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

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 the Hem.
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 should
•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 same
numbs., of Commissioners as during the war. wlreu
there was such au accumulation of provisions pose_
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 detpeenydcedomoi:
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.