The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-25 00:00:00

active service; it would hold out a premium to every mar

reed officer, who would, no doubt, be very glad to live with
his family, to say, " I will enter the Coastguard, where I
have equal hopes of promotion, superannuation, and in-
creased half-pay. Why should I go and serve in the
West Indies, or on the coast of Africa ?" It would be im-
possible to carry out any such scheme as that. With re-
gard to harbour and guardship service, I think it may very
well be arranged that the time during which officers are
employed in the harbour guardships should net count alto-
gether in the same ratio as the time passed in real sea ser-
vice. An hon. member prOposed to put a question to me
to-day as to the actual position of the reserved captains. The
position
of these officers, according to the Admiralty scheme,
is this :—Reserved captains who have served less than nine
years will continue tc receive the half-pay which they may
be receiving at the time of retirement. Officers who have
served over nine years and under 12 will receive lOs 6d per
day ; those who have served over 12 and under 15 years,
12s 6d per day ; those who have served over 15 and under
20 years, 14s 6d per day ; and those who have served more
than 20 years, 16s ed per day. I beg the hon. member for
Portsmouth's attention to this. Every reserved captain
who has served at sea above 20 years will receive an addi-
tion of 6s a-day to his half-pay. The hon. gentleman
seemed disposed to claim for those officers the same position
in the Navy List as those have who are liable to go upon
active service. It would, I maintain, be very unjust to
officers on the active list if men nominally having the same
commission but never liable to be called on to serve were
allowed to rise with them on the Navy List, and so to strug-
gle upwards with them for their flags. The right hon. baro-
net the member for Portsmouth, when as First Lord he
esiablished this scheme, distinctly stated over and over again
that he could not put this class of officers in the same posi-
tion as the active list ; and successive Boards of Admiralty
have always acted on the same principle. With regard to
the motion of my right hon. friend, I think it far better
that these cases should be dealt with by the Government as
they arise. A reference to what has been done of late years
will, I believe, show that it is unnecessary to hare a commis-
sion appointed to examine this question. [The noble lord
then enumerated the various changes made between Feb.,
1855, and the present time by different Boards of Admiralty
in the pay and retirement of masters, commanders, cap-
tains, engineers, marines, medical officers, chaplains, and
other grades and branches of the service.] He continued
—l'quote this to show that this subject has been constantly
before the Admiralty, and that as it becomes manifest that
the pay or position of any class of officers requires revision
their case is taken into consideration, and year after year
Parliament is asked to grant considerable sums for their
benefit. I think, therefore, it would be wiser to trust to the
responsible department of the State to suggest such altera-
tions as may from time to time be required to improVe the
position of those officers who may appear to be insuffici-
ently paid, rather than by calling together a commission to
open the whole subject, and thereby, in my opinion, to rem •
der the officers of every branch of the navy unsettled in
their minds. Each grade thinking that it has a grievance
would naturally bring it forward, availing itself of the op-
portunity thus afforded toit, as we should all of us do in the
same case if we knew that a body of men were about to sit
for the improvement of our condition. For that reason I
believe it is most undesirable that such a commission
should be appointed. With due respect for my right hon.
friend, and for the great zeal and talent he brought to bear
on the discharge of his heavy and important duties while at
the head of the Admiralty, I say it is most injurious to the
public service, when the man who may fill such an office
comes down and tells the House of Commons that every
class in the navy is discontented. I say that is holding out
a positive premium to discontent. (Hear.) I beg leave to
deny that this wide-spread dissatisfaction exists. Naval
men, no doubt, like all other Englishmen, have the privi-
lege of grumbling, and a blessed privilege it is—(a laugh)
—and that sometimes they have a good cause for their
grumbling lam quite ready to admit. But Boards of Ad-
miralty—whether that presided over by my right hon. friend
or the present one—have had these very questions relating
to the pay of captains and other ranks continually before
them, and wherever the Board sees any class of officers
whose position requires improvement, I can only say they
will not fail to give the matter due attention. Under these
circumstances I trust the house will not agree to the corn •
mission for which my hon. friend has moved. (Hear.)
