *question of thirmit,tax et thegesiesellawwhill ' . ' its order mto his seniority. bawled fay. the Navy, a .. .it f' Crig'wt#FT:oPeduit hissiressee bOOO/bib three years ago, all Chairmaa df the h ut year , f or t h e '., *toff' tfr edvocust dm sokregoisima of.-amo , b l : ' r i n d al6ni Based. lie wished teask, whether dm 1169, being a re d, • aitot ite , lif iii , i, iiv e a dh ! , 1., - .tot ii the.ket". that-when Adm iraltywhandolecteertut madeind c io h a o ba ice n w d r on k t iee otrirs these te for th est;b w l c i if ift,,qhg;r3Alp t • ,to, and the 'rill situation orhis flag. he teas to be i d I sm diff erent 1 oitienal 1p ge regd. i time $410.010170. Mlle as giving s op hie primsotioo ? There tw os ' ' • supposing ere . i , • pep. .. . „ ~,. e l 2 ipq - painful to the feelings of professional pies, in Mk+ he believe 1 i th hingig 4 frolle gotbora oamoonced the epee- the manner in which this procnotiqo had taken place. IMWses fur NA yi lOW.I or I ir: Oshiluims %weal private Bills.• ke l•r°He disclaimed all personal motives in'brioging . for? p resent 74,0051., ,goßtatt.rug.44,sirrrrioss. ward the sohjeet. his only wish being to 'ker odguitted that the - Mr. ,Paten . posieuteet : .a &titles from "certoin whether the old u sage wa s aboodooed, et 1.0,M$ ista the public r = • - Gentleman (Mr. Cro)ter) w.ski pereloA4W in the plan he had mentioned, of filling the miens wen esee as they occurred front the soperanairatino li.t. They should however And hereofier•whether it were carried into executione . and if they wore. Me atrobld be the first to give him credit for it. But there was another part of the Hon. Nlensbere .speech its •whlith he did not cantor—heineant the Ow plan of promotion. He was perfectly aware that locative. niences might occasiooally arise from periwig being placed et the heads of different departments who were incompetent to discharge the duties'; but .he greatly feared, if they departed from'•the I Present plan of rising by seniority, that it was net merit that would always gaits promotioe, but thin parliamentary influence would sometinie. interfere. , Did the service of the marine., the portents. or the • artillery, suffer any injury by rising according to seniority, and the officers would hear a comparison with those of any other service ? He therefore thought that, on the whole, the change would do lime harm than good, for he should infinitely pre ' far some partial inconvenience in the present system in the introduction of wily undue influence. He lad she to complain of the extraordinary number dr iseineng,ers that were employed in these offices. Mr T. B. MARTIN said there was constant eat pleyineot for the messengers, and there was great difficulty in going on with the number they had without diminishing ally. Sir IsaAc COFFIN livid it would surprise the House to see the curt lead of books these messes. gerslgrosned under, and he should oppose any re• duction iii their number. Sir Wu. vie CRRIPIONT wished to bear his teiti mony to the meritorious exertions of the Comp troller of the Navy, not even inferior to the exer tions of his iudeletigable friend near him (Mr. Hume). Mr. CROKE& said the House should bear in mind, that although in 1799 the salaries were small in the various olfices, yet the fees were enormous, and at the present the money voted for their sup port was more equally divided. The Hon. Mem ber for Aberdeen (Mr. Home) had stated that a reduction of only 30,0001. had been made. That was perfectly true, as far as regarded the last year; but the House must remember that they had been reducing that department since 179 i. He would just read a few detaits to the House, which would enable them to form some idea of the gradual re. duction. The number of clerks in the Admiralty !MI, in 1813,55; 1814, 59 ; 1816,99; 1817, 49; OM the same; 1819, 48 ; 189.0, 27; 1821, 211; 11194,24; at which they remained at present. In the navy offices there were, in 1817, 550 clerks ; the number at present was 262: so tbat the House must see, by that statement, that there had been a gra dual reduction. The Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Hume) seemed to doubt that the plan of superan nuation which he (Mr. Croker) had mentioned would be carried into effect. He would, however, mention an instance in which it had been acted upon : It happened that a recency had occurred in an office under his own patronage, and there did not happen to be one of that class of clerks on the superaunuatiou liet—and here he should say that he would have been warranted in making a fresh appointment—instead of this he applied to his Hon. Friend (the Comptroller of the Navy) to know whether he had out some meritorious clerk in his establishment that would fill the situation, and accordingly he did give that appointment to a per son his Hon. Friend had recommended, and he had no doubt that all vacancies would be filled up in the same matinee, provided the peon:rue were fit ted for it ; but he must say, that he never would be induced, from the idru of ally false popularity, to promote to any office a person that was not qua lified.