The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-29 00:00:00

to acquaint the House with what he proposed, read the
resolutions which he intended to submit to their con-

sideration. The following are the resolutions he had to

propose:-
1. That it appears by official returns which have been
laid on the table of this House, that a sum exceeding,
seven millions sterling is annually expended in the dif-
ferent departments of__Government, without being paid
into her Majesty's ExChequer, or subjected to any preli-
minary Parliamentary sanction or contreul.
2. That it appears by the returns ()Mere& to be
printed in the, last session of Parliament, that sums.

amounting to 6,152,3941,.145. 90., were deducted by
the various revenue departments from their gross re-
Ceipts, and intercepted in their progress to the Ex-
chequer, for disbursement in the said revenue depart-
ments, in the year ending the sth day of January, 1E46.
3. That it appears by the same returns, that in the
said year the sum of 909,6101. 12s. 2d. was received by
various departments of expenditure, from sources inde-
pendent of Parliamentary grants, or issues from the
Exchequer, and that such sum has been or may be ex-
pended without previous Parliamentary examination and
control.

4. That the security of the public revenue, and the
accuracy, simplicity, and completeness of the public
accounts, it is desirable that the gross receipts of all the
departments of revenue should be paid into her Majesty's
Exchequer.
5. That no department of expenditure should be al-
lowed to receive money from any quarter other than her
Majesty's Exchequer, under Parliamentary vote, and
that all sums received for stores, fees, fines, or from any
other similar sources, be paid into her Majesty's Ex-
chequer.
6. That every department of receipt be required to
present an annual estimate of anticipated expenditure,
and that such estimate be submitted to the sanction and
approval of Parliament.
7. That, as this House has, by its resolutions of last
session, recognised and approved of the principle, and
directed it to be adopted in the Crown colonies,
that the gross revenues should in all cases be paid
into the Public Treasury, there is no sufficient rea-
son for delaying the application of the same prin-
ciple to the revenues of the United Kingdom ;
and that this House concurs in the recommen-
dation made by the Commissioners of Public Ac-
counts in the year 1831, " that no portion of the public

treasure should be arrested on any plea or pretence
whatever oa its way to the Exchequer, and that no
portion of -it should be issued from' the Exchequer
without prWous Parliamentary' sanction;" and " that
it is only by the adoption of this principle that any
really efficient and complete control-can be introduced
into the different departments of the public service."
Now, he did not require to state to the House that there
were two great departments reguired for the business of
the State, namely, that of receipt and that of expendi-
ture ; and be held that the Government would be
neglecting one of its most important functions if it
did not see that all the taxes raised from
the people should reach her Majesty's Exchequer, and
also that no portion of these revenues should be issued
excepting under the authority of the State. These re-
solutions of his were no novelty in that House, for in the
year 1831 a commission was appointed to inquire into this
subject, and he would trouble the House by reading
a portion of the report which bad resulted from the
labours of that commission. The Honourable Member
then read extracts from the report, which al-
leged that moneys had been abstracted from the
national funds without the sanction of the Exehe-

quer, and that means should be taken to avert this evil.
And what were the signatures to this document? The
first was an Hon. Lord, late a Member of that House,
now no longer among them, Lord Congleton. The next
was the Noble Lord the First Lord of the Treasury: The

