The Sun.
London, England, 1822-10-12 00:00:00

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1822.

poration to some fixed amount, (which it may be collectalfrom
the testimony of Mr. Money -hat been the wish of the: mein-
bers of the Corporation themselves,) rather than be . fur-
nished by the application of, a particular colection, of
uncertain extant, derived' exclusively front- Foreign ;hip-
ping, and forming one of those distinctions which, upon
reciprocal ilavour being. shown to British shipping in Fo-
reign countries, your Coinmittee are of opinion it is most ex-
pedient should he abrogated. •
The next head to which yOur Committee directed its exami-
nation, was that of Surplus Pilotage;--LthA islevieel under the
52 Geo. 3, and in the proportion of on the amount of the
pilotage of every Foreign vessel. The object of it is to esta-
blish a fund for the relief of,pilots who shall have become in-
capable of diecharging their duty, front age-or accidents', or
permanent infirmity. The annual amount -of.. collection upon
-an average of years since the rate was imposed (tlfe interest upon
the fun& already created yielding about 2,5001. per annum), is
about 6,0001. The annual demand for the Objects of the charity •
upOn that fund, does not appear to exceed 1,5001.. ' and as the
permanent annual income upou the capital exceeds-the expen-
ditiire by nearly 1,000/., as the intention of the Act-appears to
be sufficiently provided for, there does not appear any reason.
why this tax upon Foreign shipping should be continued; ex-
cept in respect to that of such countries as refute to •reinove
from British shipping every uaavourable distinction in their

