The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-21 00:00:00

CIVIL SERVICE ESTIMATES.

The charges for the colonial, consular, and other
foreign services, which occupy Class V. of the Civil
Service Estimates, amount to £484,012, an increase
of £55,302 upon the vote of last year ; but this in-
crease, which is caused by the amount of the charge
for Consols, is described as required in order to
meet .accumulated deficiencies of former grants,
and not, therefore, due to a growing expendi-
ture. The estimate opens with about a dozen
items for as many colonies, amounting to £113,441,
chiefly for the salaries of governors, magistrates,
and other functionaries, but for ecclesiastics in
the case of British North America. The charge
for forts and establishments on the western
coast of Africa, Sierra Leone, and Gambia,
and the Gold Coast, is £10,230, and for our two
youngest colonies, Labuan and British Columbia,
.£6,655 and £30,000. The charge for the latter is
less by £12,998 than last year's vote, but very little
information is given. After mention has been made
of the sums required for the salaries of the Governor
and Commissioner of Lands, and the colonial pay
of the Royal Engineers, the remaining £16,000 is
stated to be needed to repay the amount of bills
drawn by the Governor in 1859, "to meet the
various current demands inevitable at the
outset of a large new colony." These votes
(£113,441) are followed by one of £12,272 for
the emigration establishment in this country,
almost entirely for salaries for the Board
in London and emigration officers at ports of depar-
ture. Next come the two votes caused by the slave
trade; the first of £12,000, for the support of cap-
tured negroes and liberated Africans, and for con-
veyance to the West Indies ; the second, of £10,750,
for the mixed commissions established under trea-
ties with foreign Powers for suppressing the traffic
in slaves. The heaviest part of the estimate, the
consular expenditure, follows :—the vote for Con-
suls abroad is £262,229, an apparent increase
over last year's vote of no less than £105,825,
but in reality, after deducting £94,000 for
former deficiencies now made good, and allow-
ing for fees in future to be carried to the
public account, the increase is but £3,173
for the salaries deemed inadequate, and the
real charge for Consuls for the year becomes
£120,577, together with £39,000 for contingencies
or allowances for special services and journeys, in-
terpreters and guards, chapels and burial grounds
and hospitals, and some office expenses. A separate
vote is taken in addition for the establishments in
China, Japan, and Siam, £23,320; but in truth the
expenditure of the year will be £63,320, there
being £40,000 in hand, which will be applied to
this service. In China, Hongkong and the nine
consulates cost £47,538, the three establishments in
Japan £10,903, and Siam £4,879. The last vote,
£50,000 for extraordinary expenses of Ministers at
foreign Courts (£lO,OOO of it to make good a defi-
ciency on former grants), is for telegrams, journeys,
interpreters, and the like, Turkey taking the lion's
share. Class VI. of the Sivil Service Estimates
comprises the superannuations and retired allow-
ances which are voted annually by Parliament,
with a number of gratuities for charitable and
other purposes, the total amount being £253,610,
an increase of £10,816 above last year. The bulk of
the vote and the increase of the year are in the first
item of £177,713 for superannuations and retired
allowances. The largest addition to the superan-
nuations within the past 12 months is one in the
department of the Court of Queen's Bench—a grant
of £2,000 a year to " the Queen's coroner and at-
torney." A very large portion of these annual pay-
ments arises out of the revision of offices, which
has brought such a large burden in the shape of
compensations, Some of which appear in the ac-
counts of the Consolidated Fund, while others are
paid out of the revenue of the office reformed, and
to the extent of about £77,000 a year they are in
this estimate, the other £lOO,OOO of the first vote
being for superannuations. Two votes which fol-
low are in course of gradual diminution—one of
£1,140 for Toulonese and Corsican emigrants, Ame-
rican Loyalists, and others who have claims for ser-
vices performed ; and of £3,353 for Polish refugees,
and distressed Spaniards who rendered service in
the Peninsular war. There is also a vote of £4,081
for charges formerly on the civil list, well described
as " miscellaneous," for they include (the chief
item) charities to necessitous persons in Scotland,
allowance to French refugees, aid to Lampeter
College, repairs of Berwick-bridge, and some other
things. A vote follows of £325 in aid of the Refuge
for the Destitute (for 25 young females received on
their release from prison), succeeded by one of much
greater magnitude—£ls,B6s for hospitals in Dub-
lin, being " the sums recommended by the commis-
sion of inquiry appointed in 1855 in pursuance of
the report of the committee of the House of Com-
mons of 1854." For these hospitals the entire
sum stated to be expected from voluntary sub-
scriptions during the year is little over £l,OOO,
in addition to grants from the corporation
amounting to £6OO, and the interest of some
endowments settled upon them; they appear
to depend mainly for their support upon
Parliament. There is also a vote of £8,847 for
charitable allowances in Ireland ; the authority for
half the vote is that it is or was "charged on the
Concordatum fund," and the rest of the items are of
a mixed character, including grants to the Hospital
for Incurables, the Female Orphan-house, the Insti-