—(Herr, hear.) Mr. Hunt said, that all he expressed was • hope that the plan would be carried into execution. He was tensible the Hon. Secretary (Mr. Croker) had done much good, and he wished his colleagues would imitate his example. He wished the Hon. Gentleman would tell him where he could get the returns of the reductions lie had read. That Hon. Gentleman had stated that a gradual reduction had been made since 1813 in the number of clerks, but he (t.lr. Home) would tell the Horse the sums voted. In 1813 the expense of the Admiralty sod Navy Offices amounted to 189,295/. and they went on seducing, yet at the present time they had ef fected the great reduction of 4,175/. In 1797 all fees were abolished, and the salaries of these offices ansoonted to 38,070/. He hoped. however, that in th e course of next year a considerable reduction would be made. The question was thee put and agreed to. Mr. bananas' then put the question, that the sum of 34,8171. he voted to defray the expenses of the Victualling Office. Upon which Mr. Hume objected to the number of Commit-, sinners kept up ler that office. He wished to know what was the oeceakty of keeping up seven Coin tnissioners. If the Admiralty could be conducted with less than six, he thought the Victualling - Office could goon very well with less than seven ; and he should submit s proposition for reducing two of the Commissioners. There were other expenses iu these offices winch might be cousiderably reduced. There was a sum of 7,0001. fur the postage of letters and stomps, 1,600/. fur stationery, and 5001. for law charger. tie hoped the Committee would support him in calling for a reduction,o( two of these Com missioners. He should therefore propose that the sum be reduced to 33,217 E to Witty the expenses of the Victualling Office. Sir JOSEPH Yoaca said, that he could see no necessity fur maintaining a second medical com missioner. Sir G. COCKBURN said he had closely attended to the duties of the Victualling-Office, and he thought it impossible its affairs could be conducted without the present number of Commmiouris ; there was is constant necessity to exstnine the dif ferent vouchers that were submitted to their revi sion. He had on a former occasion stated, that it was in contemplation to reduce one of the Com missioners, but since then a reduction had been mode of one of the Inspectors of Hospitals, which in effect was a reduction to the same amount; and he was quite confident if the lion. Gentleman (Mr. Hunts) were ocquaiuted with the details of the ac counts of that mice, he would see the necessity of retaining seven Commissioners. Mr. BEN dere could nut see why the Rime num ber of Commissioners should be kept up in a time of profound peace as during war. That argument Ws thought Cenci asiVr, fol Ut fer thetas were too mass in lime of price, ut toe fee io time of wee. Sir G. Chit said, the latter part of th e H em. Gentlern'in's argsselefet sum horrect. There , erre too few Conlinissioneis during the war; to come. queues of thri, their &rivulet,. were badly attended to, froth which a .great accrued es wriest or their too speedy...revision: Sir J. Voss% thought that some living sh ou ld •be math to the public. for it could not be serenely to keep bp such a number of Commissioners fur the purpose of settling these accounts. Mr. BERNAL expressed his surprise that gentle: men opposite could not perceive the farce of the objectiou. Were they to be told that in • time of perfect peace it was necessary to keep up the sa m e numbs., of Commissioners as during the war. wlreu there was such au accumulation of provisions po se _ lug in from all parts of the would, sod that tins we should have the sense numerical constitution of the Board. Forty-one clerks were dammed last year, and yet the same number of Commissioners was continued. Sir GIORSIS Cougar:as said, the business of the Victualling-office had been conducted too much by the subordinate clerks ; there were four or five to check what was doom by the first, sod there were so many about it that one de t pe e n y d c ed om o i : the other, and all neglected it ; and he could as sure the House that the worst economy h practise would be to reduce the number of the Commissioner,. Mr. Hums was surprised at the deseriptioo the Hop. and Gallant Gent legato lud given of the Victeallsag Board. He was astonished that the business could be