The Express.
London, England, 1861-03-27 00:00:00

CCM AT 10S110!! BRIDOL

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27.

appointed last August to
inquire into the system of management of her
Itiorsrei. Dockyards, and the cost of maintaining
the Royal Navy, have presented a Report which
justifies to the fullest extent the complaints which
led to its appointment. After visiting and in-
specting the yards of Deptford, Woolwich, Chat.
ham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, Devesport, and
Pembroke, and examining and ernes-examining
some sixty or seventy of the principal officers re-
sponsible for the conduct of these costly esta-
blishments, they declare that " the control
" and management of the Dockyards are inefti
" cient." The causes of that inefficiency are stated
to be the constitution of the Board of Admiralty,
the defective organization of the subordinate de-
partments, the want of clear and well-defined re-
sponaibility, and lastly, the absence of any means of
effectually checking expenditure, from the want of
accurate accounts.

THE

This last reason would of itself be quite suffi-
cient to explain the extravagance of the coat of our
Navy, and much of its disorganization. Derange-
ment of accounts is a great evil, but it is one
which never stands alone. Wherever it exists we
may always safely predicate the presence of a
cluster of mischiefs. The system of accounts
in use in the Dockyards is elaborate and
unique, but the Commissioners go the ex-
treme length of saying that "it is not
"to be relied on for any practical purpose." As •
notable illustration of the state of things of which
they complain, they refer to the report of an ex-
amination into the detailed accounts at Woolwich
Dockyard. The examiners report that they have
discovered 7,906 errors in the accounts from
April 1 to November 30, 1860, of which 6,566
are in the rating, valuing, and totalling of timber
and store notes in the storekeeper's department,
varying in amount from id. to 4901. In the ac-
countant'. department there was an omission of
4,4801. for engines and boilers for H.M.S.
Ranger, in the monthly return for May. The
Commissioner., in reporting these facts think
it right to state that they attribute these
errors to the complex and elaborate system fol-
lowed, the inconvenient printed forms on which
the accounts were kept, and the fact that the
accounts were seldom used for any practical pur-
pose. We take the liberty of suggesting that
there is yet another cause of errors and mistakes,
one which the Commissioners themselves have
suggested, though not in this connexion. At
an early stage of their Report they make • sugges-
tion calculated as much to startle the public as an
unworthy truism, as it will the majority of employisi
as a dangerous and revolutionary innovation. The
Commissioners recommend " that the Dockyards
"should be looked upon as manufacturing total)-
" liahmenta for the purpose od building and repair,
" ing the ships of her MAJINTY'S Navy." Now,
although it is quite true that ships have been built
and repaired in the Dockyards, the notion that the
yards exist for the sake of the ships is one which
only a tax-payer could for • moment entertain.
The correct view to take of them is to consider
them as great centres of the civil service of the
Crown. A service of that kind demands and deve-
lops many excellent qualities, such as punctuality,
order, and obedience, but it is by its nature ex-
empted in great part from the motives which
stimulate efficiency in private establishments.
Whenever the qualities which would be most
esteemed in • private manufactory come into com-
patties% with the quasi-military virtues of " the
" service," the heads of departments have no
homiletics be to which they prefer.
We will go no further than Woolwich yard for
an illustration of this position. About the begin-
ning of last year a clerk was transferred from
the office of the Chief Engineer at Woolwich to
that of the Storekeeper. He proved his incapacity
in every possible way. He was put upon the
simplest duty ; ho had the benefit of the best
superintendence and assistance. It was all thrown
away : the man was willing and gond-natured,
but naturally stupid, and incapable of under-
standing his business. Several complaints were at
last made of his antimonies, and therefore his
obstructiveness, and it was the duty of the Store-
keeper to transmit them, as he did with much re-
gret, to the Commodore Superintendent, repre-
senting the serious consequences which must ensue
if • person of demonstrated and confessed incapa-
city were permitted to deal with the accounts, and
requesting that an efficient man, who had been
vent to China on special service but who had re-
turned, might be restored to the poet. What is
the order of the Commodore 1 To make •
further trial of the clerk's abilities for
air months. Instead of the obvious remedy of
removing the clerk to some duty which he could
do, this unfortunate blunderer is actually ordered
to be put on the store ledgers--be is to have a six
months' ding at the ledgers to see what his damaging
power really is. The Storekeeper remonstrates
again, complaining that the constant removal of
efficient men to make way for incompetent recruits,
by which his staff has been so seriously crippled,
is in direct contravention to the Admiralty instruc-
tions, which place the selection in his own hands.
He points to the interests of the service, and ap-
peals against such injustice to himself and him su reties j
but the Com:n(l,l.4e simply makes his rule absolute.
The Storekeeper protests, the matter is carried
before the hoard, and then comes the dinouenient.
" My Lords," and the Secretary of the Admiralty,
can see no necessity for any remonstrance ; pet' fie et
ivfiss theofAtleuintfty authority most
be inaintainei!, and fur the good of the service the
Storekeeper twist be crushed. He is ordered to
make an humble apology all round, kiss the Com-