The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-03 00:00:00

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said he should prefer sending it from Somerset-house. Before
he left he informed me of what had occurred in his interview
with Admiral Parker, and the obiervations of the Duke there
I considered to be the cause of his excitement: He then left
the rooni. Ibelievethat I have correctly stated the Orem-
stanceS of those interviews. I did not mean Sir B.Walker to .
suppress the copies: I'have no recollection of his stating that
he must send them in. I remember that I repeated immedi- •
ately the substance of what passed to a Mr. Briggs, a gentle-
man in the office. I have ascertained his recollection of that
statement, and it'is in accordance with that which I have now
stated. I was surprised when I heard that portion of Sir
Baldwin's statement., .1 have further to notice portions of the •
evidence of .Captain Milne. I quite assent to Captain Milne's
statement; that I requested him—and it, was immediately after
my conversation with Mr. Briggsto " smooth matters over"
with Sir Baldwin. I adopt Captain. Milue's expression. I
cannot, however, adopt Captain Milne's word " mediate," if
it be intended to imply that such mediation eras between Sir
Baldwin and myself, or that it was to induce Sir Baldwin to
suppress the copies.
Sir B. Hall—Are we to understand that you neither saw
the letter of the 21st of April, '52, nor were aware of the ex-
istence of 'such a document till the 23d of November?
Mr. Stafford— Yes ; it remained with Admiral Parker, who
had received a discretionary power from Sir Baldwin Walker
in the matter. I went to the duke, and be said thatthe sur-
veyor would not remain, and that if he resigned there was no
person to fill his place ; that if he yut Admiral Parker would
follow him, and he (the duke) did not know how they could
get on with the business of the Admiralty. I said that any
.imputation would be removed, and there Admiral. Parker's
evidence takes up the thread of the story.
Sir B. Hall— Did the duke allude to Sir Baldwin's resigna-
tion having been tendered

Mr. Staiordl-No7Vsaid the surveyor was very much
annoyed, but mentioned nothing about his having tendered
his resignation ; and I have no recollection of that being
discuised: No one talked of it for fear of 'raising the
subject. . . . .
LoM &pilot:lr 'directed Mr. Staftbrd's attention to the
terms of Admiral Parker's evidence, in which he stated that
the 'letter of resignation was 'made the subject of conver-
sation at an interview between them and Sir Baldwin
Walker.

Mr. Stafford—The •question. of resignation was not dis-
cussed.

Lord Seymour-Admiral Parker said that he remonstrated
as to thei-esebo. g circular broughtN o rth oumnbdeeir atohde
notice
of
the andt that notthebeing
of Duke
agreed with him, and, yet you say that you had the concurrence
of the board ?
cannot say what passed between Admiral
Pa3'rikr. era'afflord—the iFirst • Lord on the subject,' but I had the
cognisance and sanction of . the latter to what I did. The
Admiralty act as a corporate body, and are in the same posi-
tion towards their secretary The Commander
-in-Chief is to
the Secretary-at-War.
! n which
m a First
e ie
necessary. and never heard of aaet instancee of' the secretary was.
Lord ,had overruled the .whole- °met. Vacancies
filled up in the doel4ard without my knowing ahrocws!,-ast,lnfors
iustanee in the case of laboUrers.
Mr. Grant, au officer in the civil department of the Admi-
ralty, and who had acted as secretary to Admiral Dundas, to
Admiral Stewart, and to Mr. Stafford, described tho routine
of appointments with reference to which, when vacancies oc-
curred, the surveyor might recommend that they should not
be filled up. Ho kneW of no instance whore such a recom-
mendation had been made, and the vacancies, filled up not-
withstanding. It had happened that Mr. Stafford had filled
up vacancies which had been previously supplied by labourers
without his knowledge ; but he had a perfect right to" do so.
With reference to the promotions on the Bth of May, 10 names
were submitted by the superintendent, and five selected, in
strict conformity with the rules of the office. In the case of
the man selected for the appointment of writer after two years'
service, in preference to the man who had served thirty years,
Mr Stafford bad ascertained from the Commodore Superin-
tendent that the former was more suited for the situation.
With regard to the appointments of the five men, the surveyor
had reported that the vacancies would be required shortly for
15 shipivright apprentices, but the report had been mislaid,
and could not be found.
Lord Seymour (addressing Mr. Stafford]—Why did you pro-
ceed to fill up these vacancies after such a representation I .
Mr. Stafford—Because the Commodore Superintendent re•
presented it to be necessary.
ILord Seymour—Did you send to the surveyor any reply to
his remarks ?

