The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-20 00:00:00

this land transport corps, which will undertake the land
transport service of the army. It is placed under the
charge of Colonel Id 'Murdoch, who had proceeded from
this country to the Crimea to set it is immediate opera-
tion. I find that, including the staff, the number of per-
sons that will be organised—native drivers amongst them,
who will form part of the corps—will amount to about
8,000, and this vote is intended to cover the pay of that
number of men, and, I believe, also to provide for the
transport of animals that shall be purchased by our agents.
Ido not mean to say that it will be sufficient to pay for
the animals themselves, but it will provide for their con-
veyance from the countries where they shall be purchased
to the seat of war, where they will be available for the pur-
poses of the army. lam unable to state the number of
animals that will be collected together, because that will
be regulated by the demands of the service. The honour-
able member for Aylesbury has said that we have made no
provision for the maintenance of the foreign corps ; but
in that respect he was in error, for I have now arrived at
the estimate which provides for that purpose 400,040/.,
and which will be found at page 10. 1 have now gone
through all the material items of the second vote in these
estimates, and I have now to state that the total charge
for she land forces to be voted by this house amounts to
the sum of 7,350,0001., which is in excess of the estimate
of last year—including in that expression as well the
original as two supplementary estimates-2,630,0001.
There is no difficulty in accounting for that excess.
It is owing to the increased number of men receiving
daily pay—the cost of the foreign corps—the cost of the
land transport corps—the additional cost of hospital service
and of the recruiting service, and the mounting of the men.
Suppose I divide th charge for the land forces amongst
the men to be maintained, including the foreign corps, I
find the cost per man, including officers as well as privates,
will be for 1853-51. 351. Bs. ; for 1854.55, 34/.145. ; and for
the present year, 37/.195. The increase for the vote in the
last year for the staff amounts to 163,600/. There is no
alteration, I think, in the Cape of Good Hope staff ; and
with regard to that part of the foreign staff that is em-
ployed in the other colonies, I find there is a diminution of
about 5,5001. That diminution is owing to the reduction
of the military force in the province of Canada. In conse-
quence of that reduction, we have substituted a major-
general
on the staff for a lieutenant-general, and to that sub-
stitution this reduction is to be attributed. There is ono
remark which I wish to make in reference to the pay of the
military secretary of the governor of the Cape of Good Hope.
The Government have determined that for the future,
where there is a civil governor in a colony, he shall not be
allowed any staff by the Imperial Government. The con-
sequence is, that in the case of the Governor of Canada we
have taken away the provision that was made for the aide-
de-camp for the civil governor. But we have made an ex-
ception to the rule in the case of the Governor of the Cape
of Good Hope. We allow him a military secretary, paid
by this country, and the reason is partly in consequence of
the much larger force maintained in the Cape of Good
Hope than in the other colonies, and partly also in conse-
quence of the major-general commanding the army at the
Cape being at a very great distance from the seat of the
civil government, the major-general being at the eastern ex-
tremity and the civil governor at the western extremity.
The wholeof the increase in the estimates isto be attributed,
to the staff employed in the army abroad. It is not neces-
-sary to go into details, but I may say that more than one-half
of the increase is required to pay for the number of surgeons
and assistant-surgeons which it is necessary to employ in
the hospitals at Scutari and with the army. The next vote
to which I come is vote No. 4, for the public departments
connected with the army. In this vote there is also a con-
siderable increase—there is an increase of 48,500/. I may
state that I shall reduce the vote when I come to take it by
the salary of the Secretary-at-War, for, that office having
ceased to exist as a separate office, it will not be necessary
to vote the salary. The increase in No. 4 arises partly from
our having included in it the charge for the establishment
of the Secretary of State for War, which amounts to a sum
of 18,0001. The charge for that department last year was,
I think, included in the civil estimates ; at all events, it
was not included in the army estimates. There is also a
considerable increase in the cost of the office which has
hitherto been known as that of the Secretary at War. It
has been found necessary to have an additional number of
clerks employed in that office. The clerks engaged are
temporary clerks, and of course will cease to be employed
the moment the pressure of business in that service shall
be reduced. There is also an increase on account of postage,
which is merely :a matter of account, costing nothing to
the public ; and these items added together account for
the whole of the increase in this vote. I shall pass over
the sth vote—the vote for the Royal Military College—be-
cause that is a self-supporting institution. That is to say,
the payments made by the young men who are educated in
that college quite cover the cost of the establishment. The
payments, however, aro made into the Exchequer, and a
certain sum is voted in the estimates for the support of the
establishment. An hon. gentleman has given notice of a
motion on the subject of the payments made by different
classes of students, which will come on in due course, and
I then propose to referfurther to the matter. There is an in-
crease in the vote for the military asylum, which is vote No.