;hird was Sir James Graham. The next was Sir James

Kent; the fourth was a late Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, the Right Hon. Francis Baring—(Hear and
laughter)—and the last signature was that of the Hon.
Member for Coventry, Mr. Ellice. Now, he ventured
to say that six more respectable signatures on the pre-
sent question could not be introduced into that Hons.?.
If the accounts of the different departments were made
out according to one form, or that each of them could be
easily carried into the general balance- sheet of the re-
ceipts and expenditure of the company, they would come
properly under the revision of Parliament; time would
be saved, mistakes avoided, and unnecessary or ex-
travagant expenditure obviated, as each item would,
as now, have to be voted by Parliament before
it could be liquidated. In the report of the Com-
mittee on Naval and Military Reform presented in 1831
and 1832, they were informed that the receipts and ex-
penditure of the different public departments of
France were made out according to one uniform
plan—(Hear, hear)—and that as they were all
formed on one model, they were easily blended in one
general whole, in the periodical balance sheet of the
finances .of the country. He did not know
whether any seperate entries, on this plan, were
kept at the Treasury. When he was connected with
that department of the Government, none were kept,
having the receipts and the expenditure relating to the
different departments, and arranged under different heads
but it was quite clear that the public accounts
ought not to exist as they did in this com-
pany. The mode adopted in France formed
a sad contrast to the. one adopted here, in which
he had shown that seven millions sterling an-
nually escaped Parliamentary control.
—(llear, hear.)
In the Admiralty department the Right lion. Baronet
opposite had done much to reform the system of accounts,
but still there was great room for improvement. The
Admiralty was always. in possession of money, and
always expending more. amounts than were authoriserl
by Parliament. For instance, a few years ago,
no less a sum than one million of money was
expended by the Admiralty beyond the estimates
submitted by Parliament. Now, if some definite and
clear system was kept at. the Admiralty, and when re 0-
, perly audited and made up to the particular date, pre-
sented to Parliament, such an excess of expenditure
would • not arise without the authority of that House.
He thought that independent of this security titer°
ought to be authority from the Exchequer itself.
He found that in the year 1843 there were deduc-
tions from the public revenue of about 5,000,000/., and
appropriations 1,199,0001., making some 7,000,0001. ;
and in the year after the deduction amounted to
6,155,0001., the appropriations to 767,0001., making in
all nearly 7,000,0001. ; and so it was in every
year down to the date of the latest returns.
He might be met with the objection that, inasmuch
as the Customs could not know what sums might be ne-
cessary. That they could not avoid drawing at times con-
siderable overplus. The Excise had retained about
the same sums retained by the Customs, viz.,
for drawbacks, &c., 830,0001.; for the charges of
collection, 968,3801.; for further payments, 94,700/.;
and for the superannuation fund, 7,7581. Large
sums were also retained in other departments,
under similar heads, and for all of which it
would be very easy to obtain a Parliamentary grant.
They would not discharge their duty to the public, unless
they took measures to effect a remedy. Considering the
public burdens of the people, he thought they had a
right to have all sums paid into the Exchequer, and ex-
pended under the coutroul of Parliament. The same
system prevailed regarding the Crown-lands, in
which theie had been expended last year, 40,0001.
fur collection, 285,0001. for other purposes, and 2321.
for the superanutttion fund. Altogether there
had been expended last year in this way upwards of six
millions of money. In the army and the navy about
190,0001. was expended in this way, and the same
mode was adopted in many other departments of
the State. In the military departments 110,000/. There
were a great many smaller sums, and the whole
amounted to 909,600/., which these departments
had received, not from the Exehequer but from
other sources, and without the consent of Parliament.
The Hon. Gentleman then referred to other reports
which stated that there was no instance on record
of a Government who had adopted the mercantile
system of keeping accounts, abrogating that
system, and that the adoption of a system of double
entry had been followed with the best results, as
it had led to much comprehensiveness, and at once
shown the state of a nation's financial condition;
an order had been made for the introduction of the
double entry system into all the public offices ; but he
regretted to say, that from a return he had obtained
on the subject, it appeared that it • had not yet
been introduced into the Home Office,- the Ordnance,
the Board of Controul, the Customs, or the Stamps
and Taxes., Now, he did think he had made out
his case for a change in the existing plan, and he
hoped the House would therefore agree to his motion.
Having said this much, he would sit down by moving
the resolutions.
Mr. WILLIAMS seconded the resolutions. He thought
the question raised one of great national importance. The
Honourable Gentleman • had adduced so many
facts, that he could not see how the Govern-
ment could oppose them. He wondered, after the
high authorities that had in former years declared
against the present mode, that it should have been per-
sisted in to the present day. His Hon. Friend had
proved that last year more than seven millions bad been
intercepted in its progress to the Exchequer, and thil
evil had been increasing year by year for a long time.
In 1841, when the Right Hon. Baronet the Member
for Tamworth came into office, he complained of the
state of the finances of the country ; and on that occa-
sion he (Mr. Williams) called the attention of the House to
the labours of a Committee that formerly sat on the ques-
tion. He also called their attention to the fact, that about
fifty millions of taxes in 1806 were collected for
9,790,000/., while in 1845 the collection of 56,460,0001.
cost nearly five millions.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.)
From this it appeared, that while the collection in the
year 1806 was but 44 per cent., while in
the year 1845 it had risen to 8i per cent. In the year
1843, though a great reduction had taken place in the
Customs duties, there had in 1843 and 1844 been 114
new places created. In the Post-office also in the last 4
years, there had been no less than 4,063 places created.
LEFT SPEAKING.]