ports. . .
By the authority of the same Act, a sum of three guineas is
annually collected from each of the London Trinity pilots,
and of two guineas from each of those at the out-ports,
which is required from them for the annual renewal of their
licences.. The average of the collection is about 2,000/. which
appears to be appropriated in part to the remuneration of the
elder brethren who compose the -pilotage Committee in Lon-
don, and of the Sub-commissioners of pilots residing in the out-
ports, and iu part to defraying the expences of carrying the Act
into execution. - These, your Committee are •of opinion, may
admit of and require reduction, particularly the establishment
at Grave Send. ;_For the details nn this head, they desire to refer
to the account produeed by the Corporation, which will be found,
in the Appendix.
The fees arising. from the licensing of certain boats, to enable
them to be employed on the river Thames, were granted to the
Trinity House by the 2d of Geo. 3d ; eas particular application
of the fee is enjoined by the Act; but the amount of tines and
penalties levied under it, are directed to be applied to the cha,
Titable purposes .of the Institution; the fees are of small
amount ; it appears from the evidence 'of Mr. Court, that a
larger sum-than that authorised by the Act, is usually received
on licences being granted ; the whole is divided amongst the
clerks of "the establislnenf.. The receipt of the increased
sum, appears to your Committee to be an abuse which ought to
be corrected, and they trust that the Trinity , Corporation will
put an end to it ; and your Coriimittee cannot hel' here observ.;
ing, how much preferable it would lie, that all the officers and
clerks of the establishment -should, in any future arrangement,
be paid by adequate and ostensible salaries from the general
funds of the Corporation,-than by a multiplicity of emoluments
under different names, which elude Obsereation-, And 'Make the
real amount of their-receipts difficult to be ascertained.
In considering thereductiona that may beadviSable,, your Cerni-
mittee beg to disclaim all wish totrench upon those funds which are
raised under the authority of Charters or'Acts of the 'L!..gisla-
ture, and have- been-charitably destined, in their-application.; to
the relief of that valuable body of men,to whose services theft
country is so highly indebted. These funds, in, their agnegate.
average, amount to about 16,000/. per annum, and
will be•fnr:
ther augmented, should the establishments of the. Ballast Office,
and expenses attending the Pilot Act, undergo the reduction of
which your Committee think they are susceptible, and the large
commission on collecting' the Light and Trinity dues in-LozU•
don, be discontinued, in pursuance of the recommendation of
your Committee.
The collections for lights stand on a different footing. The pa=
tents must be supposed to presume, that what is imposed on the
subject, is necessary for the erection and maintenance of the
light by which he is directly benefitted. The excess of it be-
yond what is reasonable for these objects, might, according to
an opinion stated to have been delivered by Lord Ilarda'ack,
draw into question the validity of the patent itself. Looking then
to the income derived from the lights, as 'legitimately confined
tq,
.as well as to be measured by the expenditure necessary for
' their erection= anti maintenance, your Committee baying consi-
dered in what degree relief may be justly afforded to the com-
mercial interest, by the reduction of the existing charges upon.
shipping on this account. In doing this, they have referred to
' the expenditure in. itself, the expenditure as compared with the
collection, and as compared with the sums appropriated to, and
found sufficient for the support of other lights, which, although
it perhaps might- not lead to a, perfectly accurate conclusion,
aught still materially assist them in forming a judgment.
The actual expenditure, including commission, as stated in
the accounts of 1818,1519, and 1820, amounts to about £38,000;
the income to about £90,000, leaving a surplus, amothiting to
about £52,000. • '
This expenditure appears to your Committee to be.much aug-
mented beyond its necessary amount, bye want of proper at-
tention to economy in regulating the disbursements incident to
the maintenance of the lights, by the allowance of an excessive
commission and agency, and other things which would, if re-
strained, reduce it very considerably, and proportionably in-
crease the surplus. The sum calculated as above, at per light,
without charging the lights with any share of the general ex-
penses of the establishment on Tower-hill, amount upon 20
light establishnients, to about £1,900 each, amongst which,
however, 9 floating' lights (attended with an expense greater
than those on shore, and which therefore increase the average)
are included. From a comparative statement of the expendi-
ture on account of the Northern Lights, as given in the evi-
dence of Mr. Stephenson,' and to which the Committee beg to
refer, it appears that the number of light establishments under
the management of the Northern CommisSion is It; that the
amount of the dues annually collected, is .abont £23,000 • that
the maintenance of each light establishment, including. all re--
pairs, amounts to about £650 ; the residue of the receipts be-
mg applied to The general establishment of the Northern Com-
missioners ; and the surplus fund to paying off, the loans and
meeting the.general contingencies.
For the purpose of supplying this expenditure, each ship
which passes any one light, is subject to a payment for the
whole, amounting to twopence -per register ton, or about one-
eighth .part of a penny per ton per light. This collection is
sufficient, not only to the purposes of the actual maintenance
of the lights, but so far exceeds them, that a fund has been
created, which has already liquidated a part of the heavy
incumbrances to which they are subject, and which will,
in a moderate time, liquidate the whole, and produce a fiind
adequate to the necessary support of the lights, from which
time all charge on navigation, on this account; is to be at
an end.
Your Committee are aware, that the different modes of col-
lecting the dues for these respective lights, make an accurate
comparison very difficult; and that the same rate, if collected
at per light only on the lights actually passed, would not be by
any means so productive as it now is, and perhaps not much
more than cover the actual expence ; that in such a case a higher
collection per light would be necessary to provide for that, as
well as the contingencies. But they are not conscious of any
circumstances that should render the expense of maintaining and
attending the lightssunder the management of the Trinity Cor-
poration, so much larger than that for the lights under the
management of the Northern Commissioners, which is evident,
even with a reasonable allowance for the increased expences
incident to the maintenance of the floating lights.
From the Returns made to your Committee, it appears that
there are several Light viz. Flatholm, Smalls, Fern, Longships,
Mumble Head, Burnham, originally granted to the Trinity-
house, the tolls of which been subsequently let by them to in-
dividuals on lease, at rents not exceeding 1281. per annum fog
the whole, a sum that bears a very small proportion to the
actual receipts, some of which will be seen in the Appendix.
Some explanation in respect to these leases will be found in the
last examination. of Mr. Court, by which it appears that the
want and convenience of a light in a particular situation, hav-
ing been suggested by some individual, and an application
made to the Trinity-house, the Corporation petitioned the
Crown in the usual form, and upon receiving the authority for
the erection of the light-house and collection of the duties for
their maintenance, delegated both to the individuals who
first suggested it, in consideration of a small quit rent, reserv.
ing to themselves a right of superintendence and management
In the degree in which that superintendence and management
is actually exercised or neglected, would the transaction in
each case be on public grounds objectionable or otherwise ;
even if every attention had been bestowed on the 'part of. the
Trinity Corporation, to see that it was not made the instru-
ment of laying a much larger charge on the shipping than the
maintenance of the light to be erected required. No previous
investigation• on this subject, however, according to the state-
ment of the witness alluded to, ever appears to have taken