The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-28 00:00:00

Another was that at all the great commercial ports training
ships should be placed for boys, some of whom should af-
.
terwards enter the navy, and saes', of them be at
liberty to join the merchant service. Men the Admiralty
came to consider those two suggestions it ap-
peared to them that they would have to do something more
than place a vessel at each of the large ports —that they
would have to attach to each of those vessels a small brig
or yacht in which the lads should go to sea, and so have
opportunities for practice in seamanship. Under the cir-
cumstances he had thought it would be well to pause before
they adopted in the large commercial ports a system of
training schools such as had been recommended. But,
ex in
the meantime, he had thought it desirable to try the -
periment on a different scale—namely, to have training
ships stationed at Portsmouth end Plymouth for boys, with
small vessels attached, so that during the whole summer
the lads might be going out to sea, and rendering themselves
really efficient seamen. He believed that would be the right
course to adopt as a commencement, and the Admiralty had
accordingly decided on giving practical effect to it. Another
recommendation of the manning commission related to sea-
men crunners, and certainly nothing was more important
than good navel gunnery.
The Admiralty had made ar-
rangements for giving increased pay to seamen gunners,
had appointed gunnery lieutenants red instructors of gun-
nary, so that they had done everything they could to give
effect to the recommendations of the commission. The com-
missioners had reported that the supply of provisions to the
seamen was too small, and the Admiralty, acting upon the
suggestion, had increased the quantity issued to the men.
Free grants of bedding and clothing were now also given,
the practise having been begun by the late Board of Admi-
ralty, in accordaace with the recommendations of the com-
mission. With respect to the suggestion that the seamen
should be paid at shorter intervals, that question required
some consideration, which it was now receiving; but all
those men who had entered the service during the present
year had received the bounty, which, perhaps, met the views
of the commissioners, that an allowance should be given to
the men at a time when they most required it. With re-
spect to warrant officers the commissioners recommended
that certain alterations should be made, and that pensions
should be granted to their widows. The Admiralty thought
the propositions were just, and had acted upon them. So
also with respect to petty officers,—they were to receive Fl
allowance upon being promoted. The number of marines
had been increased by 2,000 men last year, and by 1,000 this
year. thus raising the force from 15,000 to 18,000. It was
not desirable to increase the force too rapidly, because of the
difficulty of drilling alarge number of recr u its. He next came
to the coastguard, the importance of which force he fully ad-
mitted. That force had been increased this year by 500
seamen, and the number of seamen would be continually
increased as the landsmen serving in that body were pen-
sioned off. He had next to refer to the great question of a
naval reserve. That reset .e at present consisted of the
coastguard, of the Royal Navy Coast Volunteers, and the
new reserve force created last summer. There were at pre-
sent in the coastguard serving on shore only about 3,200
seamen. Ix the district coastguard ships about 1.800 more,
making a total of 5,000 seamen fit for service at sea. In the
Royal Naval Coast Volunteers there were of men who had
been drilled and were ready for immeiate embarcation
in
case of emergency about 6,600. It must be remembered,
however, that in creating the new force many. men had been
attracted to it who would otherwise have joined the Coast
Volunteers. The scheme of a naval reserve was one at-
tended by many difficulties, end required the combined ac-
tion of the Royal Navy and the mercantile marine. He had
been told by those well acquainted with the commercial
marine that it the Admiralty trusted entirely to naval offi-
cers to raise the force they would fail, ;nom the suspicions
that would be enter tarn Iby the merchant seamen. He,
being desieous to avail himself of the assistance of
masters in the commercial marine, applied to the Board
of Trade, and the officers of that department had exhibit
great zeal end taken great pains to promote his object.
The regulations which had been drawn up had,he b,liev- 1,
been generally approved, but he had felt it his duty to mike
certain restrictions. Thus he had restricted the entry for
the present to able seamen. Ho had been told if he wanted
30,000 men it would not do to restrict the entries to able
seamen. lie admitted that statement, but '4' it had been
announced that on a given day the Admiralty were prepared
to receive all wile mielat choose to enter,—whether able or
ordinary seamen-the number might have been too large to
allow of the whole being drilled at once. He had therefore
thought it best in the first instance to confine the entries to
able seamen, and if they succeeded in getting good men the
force would become popular, and they could take more
volunteers as they were able to di :11 them. The liberality
of the AO -niraltv and of Parliament had created the sus-
picion of the sailors. For many years schemes of a reserve
had been in agitation, but the objection always was that the
country would pay the bounty, but would not get the force.
Last year the offer of £6, and pay while serving, was made,
and the force only to be celled to serve upon occasions of
great emergency. lie quite agreed with the noble earl that
no Government should use the reserve, except in case of a
great national danger or critical emergency. The particular
emergency could not be defined beforehand, but before the
men of the reserve could be called upon to embark there
must be an order in Council and a special pro-
clamation addresSed to the reserve. This the
men in that force could only be called upon
to serve after a decision eof the Cabinet ; and
under circumstances which made it almost certain that
Parliament, if not then sitting, must be immediately as-
sembled. At first. however, seamen thought the tame
were too good, and were suspicious that as soon as they
had joined the Government intended to ship them off to
China. There was no ground, of course, for such doubts, and
as to China that was the most popular station just now.