Mr. Stafford—l really don't remember ; these things were
coming every day.

Lora Seyrnour--But it was not every day that the surveyor
was remonstrating.

Mr. Grant, with reference to the promotion of Ridgeway as
acting first-class man at the metal milks, said it had been re-
presented at the Admiralty by Sir 'Frederick Smith that tke
superintendent of the dockyard had recommended a private
hand with the view of passing over Ridgeway, who was senior
second-class man, and had been 39 years in the service. He
was in consequence appointed acting first class on probation.
Lord Seymour—Was this acting in accordance with the re-

gulations of 1847
Mr. Stafford—Yes ; because they say nothing about intro-

ducing men from the private trade.
Lord Seymour--,-Did not the superintendent report that •
. _

Ridgeviair was incompetent and is it consistent with any
circular of the Admiralty to put any man into an office who
is not fit for it ?
Mr. Stafford—l wrote to Captain Richards the following
letter on the subject : •
, (" Private and Confidential.)
" Her Majesty's ship Retribution, off Portland,
. April 11, 1852.,

" Sir,—l fully appreciate the motives that dictated your
letter of the Bth.
- " The appointment of Ridgeway must now go forward, and
if he is found incompetent to perform the duties of his situs,
tion, it will of course develope upon you to report officially to
that effect. —I remain, &c., .

" Aug. STAFFORD.

" Captain Richards, C. 8., R.N."
I did not censure Captain Richards, and Admiral Parker was
wrong in saying so.

Lord Seymour—Was Captain Richards acting politically
against Sir Frederick Smith?
Mr. Stafford—l believe that political influences were at
work. -Captain Richards was always looked on as one of the
strongest political partisans in the yard. I could not say that
he was taking part in the election, but; if so, he was acting in
defiance of his duty. I did not think the incapacity of Ridge-
way so made out as to deprive him of the benefit of a proba-
tionary promotion, and no report was :made against him dur-
ing the 6 months he was on trial.
Lord Seymour—Must not the effect Of disregarding his re-
ports have been to discourage Captain .Richards from sending
up any more ?
Mr. Stafford—l think not. If he felt that he had not been
properly treated he might have addressed the board, and one
or two isolated cases give an unfair view of the way in which
his recommendations were generally received.
Lord Seymour again directed Mr. Stafford's attention to Sir
Baldwin's letter to the Duke of Northumberland, and with
reference to it

Mr. Stafford said, when the duke told me that he considered
it confidential, I was sorry that I knew of the existence of a
letter which brought grave charges against me that I had no
power to answer.

- Lord Seymour—Could you not have gone through the cases
of promotion, and brought them under the notice of the First
Lord I

Mr. Stafford—l did so confidentially. That I vindicated
my character is shown by his Grace not making the letter
public. The duke did not ask for an inquiry, but determined
at once to make the letter private. To have made it public
would have involved a public inquiry.
Lord Seymour—Did it not, occur to you to prepare a re-
port

- Mr. Stafford—No ; but I believe I asked theduke to make
it a public letter. He declined, however, saying that I had
no right to suppose I had ever seen it.
Sir B. Hall—Did you press the point urgently V
Mr. Stafford—l simply asked him. could do no more.
Sir B. Hall—Did lief say it would be inconvenient for the
public service ?

•
Mr. Stafford—He did not give me any answer. I was new
to office, and any.. Mistakes I 'made at first I corrected as I
gained more experience, becoming more in accord with the
general feeling of the superintendents. •

At this stage of the Proceedings tho committee adjourned,
and the examination of Mr. Stafford will be resumed (to•day)
with refereuco to the case of Wells.

