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

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
the 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