The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-07-06 00:00:00

PLYMOUTH YAK D.

The great difference between the established tate:
of pay, and the authorised earnings of the work-
men by task or job, we believe to have been a
chief cause of the fallacy which has pervaded the
accounts, and of the abuses which have conse-
quently arisen. We therefore recommend, that
adequate rates of pay,be established for the differ-
ent classes of workmen, even if it should be
judged expedient to continue the system of employ-
ing them by the piece. The officers of the yards
will thereby have it in their power to do justice to
such of the workmen as are employed by the day,
of which description there must always be some,
without having recourse to subterfuge.
During the last war, under the orders of the
Navy Board, the officers had no;alternative but to
employ the men by day work, at inadequate rates
of pay, or to double their wages by calling their
employment task or job.
We are of opinion, that the plan of building
ships, or carrying on great repairs, agreeably to the
task scheme, may be continued with advantage to
the public, as the account of the work can be taken
with facility and accuracy ; but, as we have before
observed, the scheme of prices for building the
different classes of ships wants revision, the prices
for the large ships being set too high, and for the
small ships too low. We are also of opinion, that
the best workmen should be selected for building
ships by task work, as the praCtice has been hereto-
fore, and that no restridion should be laid on the
amount of their earnings, except as to the hours
allowed fur working. This will hold foah addi-
ti iota enc turagernent to the most efficient and de-
ser.ing shipwrights.
By the intro, union uf job work, the wages of the
No, kmen were doubled generally during the last
war, and the Navy Board's warrant of the 4th of
April, 803, to pay the workmen according to their
earnings, at prices admitted to be too high, has
again had the effed in Chatham yard of increasing
the pay of the shipwrights from four shillings and
two pence, to six shillings and seven halfpenny for
working in the common hours, from daylight to
dusk, and allowing them an hour and a half for
dinner. We are therefore of opinion, that the
wages of the artificers should be limited, as they
were during the late war, according to the extra
they may be iiireded to work, until adequate rates
of pay be established. . . _

We must not dismiss the subjet without noticing
that the established rates of pay for the same classes
of workmen, are, in many instances, different in
different yards.
The pay of the scavelmen in Portsmouth an!
Plymouth yards is one shilling and sixpence ; and
in the other yards, one shilling and threepence;
and as the scavelmen, during the late war, were in
general employed at the rate of two for one, the pay
of those in Portsmouth and Plymouth yards has
been sixpence a day more than at the other yards ;
whereas we apprehend, if any difference is made iu
the pay of the workmen, that it should be less at
Portsmouth and Plymouth than it should be in the
river yards.

An inconvenience, which we observed at Ply.
mouth, requires notice; several of the workmen
reside on the opposite side of the water to the
dock yard, and have to go in boats to and from
their work; some a mile, and some two or thiee.
Many evils arise from this circumstance ; the labour
of rowing must in some measure exhaust their
strength, and diminish their ability • for exertion
during the working hours, and their attendance is
rendered more uncertain. The men do not pass
through the gates of the yard, and greater facility
is given to the enilrezziement of stores. The obvi-
ous remedy for these mischiefs is, that the men em-
ployed should be required to live in Dock, or in the
neighbourhood, on the same side of the water ; or,
if it should be thought hard to oblige those to re-
move who have established their families on the
other side, the regulation might be confined to those
only who at present reside on the Plymouth side,
and those who shall be taken into the service here-

The accounts, regulations, and instruaions. to
the officers of the y.trd, when introduced in the 17th
century, may have been, and probably were, suita-
ble to the then confined state of the navy. The ne-
cessity of revising the instrations, and digesting the
immense mass ot orders which have since been given
to the officers of the y.irds, was seen by the late
Earl Howe, and by Sir Charles Middleton, when
they presided at the Admiralty and Navy Boards,
and the latter had made some progress in so useful
a work, when he quitted the Navy Board; but since
that time the subjed has not been adverted to. No
steps have been taken towards forwarding the work;
and it seams to have been laid aside. and wholly for-
gbtten.
We Jr.. of opinion, that the instruElions to the
officers of the yards arc not toll and stif . kilt to
apprise them of their duties: We therefore
mend, that no time be lost in reviewing and new
arranging them. as well as in revising and forming
accounts suitable to the present very extended scale
of the naval service, and in establishing a general
system, by which the civ;l department of the navy
may be concluded with order, regularity, and eco-
nomy.
We think it must be in vain.to expert good ma-
nagement in such a department as the Navy Office,
where the business is so complicated and extensive,
unless the principals will apply themselves, and un-
less the members of the Board arc chosen for their
fitness for the situations they arc to fill. The ac-
counts of the navy are final.—They are not audited
or examined.

he necessity, therefore, of intelligence and appli-
cation to business, in the different members who con-
stitute the Naval Boards, must be apparent. This
oboe:yaks is forced from us, by the examination of

one of the Commissioners of tkzel4;ii ..s.
7 "u Mall
years standing, whom we found almost altogether a
stranger to the business of that office.
CHARLES MORICII POLL.
{L. i.
EN RN Law.
, 04
JoHt4 FORD. LL. 3.
litnav NrcIIoLL%. ( t.. s.
NV33. MACKWOITH PRARD. (L. 3
Office of NA,3I Eaqutry, No. :24, Great
Geroge Arert, bt May, 1804.

SHOEIEINO ACCIDENT.—MODdeyeTeDINR., fie
o'clock, a fine boy seven years old, heli,nging
Mr. KENNEDY, of Edgware-road, running ecru,:
the way, unfortunately got entangled be. ween a dray
and the coach of Mrs. SUER! EEL, and the hindmost
wheel of the latter passing over his loins, he 4f,,,;
in a fete minutes, without a groan, amidst the ilis•
tressing screams of his afflieted mother, who e,
mains inconsolable. The ladies iei the coach were
so affected, th.it they fainted away, and,
,when re-
covered, could wi,.11 much difficulty be presailtd cie
to leave the place. They left in the hands cf fiiendy
some handsome presents for thei aliiiaed
MEETINGS OF CREDITURSja
TO•MORROV".-V
William Ashby. Hog Jane, Shoroditeli, currier ,
John Warner, Mutton, Es.ex, sataplu •
Francis Bateman Daabwood, late of Gain's hill, r• :r
11'1116N/dors, worsted•inanufacturcr
• la
Tisk:news Hague, late of Calllloll-10w, Wc.tmiust r.
moneracrivener to
John Edwards, CAie Cock, cetuaty of Flint. manufactoter

. . . . -...
19
of earthen.wam
•
.
Jahn Belcher. 11.1,ntisConduit street, merchant g 1,
William Elliott, late of Newit•gtoss Cauieway, Surer,
haberdasher • !13
. . . .
John Cover and James fiardum, gutherhith.,,, learnt
gon•cari lase-maker . • 11
David Reddme, Ideck•laste, St. George in the East,
upholder • 213
. . .
Thomas Lloed, Rilliter-mume merchant . 1
Willaala Cook, C. 1111101.1 streist:rami, miser • II