6, of 2,6111. I am informed that last year an Act of Parlia-
ment was passed authorising the appropriation of 10,0001.
for the purpose of enlarging the accommodation in the Mili-
tary Asylum, and the ebj ect of the increased vote in the pre-
sent year is to provide for the additional orphans who are to
be admitted intotho asylum in consequence of the additional
accommodation thus provided. The present number of
orphans, as well in the Royal Military Asylum as in the
Hibernian School, is 350, and we now provide for the
maintenance of 120 additional orphans. Passing over vote
No. 7, in which no alteration is made, I come to vote No.
8, which is the charge for the eniibodied militia of the
United Kingdom. There are 150 regiments of militia to
be provided for, and the charge amounts to 3,813,3831.
This is the first time that the charge for the militia has
been included in the army estimates of late years. The
coarse hitherto has been to take the militia estimates sepa-
rately from the army estimates. A committee was ap-
pointed, to whom the secretary submitted the militia esti-
mates, and if the committee approved of them, they were
introduced to the house separately, and passed in that form.
Last year a sum was taken on account for the several regi-
ments of militia embodied. This year, however, nearly
the whole of the militia of the country is placed on a per-
manent footing, and the charge, therefore, for this service
is included in the army estimates. Of the regiments em-
bodied the service of three has been accepted fur the Medi-
terranean, and it is intended to seed a further number to
the same part of the world. With this vote is concluded
the effective branch of this estimate, and upon the effective
branch it is that the whole augmentation takes place. On
coming to the other division of this estimate—the non-
effective branch, it would be found that, ou the whole, as
compared with last year, there is a reduction of 33,0001.
The first vote on the non-effective branch is the charge for
rewardiug officers and men who have rendered distinguished
service to the country. The whole vote amounts to 2z,0001.,
of which 18,0001. is appropriated to the rewarding cf offi-
cers, and 4,0001. to the rewarding of sergeants. There is
au increase in that part of the estimate that is employed
in the rewarding of sergeants of 1,5001. The next two
votes are 10 and 11, both of which aro important, and
both of which show a considerable increase. The first
of those votes is applied to the unattached pay of
general officers, and there is an increase in the vote of
18,0001. I will state the manner in which the increase
arose. It is owing to the recommendation of the com-
mission which was appointed last year upon the subject of
the retirement and promotion of officers in the army. The
number of general officers receiving payment at the rate of
1/. ss. per day was fixed some time ego at 120. Such super-
numerary general officers, provided they had served a cer-
tain number of years as field officers, were allowed to re-
ceive not 1/. ss. a-day, but an annual allowance of 4001. In
consequence of their being no brevet for some time past,
the number of general officers in the estimates of last year
had sunk below 120, and the number had become fixed at
105, so that there was no general officer receiving the pay
of 400/. a-year. The commission appointed last year made
au entire change in the manner of promoting officers to be
general officers with the view of bringingyoungor men into
the ranks, where they could be employed in the command
of brigades or divisions. It is unnecessary to enter into the
details at length, except so far as they bear upon the esti-
mate in this vote. It was stated that the effect of the re-
commendation, if adopted, would be to bear hardly upon
the colonels created by the brevet of 1841 and 1810, and in
erder to prevent any complaints it was advised that one
more brevet should be issued to include all the colonels of
1811 and 1846. The commission recommended that the
number of general officers receivingil/. ss. a-day should be
reduced to the number of 100 ; but the effect of the brevet
of last year, by bringing forward to the rank of major-
general the colonels of 1841 and 1846, has been to raise
the whole number of major-generals, excepting always
those who are employed and are colonels of regiments, to
148, and the excess over 100 is to be provided for ; but it
is intended in future to promote only one colonel to the
rank of major-general for every three vacancies, until the
whole number, which is now 148 shall be reduced to 100.
