The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-25 00:00:00

Total army, navy, and ord-
nance ...
Civil services....

£11,730,073
2,393,182

Total supply services voted £14,123,255
The estimates for the current year, original and sup-
plemental, are as follows:—Army, 7,157,4861. ; Ord-
nance, 4,588,0101. ; Commissariat, 644,673/. ; Navy,
12,041,6791. ; total, 24,431,7481. ; Civil Services,
5,294,9151.; grand total, 29,726,663/.
The expenditure in the army increased, it will be seen,
but little during the period which must now be called
the last twenty years of peace. The maximum was
reached in 1842, when the amount was 6,364,4261., and
for some years there was a decline ; but in 1848 the
total had risen to 6,343,6861., after which it again
fell to somewhat below six millions, its amount in 1851.
The vote for the militia gradually fell to 103,7001., at
which sum it stood in 1851 ; but the measures adopted
in 1852 raised it at once to 386,7151. in that year, and
a further augmentation is observable in the vote of 1853.
In the vote fur the Commissariat there were very consi-
derable fluctuations, the maximum (attaindti in 1849)
having been 597,397/.
The increase of expenditure upon the navy was almost
continuous up to the year 1848, in which the total grant
ait
rose million i u athned
faollouawingter,
lql
ouv,a,ri
It) egr,y
ebaurt,t
oa; he bBeofsolr e. been amounted to 7,764,0201. In 1852, it had declined about
s
2
e viltaotteedof
last year for the ordnance exceeded 'by about 300,0001.
that of any preceding year.
If the peace of Europe had remained undisturbed, not
a few taxpayers might have been disposed to murmur at
the addition of six millions to our naval and
military ex
penditure, shown by the figures which have been quoted-
;
but•it is a fact beyond dhapute that we are at this mo-
ment reaping the advantage of the prudent policy adopted
by successive Administrations. We have paid a large
and an increasing annual premium for insurance, and
the time has arrived at which every sum that has been
so invested may be wanted, nor need we entertain a
doubt that it will be returned to us with compound inte-
rest. Large sums were expended in equipping paddle-
wheel steamers ; and the expense was, of course, a bur-
den which the nation would willingly have escaped.
The screw principle was then found to be superior, and
costly alterations were 'requisite. Again there was a
natural reluctance to incur the necessary expense, but
prudence prevailed, and the new construction was
adoptel. The same observation applies to the votes for
the ordnance service, the outlay of which has been vastly
increased by the improvements which modern science
has suggested. It is not necessary now to inquire
what would have been our position had these precau-
tions been neglected ; but it is certain that even the
largest outlay would not have made up for past par-
sbnotly. Ships cannot be built in a day, especially
if they are to be constructed of timber procured from
the royal forests, and if, according to established custom,
a mass of correspondence almost as ponderous as the
timber itself is on each occasion to pass between three
or four Government offices—nor can an army be trained
in a day. The truth is, that we are now able to raise
the supplies for the year within the year, because we
have been accustomed to raise within the year the sup-
plies which might be required in future years.
The increase in the civil services usually termed
" Miscellaneous " has also been very large, and, with
hardly an exception, continuous. Detailed comparison,
however, will show that a considerable part of the aug-
mentation has been occasioned by the assumption, on
the part of the Government, of functions which it did
not in former years attempt to discharge—that other
items appear in consequence of re-distributions of the
national burdens effected within the last few years—and
that, of tile remainder, a portion not insignificant is at-
tributable simply to the manner in which grants which
might have been voted entirely in any one year have
been divided over a series of years. As an illustration
of the latter observation, we may take the first class,
which comprises public works and buildings. The New
Houses of Parliament were in each year the subject of a
vote, but the annual .amount varied from 30,0001. (its
minimum), in 1840, to 215,7741. (its maximum), in 1853.
In like manner, the vote for harbours of refuge, which.
was first taken in 1845, and in the succeeding year was
only 30,0001., also reached its maximum in 1853, and
was then 226,0001. In the second class, which provides
for the salaries of public departments, the expenditure
connected with the administration of the poor laws has
risen from 54,0001. to 214,0001., because new charges
for schoolmasters and for medical relief have been in-
troduced in the course of the period.' Again, the ex-
pense of prosecutions and maintenance of prisoners,
formerly defrayed by the county rates, which enters
for 80,000/. only in 1835, had in 1853 risen to 240,0001.;
and the charge for Government prisons, transportation,
and convict establishments in the colonies, which little
exceeded 310,0001. at the commencement of the period,
had reached almost 900,0001. at its close. The grant for
public education in Great Britain and Ireland, which
was 80,0001. in 1835, has also steadily risen to 442,0731.
in 1853; and the vote for the department of practical art
under the superintendence of the Board of Trade, which
first appeared in 1836, and was then only 1,3001., had
last year increased to 44,476/.
Our limits do not allow of our pursuing in detail the
several variations which are observable, but the instances
which have been given are sufficient to show that, large
as the increase in these estimates has been, it is to a great
extent accounted for by the circumstances which have
been mentioned.
Year after year, the necessity of improving prison dis-
cipline and of promoting national education has been
urged upon successive Governments, and it must have
been obvious that each attempt would involve an in-
crease of expenditure ; nor is it to be doubted that the
money has been advantageously expended. The aug-
mentation in the Poor-law department, and the charges
which have been taken from the county rates, are also
to be looked upon as redistributions rather than aggra-
vations of the national burdens ; yet the alterations in
their incidence may have to be considered when the
long unsettled accounts between real and personal pro-
perty are finally adjusted—as some financiers are san-
guine enough to believe that they may be—with a view
to determining equitably the amount which ought to
be levied ou each for the necessities of the State.

