The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-01 00:00:00

SUPPLY•

The house then went into committee of supply pro forma,
APPROPRIATION OF VOTES.

Upon the bringing up of the report of the committee of
supply,
Sir S. NORTHCOTE rose to call the attention of the
house to the correspondence between the Admiralty and
the Treasury, appended to the estimates. He found from
the correspondence that the control of the Treasury was
never very strong, because in one instance in giving their
assent they said they felt they had no alternative but to
authorise the change proposed by the Admiralty. On the
11th June the Lords of the Admiralty wrote to the Trea-
sury, stating that they had directed that a sum of £5,000
for an iron caisson for Sheerness should be charged to the
aggregate amount of vote 11, postponing the application
of other Notes, so that there should not be an excess,
and this was done only five days after the votes had
passed the house. This led to the suspicion that vote 11

vo
could be easily cut down without detriment to the ser-
vice. Every year there was an excess upon that vote,
and sometimes a considerable one. In 1858.59 the excess
amounted to £116,000, in the next year £105,000, and
inthe
£90,000 a
year.
admitted
that an oversight had been committed. Well, that was un,
ylnear the after
nexta case, under beingle an
letter E,er average
wasf
satisfactory, but it was added in the correspondence that
measures had been taken to prevent such errors in future.
In the next case, that of the Achilles, the spirit of the Act
of parliament with regard to transfers was carried out. The
following case, which related to the Marine Infirmary at
Woolwich, he thought deserving the consideration of the
house. The first estimate for that work was £42,000, and
that sum was inserted in the estimates in 1856, and they
went nn taking sums until it was discovered that the esti-
mate was not sufficient, and in the estimate for the year
before last the cost was given at £65,300. The total cost,
however, had been £73,294. But by the system of transfers
the house had not the opportunity of knowing what had
been done. He did not accuse the Admiralty of conceal-
ment, but the effect was to conceal from the house the real
state of the case. It was true that they would see it in the
detailed accounts of navel expenditure, but those accounts
were presented some 12 or 14 months afterwards, at the
end of the session, and probably not half-a-dozen members
of the house ever saw them. He suggested whether it was
not possible to put an end to this system of transfers alto •
gather. He believed it might be done in this way. He
should like to see something like a Treasury chest fund or
general contingency fund brought into play. The house
should vote exactly what the Government proposed, with
such alterations as the committee might think fit, and what
was voted should be all that the Government should be
entitled to expend, and if it were necessary to expend more
it should be taken from this general contingency fund, and
then, or after the close of the financial year, there should
be a vote taken to supply the deficiency thus created in the
contingency fund. The effect of this would be that the
house would have before it in detail every sum that had
been expended.

Mr. WHITBREAD said he did not presume to offer
any opinion on the suggestion that the honourable
baronet had made. It was a question that involved
grave consideration, and certainly could not be an-
swered by anybody on the spur of the moment. With re-
gard to the first item, for dredging atPortsmouth, it should
be read with the correspondence of the previous year, where
the outlay was shown to be absclutely necessary. The
items for the Portsmouth Dock and the Woolwich Marine
Infirmary illustiated a particular case. The practice of the
Admiralty was to apply sums from one item to other items
under the same vote, so that they did not exceed the total
amount of the vote. But they were bound to take the sanc-
tion of the Treasury when a work would involve an excess
of the vote, or when they:proposed to engage in a new work
for which no vote had been taken. All the cases now before
the house came under the first category, the exception being
the iron caisson at Sheerness, which was a new work.
With regard to the excess of the expenditure for the Wool-
wich Infirmary, it arose from the desire of the Admiralty
to make such improvements in ventilation, and so forth, as
experience had shown to be requisite in order to make a
perfect hospital. He thought that acting under the appro-
priation Act, and with this statement of the case clearly put
before Parliament, as it was in the correspondence, the
check appeared to be all that the house could desire. With
regard to the caisson he might add that when the estimates
for 1861-2 were laid on the table it was not believed that an
opportunity would arise for placing the caisson in the arch ;
but it should not be forgotten that the money for that very
caisson was actually voted in 1856-7; but it was found im-
possible to construct it at the time. In June an earnest re-
presentation was made from the yard that the existing
caisson was in a bad state, and it was thought necessary
that the new caisson should be constructed, especially as by
so doing they were able to admit a new class of ships. It
was one of those emergencies which appeared to him to be
clearly contemplated by the act of Parliament. The sug-
gestion of the hon. baronet must be left for future consi-
deration.

Sir F. T. BARING said this subject was one of great
importance ; it was extremely difficult. He had tried to
find a stronger check than they had now on the Admiralty,
but he found it difficult to do so.

The report of the committee of supply was then agreed to.

INDIA STOCKS TRANSFER BILL.

This bill was considered as amended, and ordered for
third reading.

EXCHEQUER BILLS BILL.

This bill was committed pro forma, for insertion of
amendments.

CONSOLIDATED FUND (5973,747) BILL.

This bill passed through committee.
The house adjourned at 20 minutes to nine o'clock.

OUTBREAK AT THE DARTMOOR PRISON.—The
convicts at Prince Town have for some time past been mu-
tinous and dissatisfied. On Sunday last they broke into
open revolt, and it required the most strenuous exertions of
the warders and civil guardsmen to quell them. A week
or so previously the governor and deputy-governor were
attacked by a couple of ruffians, but were saved from any
injurious consequences by the opportune interference of
some warders. The two convicts who committed the assault
were brought before the Government Inspector, Captain
Gambier, and orders were given that three dozen lashes
should be inflicted forthwith upon each of them. It is ru-
moured that the Governor has applied to the authorities for
a larger supply of troops at Dartmoor. There are now only
about 150 guardsmen and warders there, the number of
convicts held within the establishment being nearly 1,200.
Plymouth Journal.
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