conducted in such a manner when there were woes Commissioners, and he thought it an additiousl rea son why the services of some of thefts should be Mu permed with, as the duty wits neglected by them ell. It was an old saying and a true one, " What's mair's business is no man's ;" and he ass persuaded that if the number of the Commissamers were reduced, the basinful would be better done. The best security the House coul.l have for their lineation would be to reduce their number. Forty. one hard-working men had !seen dismiued, sod they retained nut's Commissioners, who had oothiug to do. Sir GIORGI CLARK said, the House should not form au idea that the Comenisioners had tiegletteil their deity. but that they had had such setamu laird duties to perform, during the war, that they could not attend to them. Sir ISAAC Corns said the Commissioners were all usefully employed, and he could oot agree to an' reduction in their number. House theu divided upon Mr. HMIS'S APS . , lAass • lesjority for the Mialsten as On our return to the gallery Mr. OsoootX red the next Resolution, that the sum of 45,465/. he voted to defray the expenses of Deptford Yard. M►. BearsAL stated to the Home that there were considerable variances in the actual expend,- tore and the accounts submitted to the Home, arising from thedtfference between the estimates snd the papers of the Navy Office. He did net mean to impute any blame to the Navy Office. or to charge them with a disposition to mislead, but he could not account for it is any way except on account of the coofused debtor mad creditor accounts kept in that as well as in many other public offices. 111 the course of three years these differences amounted to mere than a mitlion between the returns and the actual expenditure. It was very strange that the Government should have reduced the experts, of the establishment by dismissing ha►d-working aim. the and yet keep •p tl. same extravagant system iu the higher departments of the various dovitierds. He thought that .in these offices • great reduction might be made. The clerks of the survey, for in stance, might be reduced, for when they had so law artificer, he saw no necessity for so many our veyera. The quartersnen were the proper persons to see that the shipwrights did their duty. He had understood that the shipwrights complained very much of the reduction that had been made in their wages. Their yeses were now reduced to If. Is. 64. per week. it would be very tratitfaciary if there were some settled rate of wages fixed. There was another subject in which the shipwrights were materially concerned, he meant the sapersonus lions. The shipwrights, he understood, were su perannuated at only one-third of their salaries. while the civil officers received on their retirement three-fourths of their entire salaries. That he thought was a greet hardship. He wished to ask a question of the gentlemen oppo.ite, whether anti arrangement had been made with respect t.. the circular sterns, or whether it was iuteuded. according as a ship came into harbour, to adapt. to it one of the circular sterns according to the new principle. He understood that the expense of building • circular stern was four times as great as the square sterns, and it was worth cone derieg whether they possessed advautsges equal to the expense. There was one question more upon which tie wished to isave.some information. Lie had understood that there had been a clerk in dock-yard, who now had a 'slaty in the N..s - office, he was ahsent fur ten years. and yet he 'tilt. received s salary front the Chatham docks; if that statement were true, it was another additioual ar gument in favour of further reduetion. Sir G. COCKBURN quite agreed with the Hon. Gentleman that,there were too many supervisors, sip t that was the object of his lest visitation, and li' law enough to convince him of the necessity if some reduction ; but these things could not he dote in • moment, it required time ; however, they hat come to a resolution that the Commissioners should take a more active part in the superintendence of the various duties of the office. With respect to the circular sterna, lie could not say that any fixed determination had been made ; but in coosequeuc , of the great 'advantages derived from them, he was induced to give them a preference. Some differ ence of opinion had prevailed in the Adiniraltt. and they were determined upon having some prat'', which they accordingly did, and be could assure the Hun. Gentleman that at the present moment a hue of-hattle ship was fitting up with the new stern, in order to ascertain the advantege of it. This world ahem the House that the Government was not in. Itteative to these subjects. Mt T. B. MARTIK said the statement of the Hoe. U