The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-17 00:00:00

ENROLMENT OF THE MILITIA.

The address in answer to the Queen's message, ordering
the enrolment of the militia, was considered and agreed to.
MANNING THE NAVY BILL.
The house went into committee on this bill.
Clause 1 was agreed to.
Clause 2 having been put,
Sir J. GRAHAM, in reply to Sir G. PECHELL, said he
was not prepared to recommend any alteration in the law
as it now stood with reference to the amount of bounties.
In clause 11, however, it was proposed that henceforward
the payment of those bounties should not be made to the
agent, but to the accountant-general, who should distri-
bute the money in accordance with the orders of the Ad-
miralty.
Sir G. PECHELL made some remarks upon the subject
of bounties for killing or capturing pirates or slavers.
Sir J. GRAHAM stated that the Admiralty had the
power of according bounties for such cases, and he had
acted on the power repeatedly
Mr. HUME considered the system of bounties for kill-
ing men was inhuman. It resulted in a sad slaughter of
innocent men ; and as there was a higher prize for
killing than for capturing, it held out a premium for in-
humanity. Hundreds of thousands of pounds had been
paid to reward slaughter of innocent men. In hundreds
of cases men were slain for the sake of the bounty who
were not pirates at all It was an atrocious system, dis-
creditable to the country.
Mr. OT WAY said that the bill was in opposition to the
opinion of the best authorities in the profession, and even
of some of the authorities of the Admiralty.
Sir J. GRAHAM. said the hon. member was utterly
misinformed as to the Admiralty, and he believed be was
as utterly misinformed as to the profession. The system
in the last war was found very vicious, and imperatively
required improvement. This was the object of the bill,
which was framed in order to distribute prize money
fairly. It would materially affect the distribution in
favour of the crews engaged in captures.
Sir G. PECHELL complained of the extortions of the
High Court of Admiralty.
Sir G. TYLER said he had never heard of any great
defalcation among navy agents in this country. He knew
many of them, and believed them to be an honourable class
of men. At all events it was not fair to condemn the whole
body for the faults of a few. With regard to the bill, he
thought they had better go on, and take the clauses in the
order in which they stood.
Mr. OTWAY said that for the second time the right hon.
baronet at the head of the Admiralty had made the most
unfair insinuation that he was the advocate of the navy
agents, and that he (the right hon. baronet) was the advo-
cate of the officers and seamen. He had no more connection
with navy agents than the right hon. baronet had. The
right hon. baronet knew that all his (Mr. Otway's) earliest
associations were with the navy. If he had thought that
this bill would act in favour of the officers and seamen he
would have been the last person to have offered any objec-
tion to it. The right hon. baronet assumed that between
30,0001. and 40,0001. had been lost by the defalcations of
navy agents in England. [Sir J. Graham—Not in Eng-
land.] That was the question. If the failures had taken
place in the West Indies, what security was there in this
bill that they would not take piece again? By whom
would prize money in the West Indies be paid ? [Sir J.
Graham —By the commissariat.] Since the right hon.
baronet has been so unsparing of his aspersions on private
agents, and so much in favour of commissariat agents, he
would refer the right hon. baronet to a paragraph in a
morning paper of the other day' in which the failure of an
important functionary of the Admiralty Court was an-
nounced to no less an amount than 66,0001. He challenged
the right hon. baronet to prove his assertion that anything
like 30,0001. or 40,0001. had been lost by the failure of navy
agents in this country. There were numerous cases iu the
late war in which the agents of captors had procured the
condemnation of prizes against the opinion of the law offi-
cers of the Crown. There was the case of the Semarang,
the other day, in which the grant was opposed by the Ad-
miralty Court, but in which the agent procured the distri-
bution among the seamen and marines of prize money to
the amount of 13,0001. Would the right hon. baronet say
that the interests of the officers and men would be less
looked after by their own private agent than by Govern-
ment officers? No one could suppose that the whole of
the business connected with prizes during a long war could
be carried on by the present staff of the Admiralty.
Within the last fortnight he had made inquiries among a
great many officers regarding the proposed alteration, and
he hid not met with one single officer who approved of it.
Admiral WALCOIT thought that the navy agents had
every inducement to look atter the interests of officers and
(nen. He believed that the right hon. gentleman had
brought in the measure with the best intentions. but he
believed it would not be attended with the advantages
which its promoters calculated.
Sir J. GRAHAM thought that it would be more conve-
nient to proceed as the hon. and gallant member had sug-
gested with the clauses as they stood. But after the speech
of the hon. member for Stafford, he roust refer to one or
two points. He had not stated that the loss sustained had
been free' the failure of navy agents in this country, but
from the failure of navy agents generally. He would not
mention any names, but he held in his hand a list of cases
showing the losses sustained by failures of agents from 1812
to the end of the war. One of these Was an agent id the
West Indies, who oiled to the amount of 33,0001., of which
not more than 19,0001. was recovered; another for 21,0031.,
of which not more than 10,0001. was recovered. Another
was the case of a Lon ton agent to the amount of 24,00 J/.,
of which not more than 12,0001. was recovered ; another in
Jamaica to the amount of 115,00 t/., of which not more
than 70,0001 had been recovered. The last case was that of
a London agent in 1844, to the amount of 6,0001., of which
not more than 2,3001. was recovered During the war great
failures took place, and heavy losses were sustained. With
regard to the defects in the Admiralty Court they had
mainly been corrected ; but the appointments had been
placed under the immediate control of the Admiralty judge,
Sir S. Lushington, in whom all had confidence. With re 7
spect to the failure of the registrar of that court, alluded to.
by the hon. member, no securities had been taken on his ofiti--;:.
pointment, but ample precaution and security had befen
taken in the appointment recently made. 1, rider the old
system the registrar of the Admiralty, for a certain period
after the condmnation of the prize, kept tr,e proceeds un-
der his control ; but by this bill the money immediately on
being realised would be paid into the public account. It
had been asked whore the seamen would go for their money,
They would go to the paymaster-general or to the account-
ant of the navy. The money would be paid into the pub-
lic account, and the public would be responsible. With
respect to insurances on prizes, that point had not been
overlooked, and directions had been given that the prizes
should be insured. The hon. member had assumed that
no private navy agents would in future be employed, but
that was not the case. If the majority of the captors
thought that their interests would best be consulted by
their appointing agents, there was nothing in the bill to
prevent them doing so. The agent's ceininission was fixed
at 2.:, per cent:, with an addition of 3 par cent. on the pri-
vate share of the captain, so that it could not be said that
the interest of agents had been much neglected.
The clause, as also clause 3, was then agreed to.
On clause 4 being read,