coe canoo :ow;
tsrfhso
officers,
6a, t
onh
ode
oi4n. crease in this vote.
n
The payment of the 400/. a-year to the general officers
exceedingetolhamOneOdull
will
mnoi ltd hafietaxri
The increase ou vote No. 11 is caused by the re-
tirement on full pay of a certain number of colonels,
that
commission;in a ci se
orf owingdu ra
whereas
formerly eraal
withsaos
re-
captains,(t theaeirn
Irsye,
the recommendation of the committee it was agreed that
it should be raised to the sum of 60,0001., the object being
to make provision for certain captains and other officers
who did not possess the activity which the exigencies of
the present time required. A sum of 5,000/. would be
sufficient for the purpose in the course of this year ; and
next year and subsequent years more votes would be taken
for the same purpose, so as eventually to bring up the
whole vote for retired full pay for officers of the rank of
colonel and captain and other officers to the standard of
60,000/. The charge for half-pay has undergone a reduc-
tion in the course of last year. The diminution in the num-
ber of officers receiving it was not less than 313, and the
diminution amounted to 7,7211. A great part of this re-
duction was owing to deaths in the coarse of the year, but
a portion of it was also owing to the course pursued by the
Government in calling out all the available captains who
would accept employment in the army on active service,
the opportunity of offering them employment being
afforded to the Government by the, augmentation of the
forces. I may observe that this vote, though substantially
a non-effective vote, has, to a certain extent, in conse-
quence of what passed in the course of last year, main-
tained Is reserve on which the Government are able to call
for officers, and by which the establishment •of the army
may be increased without at the same time increasing the
burdens of the country. I have no remark to make upon
vote 13, which provides for the pay of the disbanded offi-
cers of the foreign corps in the late war, which shows of
course. I wish to say a few words on votes 14 and 15 which
provides pensions for the widows of officers and for their
families. The increase in the vote for the present year is to be
attributed to the probability that there will be an incrowed
number of claims in the course of the year, and it is con-
sidered sidered desirable to relax the forms of the warrant
dies
under
which those pensions are granted. Suppose an
officer
from fatigue or privation while engaged against the enemy
it is considered that his widow and f
n battlz. In the vote
iily have as fair a
claim upon the couutry as if ho had died iincrease in
fur the hospitals there has been,
a n
provisions. The only conse-
quencere-
of the increased pjiice of
maiuing vote which it is necessary to advert to is the
charge for out-pensioners. There is a reduction of the sum
of 27,123/. in that vote in consequence
of out-pensioners
Aying off in the course of the year, while the present war
e
it is not supposed during this next year will exercise any
material influence on the number of out-pensioners.
Having occupied the committee so long, I shall now, with-
out waking any of those reflections which the nature of the
subject might call for, at once proceed, sir, to place in your
hand the first vote for 193,59 e office's, non-commiesioned
officers, and rank and file for the year commencing the let
of April, 1855, and ending the 30th of March, 1856.
Captain BO LDERO observed that navy officers who were
wounded and brought home to this country had an asylum
offered to them at Portsmouth or Plymouth, where they
received every kindness and attention, and were attended
by the medical skill which their cases demanded, and. he
thought it was a great hardship that wounded officers of
the army, sent home from the Crimea, had not a similar
asylum to receive them. He was glad to hear from the
hon. member that the charge made to soldiers on entering
hospital had been reduced from tenpence to twopence, He