The sale, by auction, of the immense territory of the
Western Australian Land Company, announced by Mr.
Robins to be held on Thursday next, is, we perceive,
unavoidably postponed until Tuesday the 31st inst. •
. The extensive landed estates in Lower Canada of the
Gasp 4 Fishery and Coal Mining Company, announ
by Mr. Robins to be sold on the 2d of June, present
strong temptations to enterprising capitalists, especially
when it is known that railway communication is about
being established between these properties and Quebec
and Montreal, and from thence to ale United States.
SUNDAY TIPPLING IN SCOTLAND..—OR. the Bth ult.
nearly 200 gentlemen in Edinburgh agreed to ascertain
the actual amount of Sunday traffic in the publichouses
of that city, and their report, enteric tg into the statistics
of each house, the character of the visitors, &c., has just
been published. There are in all 464 licensed houses in
Edinburgh, and 312 of these were open on the Sunday
referred to. The visitors were-214202 men, 11,931
women, 4,631 children under 14 years of age, and 3,032
children under 8 years of age. Total amount during
the day, 41,796.—Liverpool Chronic*.
Loss OF AN EMIGRANT VESSEL.—lntelligence has
been received by Messrs. Corry and Son, of Belfast, of
the total loss of their barque Hercules, 551 tons re-
gister. It appears that on the 6th ult., in lat. 3.5kN. ~
long. 72 30 W., she was fallen in• with in adszhn sinking
condition, by the Perote, from Rio Grande, an
hay
vin
Mentank, from Galveston for An twerp,
and Hercules
at. shortlyrohaving
26th 'list and landed the ca ptain, Mr. Louden,
on the 1 . arrived
afterwardstaken off t the
foundered.crew, 18 i
In,
hneu number, thei
k
starboard
and eight of his crew, and the Per ote,
the chief
officers, and DX eight others, arrived Baltimore on the
weather, 1 12th inst. The Hercules was bomnd from Liverpool
rienc edb.uvlewryark set It
'ere
with
from stem to which
stow
for Charleston, and sailed from the former port about
the 6th November, but having got I about 360 miles off
Cape
G l
aalvra'y
besides doing other .
damage. She i • t
the port on the 29th- of 'November, andas owed back. to
necessary repairs, sailed again nin-
e
carriedesh here e
th having t tiie
13th of De btr;
but on the 27th of the sarnel
Man, she encountered anothernonth, , when off t Calf
' of
lost her fore and mainmast;ityere ' gale, in which she
standing ; she then put back
c., the znize only
was
got into Fleetwood on the 2d
seeo:nd timers , and was
got new masts, &c. e ..41 of Jfanuary, and there
STEAMER FOR v THE PASHA
.c '
manufacturer has received 0? aGYFT.—A French
steam-ship in London. an order tc I fit the cabins of a
Pasha of Egypt, and , intended for his Highness. the
the introduction of arrangements ha .ve been made for
the. furniture, &c., into this country,
from France, which
for
the
purpose.will be required, and manufactured
VAN . DIE ' T.
DIEN 3 —AND.—From Va n Dienien's Land
the dates are to the Bth of January. The Legislative
Council had. just been prorogued to the Bth of March,
when it was expected the determinati ion of the English
Government with regard to transpo •rtation would be
known. Meanwhile, they had only v oted three months'
supply for police and gaol expenses, the determination
apparently. being to cut down all furtl her allowance to a
merely nominal sum if the future advices from this
country should prove unsatisfactory. Nothing of much
importance had taken plae,e in the sb ape of gold disco-
veries. A charcoal-burner' had just'' found some quartz
specimens about six miles from. Hob; Lrt Town, and two
men had started with proper implemel its to examine the
'
spot. Of the deposits at Fingal it if ;stated that there
had never been more than an aver: :ge of ten persons
there, and that their profit bad not at. any time 'exceeded
10dwis, per 94.144 , ~. . - -

• -