Captain SCOBELL reminded the committee that in the
course of last session he had endeavoured to introduce
amendments which would have the effect of encouraging
the entry of men into to the navy. If anything would in-
duce men to enter her Majesty's service, it would be the
holding out of an encouragement in the shape of bounty.
The right hon. gentleman had stated that it would require
a sum of 200,00 A to give a bounty to men entering the
naval service. He denied, however, that it would amount
to anything like that, as he would not give the bounty to
any but able seamen, and half the money would be amply
sufficient. But a better plan still would be to give the
men a pound a year for every year they would enter for,
and that would enable them to get the ships to sea and
have them employed actively much sooner. A pound a
year would only be three farthings per day, and he was
sure theiservices of able seamen were well worth that sum.
The hon. and gallant member then proceeded to take ex-
ception to the arrangements made in the bill with regard
to the division of prize-money, which did not award a
fair proportion to the leading and able seamen.
Sir J. GRAHAM said the arrangements now made for
the distribution of prize money were in strict accordance
With the recommendations of the navy committee. As
regarded the question of bounty, he would observe that
the prize money to which the seamen were now entitled
would be a bounty in the most legitimate sense, inasmuch
as it would be paid by the enemy instead of by this coun-
try. If the scale was compared with that which existed
at the beginning of the last war, in 1793, it would be
fou,d that the seamen and petty officers receive a much
larger sum now than then, and at the expense of the flag
officers and captains. (Hear.) He hoped that explana-
tion would satisfy the committee that the interests of the
seamen were not neglected by the present Board of Admi-
ralty.
After a few words from Sir G. PECHELL, the clause,
as also clauses 5 and 6, were agreed to.
Clauses up to 21 were passed.
On clause 24 being proposed,
Mr. OT WAY hoped the right hon. baronet would agree
to report progress, as ho had a long amendment to propose.
Sir J. GRA .M 1 hoped the hon. member would not
obstruct the progress of the bill by his proposition to report
progress.

14Ir. OT WAY said his amendment had reference to the
payment of prize money into the hands of the Government
accountant. Now, after what had been said about the un-
trustworthy character of many Government officers, he
hoped precautions would be taken to prevent any objec-
tionable appointment to the post of Government accountant.
If the money stood in the joint names of the Paymaster-
General and the agent of the captors, and was paid by them
into the Bank of England, nothing could be more secure
or satisfactory than such an arrangement. He hoped the
right hon. baronet would assent to his proposition.
Sir J. GRAHAM objected to the amendment, because
it was totally opposed to the principle on which the bill
was founded.

After a brief conversation, in which Sir G. TYLER and
Sir G. PECHELL supported the view of Sir J. Graham,
Mr. OTWAY withdrew the amendment.
The clause was then agreed to, as also were clauses down
to 33 inclusive.
Clauses 34 and 59 were omitted.
Clause 41 was postponed.
The remaining clauses of the bill were agreed to.

NAVY PAY BILL.
The Navy Pay Bill then passed through committee.
The house adjourned at half-past one o'clock.

SHIPPING INT ELLIGENCE.

NOTICE TO MARINERS.
CHANGES OF LIGHTS AT CAPE HATTERAS, BODY'S ISLAND,
AND OCRACOKE (COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA).
In conformity to the Notice to Mariners, issued from
the Office of the Lighthouse Board at Washington, under
date of December 1, 1853, notice is hereby given, that the
proposed changes will take place simultaneously at the
three abovena►ned lighthouses on the night of the Ist of
June next (1854).

CAPE .
The Cape Hatteras light will be a first order Fresnal
flashing lens, exhibiting, in every 20 seconds of time, a
brilliant white flash of 8 seconds' duration, followed by a
total eclipse of 12 seconds' duration.
At the distance of 14 to 18 miles the duration of,the
flash will be somewhatless, and that of the eclipse propor-
tionably greater.
The height of the tower from the ground to the top of
the lantern is 140 feet.
The colour of the tower from the ground to the height
of 20 feet is grey, and the remainder red.
The tower is placed about two miles from the point of
the Cape on the southward and eastward extremity of a
long ridge of white and naked send, backed by woods.
The space of about two miles between the lighthouse
and the pitch of the Cape is a low, flat, and bare sand
botch, very little above extreme high water.
Tho light will iio 150 foot, above the level of the sea anti
1),) ,e,Coilin geed we,a...her . ion 1J feet
abd-ve the water, at the distance of about 19 nautical or 22
statute miles.

The iliWoi,ioaato positioa of t$ CaPe gattorai