Sir I. ELPHINSTONE could not regard the speech of
the ,noble lord as having satisfactorily proved that the pro-
posed commission ought not to be appointed. The noble
lord said that post captains en the reserved list would re-
ceive great advantages under his plan. He would state to
the house the services of one of those officers, and the effect
of the noble lord's plan upon his position, as the case was a
very fair sample of many. The officer in question had
served 16 years as a midshipman and mate, 17 years as a
lieutenant in the Coastguard and Coast Blockade, and seven
years as an inspecting commander of the Coastguard. For
that aggregate service of 40 years he would receive only
seven years and nine months' consideration under the noble
lord's scheme. Yet this officer had been in six different en-
counters with smugglers, had been three times left for dead,
and had an arm broken. He had served as midshipman and
mate for nearly as long a period as gentlemen born with a
silver spoon in their mouth took to attain the rank of post
captain. In his opinion, the time had come when a com-
mittee ought to be appointed to inquire into the position of
the navy, because there was ha that service very general and
well-founded discontent. Such a commission ought to be of
very wide and comprehensive character, and the inquiry held
under it ought to commence with the warrant officers, who,
from the paucity of efficient midshipmen, very frequently
had to perform the duties of officers of that rank. :Boys
were at present admitted into the navy too early and almost
with Out any education, and, in consequence, much time
elapsed before they were of any use as officers. Such a
commission as that now asked for might properly inquire
into this part of the subject and recommend such alterations
as would remove the evils which attended the present state
of things. Lieutenants did not occupy so good a position as
officers of the same rank in the army. They were allowed
no servants, and got no leave of absence toeisit theft friends,
and when appointed to the command of gunboats, although
they had to prepare returns similar in proportion to those
made out for the Royal Albert, they received an addition of
only ls. 6d. or 2s. to their pay. Tho noble lord said that he
intended to loon into the case of the post captains. It was
high time that he should do. There were now many cap-
tains and correeeanders who were catrYing =the business of
the cm :any out of their own thuds ; and he did not believe
there was a single .eaplain in our magnificent fleet who had
not a :trivets fortune who would not be glad to escape from
hie position if he could do so with honour. The expense of
`entertaining not only their own officers, but those of other
squadrons, and of foreign navies, and strangers of dis-
tinction, was so great that it must seriously diminish the
private fortunes of all captains of line-of-battle ships and
frigates. He could never see why a captain in the navy
should dine by himself, and believed that the system of
messing adopted in the army might with advantage be ine
hpAaemywei
would
taahnementionservice French
trolluced into the sister service. The right hon. baronet the
member for Droitwich had stated what were the rates of
atnhas Fnei•
rolfV theith
captaint
Ahemp ir mission of the house
American
receivedmzarli,nle7.7
perln thean-
num ; a captain in charge of a squadron, Z 1,041 ; all other
captains, £9ll 9s. 2d. ; commanders who had served five
years, £650 ss. ; those who had commanded less, .C• 588 10s.
10d.; lieutenants after 13 years, £l6B 16s. 11d. ; after 11
years, 416 13s. 4d. ; after 9 years, £395 10s. 6d. ; after 7
years, £354 3s. 4d. ; under 7 years, £312 10s. ; mates, £172
18s. 4d. Lieutenants after 13 years' service got £lB a year
more than post captains in the British navy ; junior lieute-
nants more than commanders ; and mates within a few
pounds as much as commanders. (Lord C. Paget—Read
the half-pay.] Captains on leave or waiting for orders,
which answered to our half-pay, got for the first
five years 1,900 dollars, and for the second, 2,016 dollars;
lieutenants received from 1,200 dollars to 1,450 dollars. He
supported the motion of the right hon. baronet, and honed
that the commission, if agreed to, would receive 'wide
powers to investigate the question of pay and promotion.
Sir C. NAPIER said he came down to the house with
the firm determination of opposing the right hon. baronet.
(A laugh.) Since hearing his statement, however, he had
changed his mind. He had never before heard 'any First
Lord of the Admiralty support the claims of the ("dicers of
the navy as the right hon. baronet had done, neer had he
ever listened to a fairer and more accurate statement of
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eyrwepwjarusaod
ipso
properly
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inadequate
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tatoi
remunerated.
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discipline
maintainr ll noce k
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ee
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their position by receiving their officers at table and living
in proper style. It lowered them .in the eye is both of officers