The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-02 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE.

TO-MORROW, at 7.30, TWENTY MINUTES WITH A
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Inman, Rqmanelli, Nellie Nesbit, and Miss Emily Muir.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborough,

TO-MiOBROW, at 7, THE HEIR AT LAW: Mr Clarke, Mr
James, Miss Burton, &c. With THE TOODLES. Concluding
with INO.

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8; Saturday Moz nings at 3. Admission, Is, 2s, 3s.

CHRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and S all the year round.

ZOOLOGICAL G &EDENS, Regent's-park, OPEN daily (ex-
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ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. THREE BALLETS
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open fromll to 4.

frT
toTjg),

LONDON, W EDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1870.

Mn. CHILDERS seems determined to emulate tly
Premier in the length of his speeches. More than
three hours did the First Lord of the Admiralty
occupy in unfolding his budget; and when we say
that the right hon. gentleman turned his back upon
the Speaker and the Press Gallery, and that he could
scarcely be heard by the reporters, it may be readily
imagined that there were a good many headaches
among the staff of our London contemporaries
on the following morning. The speech necessarily
bristled with figures, and as we have already dealt
with these in our summary of the estimates, there is
no need to revert to them. There are, however, two
or three points which deserve comment.
Mr. Childers claimed for his colleagues and him-
self that, in reducing the number of employes in the
naval service, the Government had been influenced
solely by a sei:se of duty, and that this alone would
have induced them to undertake a task so disagreeable
and painful. We fully believe this. It is much more
easy and pleasant to spend money that is not your
own, than to save it. This the late Government dis-
covered, and it acted upon that discovery. The esti-
mates were largely increased under the Conservative
regime, and though at last when an outcry was raised
on the hustings against their extravagance
the late Ministers began to reduce their expenses,
it was in a very half-hearted way that they did so.
At the present time they are endeavouring to
fill two incompatible parts, they seek to obtain credit
for the reductions made by their successors at the
very time that they denounce those reductions. It
must be admitted, however, that the present Board
of Admiralty have laid themselves open to the charge of
harshness intheir dealings with the dockyardsmen, nor
can we see that Mr. Childers met satisfactorily the case
of the Devonport dockyardmen which had been
brought under his notice prior to his making his
speech. No doubt we have too many men in our
employ, but the nation having employed them under
certain conditions, those conditions ought to be
fulfilled, and if we obtained labour at a cheaper rate
on the understanding that employment would not
be withdrawn, it ought not to be withdrawn
without proper compensation. Mr. Childers, and
still more Mr. Baxter, was far better able to
justify his policy with respect to the materiel of the
navy. The edifying tales told by both the First
Lord and by the Secretary shew how much incom-
petence there was in former times among the chiefs;
how much corruption among the subordinates. It
is usual for Conservative critics to prophesy that the
result of the present "cheeseparing " will be to
reduce the navy to the same state of help-
lessness and chaos in time of war as prevailed
when the Russian war of sixteen years ago broke
out. But the truth is, that it was not the economies
of twenty years ago which plunged us into the abyss;
it was the frauds by which inferior goods were
palmed off upon the nation by the nation's ser-
vants, who had been bribed. Thero is not the
smallest reason why, if there be honest deal-
ing in all departments, we should not have
efficiency as well as economy. In truth the vigilance
which secures the second will secure also the first.
It is the lazy careless administrator who allows the
nation to be robbed, that will also allow the national
defences to become impaired, that will let rascally
builders make for us rotten gunboats, and rascally
contractors supply us with rotten clothing.
The part of Mr. Childers's speech most interesting
to naval men is his scheme of retirement. Briefly
described, it is as follows :—There is to be coin.
pulsory retirement of Admirals of the Fleet at 70
years of age, of Admirals and Vice-Admirals at 65,
of Rear-Admirals at 60, of Captains at 55, of Com-
manders at 50, and of Lieutenants at 45. Flag-
officers, too, will be compelled to retire after ten
years of non-service ; Captains after seven years, and
Commanders after five years. The scale of retire..
ment is based on age and service, and will range
from £2OO to £BOO. Finally, the list of officers will
be reduced to 2,336. It remains to be seen how naval
officers will approve this scheme. But whatever may
be said of details, there can be no doubt that it will
have a most !.atislactory effect in routing out the
u3,2,less men from the service, and in delivering it from
the state of stagnation which Las so long prevailed,
aal which is most pre,;utlicial alike to the interests
of the officers themselves and to the public service.

MR. GLADsToNE Lad to answer two questions on
ronclay which must have taxed his ingenuity. Mr.
,owe, who, far more than Mr. Blight, deserves the

title of renfant ferrule of the Ministry, a few days ago
while receiving a deputation, went out of his way to
denounce commercial treaties and to declare them the
source of that political heresy, reciprocity. The
remark was,, to say the least, indiscreet.
Mr. Loge's chief has always reckoned the
commercial treaty with France in 1860 as one
of 11;a nrinpinal nelviarantarliAl. and at this Tam