TRIAL TRIP OF THE TAMAR..—SOUTLIAISIPTON, Wed-
ne,day.—The trial trip of this ship, which has been built
for the Royal Mail Company by Messrs. Pitcher, of
Northfieet, took place to-day. There were on board
Captain Chappell, managing director ; Captain Lyatt,
Captain Vincent, superintendent to the company at this
port; Messrs. Brown and Lynn, Government inspectors;
Mr. Mills, superintending engineer, &c. The Tamar is
a fine ship, of 1850 tons burden, with engines of (nomi-
nally) 400 horse-power, but which during the trial
worked up to 1,553. The ship, upon leaving the docks,
went to Stoke's Bay, where the measured mile was,
owing to the throttle valve of the engine being closed
during one of the runs, traversed seven times. As is
usual on occasions of the kind, sundry reports generally
give varied results, but the Government return, as fur-
nished to us, exhibits a speed of 14.646 knots, or equal
to about 161 miles per hour. The result is deemed
highly satisfactory by the owners of the vessel, who no
doubt will experience all their expectations when she
takes her place, as a mail contract ship, upon either the
West India or Brazil btation. It is, however, very
probable that she will be selected to convey the West
India mails of the 17th proximo.
A FUGITIVE DISCOVERED.—More than a year and a
half ago defalcations to the amount of upwards of 1,000/.
were discovered, it was alleged, in the accounts of
George Jennings, a clerk, who held a post of trust in th
bank of Messrs. Sparrow, Round, and Co., of Chelms-
ford. He at the time absconded, and, notwithstandin
the active pursuit of the Essex police, their patient watch
of a vessel in which it was found he had paid his passage
for Australia, and the apprehension of Langham, an
emigration agent (who subsequently brought an action
for false imprisonment), on the charge of assisting his
escape, he baffled all efforts to capture himp.lage on
twmase
be-
lieved at the time that the payment of his ass
at a shipping-office was a
the
to put the pursuers off the
scent;
bthat
anJoetnhneirn gyseisns
el
and meantime hadinecffeecrteeadchhedis
escape
liadlon long since the United States or the diggings. It now appears,
he actually intended to proceed in
the ship that sailed from Liverpool—that he was in the
train in which Superintendent iNlay proceeded to that
town, but, having caught sight of the officer, and
guessed his errand, he got out at an intermediate sta-
tion, and so eluded him. The sacrifice of his passage'
money, however, so far exhausted his finances as to pre-
vent his adopting other means of escaping from the
country, and he has been shifting about till a few
months ago, when' he obtained a situation at a guinea
a week as farm-bailiff to Mr. Mears, at Mitcham,
in Surrey, where he does not appear to have
adopted much precaution for disguise or concealment
beyond changing his Christian name from George to
Charles ; it is ()Veil stated that he was present not long
ago on business in Romford market, but this is not
credited. Last week the police received a hint, it is
understood from a person connected with Chelmsford, as
to his location, and Inspector Rayment, who is sta-
tioned at Roinford, and is well acquainted with his
person, was sent to Friday, apprehend him. That officer
.pro-
ceeded to Mitcham on
ay, and while at a public-
house taking some refreshment near the window, and
keeping a look out at the same time, he saw Jennings
coming up the street, on his way to Mr. Mears's farm.
who was in plain clothes, stopped
Rayment,him, and
inquired if he was aware he was a policeman. Jennings
replie,l he was not. " But I am,' responded the officer,
,‘ and 1 shad apprehend you on the charge, of robbing
the bank at Chelmsford." To this no resista:ice was
offered, and, having taken him into custody, Rayment
conveyed him to Croydon, when a
magistrate
remanded him to Chelmsford for examination, formallylv"
fully committed on Monday.—Essex Herald