Indeed, had he had five times the number of ships to send
to Chins, he would have had no difficulty in manning them.
The new scheme only came into operation on Jemmy 1,
and, despite its restriction to able seamen, the natural sus-
picions of the men, and the difficulty of all at once under-
standing the arrangements, he believed about 40 or 50 wore
entering every week, and if that went on for a short time
longer the country,would have the nucleus of an efficient
reserve. The noble earl had suggested that the reserve
ought to be formed of sailors who had served 10 years in the
fleet, their places being supplied by bringing in ot'ier men.
This, however, would greatly injure the efficiency of the
service, for the men who had been 10 years afloat were some
of the best men in the navy, and could not at present be
spared. Perhaps hereafter, as the service increased in po-
pularity, this plan might be resorted to, but at present it
was necessa*y to proceed gradually, otherwise the country
would be committed to a large manly and the efficiency of
the navy might at the Beene time be greatly impaired.
Under the system he had adopted none were entered but
able seamen and those who were likely to be really effec-
tive. It had been object- I that men were required to be
doubly approved, first by a shipping master and then by a
naval officer. To same extent that objection was we"-
founded, but if you tried to raise this reserve by naval
officers alone the men would not join. It was found
necessary to deal with merchant eailors by those to whom
they were accustomed. The responsibility of accepting
or rejecting any men must rest, of course, on tho naval
officer, but arrangements had been made by which the
naval officer now attended along with the ship-
ping master, so that, although 'a double approval was
still necessary, only a single attendance was required on
the part of the men, The noble earl complain:4 that 2;1,
days training was quite inadequate. The same complaint
had been made respecting the 28 days' training to which the
militia were subjected. It was true that the naval reserve
would not be made so efficient a s if they were traiaed for
several months, but it should be remembered that the coun-
try did not want to engage these men entirely, and that the
object was not to draw them away from their present em-
ployment, but to retain their services on an emergency at a
moderate cost. As able seamen only were admitted into the
reserve, be did not think it impossible to train them in gun-
nery and make them efficient for the Royal service in 22
days. Having recently attended some gunnery practice, ho
was told that a great many who took part in it had only
been in training for about three weeks. and yet had become
very efficient. This objection, therefore, ought not to weigh
with their lordsbins and lead them to condemn the system.
The noble earl had spoken of the desirability of connecting
seamen's the reserve force with a fund. No doubt, it would
be desirable, but the commission had expressed their
opinion that the object aimed at would b better attained
by means of a fund voluntarily supported! He (the Duke
of Somerset) thought that, as these
thatsmed suspicious
already, they would perhaps imagineen
hold upon them was to be establish'el by some further
compulsory pay-
ment. It had beeu thought better, therefore,atc leave
to. mix
up any such fund with the now force, but
ladytert for
voluntary adoption whenever a gc od scheme could
down. The I'vlerchant Seamen's Fund, it would be re laidn
bored, had become bankrupt, and great distrust nni,oeui
therefore exist on this point. The noble earl said there was
at present no sufficient instruction for officers or men on
board the coastguard ships. Every district ship, how_
over, had one or two gunboats attached to it, and
during most of the year these boats were sent oat
along the coast, and excellent practice was thus
afforded. There was great difficulty in securing all
the advantages which could be wished for in this way,
with a duo regard to economy. The estimates this year
were very heavy, but the chief amount was taken for mon,
and the more men introduced into the navy the wider the
basis for a future naval reserve. Ho had thought it better
to begin cautiously in the formation of a reserve; but if it
continued at its present rate of increase, some 40 or 50 men
joining it per week, and if sailors got rid of their suspicions
that they were about to be entrapped, and found that they
would be called out only on some national emergency, he
hoped before long that they would join it still more freely,
and that it would become a valuable and reliable force in
case of need. (Hear, hear.)
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH said that about 14 years
ago he was a member of a commission which had to consider
the state of the Merchant Seamen's Fund. They found it
in a bankrupt condition, through the miscalculations of
those by whom it had been established ; but the earnest
desire of the commission and of she Government which then
existed was that the fund should be re-established on a
better footing. He, indeed, when occupying the position
now held by the noble duke, had gone so far as to conceive
the design of a hospital for merchant seamen, which should
show that they, as well as the sailors in the Royal Navy,
were objects of the tenderest care and solicitude on the part
of their country. (Hear, hear.) As regarded the measure
for the establishment of this naval reserve, he confessed
that he never expected great things from it. He had
always felt that persons would be disappointed who hoped
by its means to be able at all times to lay their hands upon
a certain number of men for service in the Royal Navy,
because the best men were absent on distant voyages,
and were not at home when war was imminent. In
point of fact, however, there was at such times in this
' country a reserve which had not been duly appreciated.
People fell into two errors in speaking of the mercantile
marine. Some thought that, in theac according to
war, the whole
o,bBloloo calcu,a-
of that body of men, consisting,
tions, of 200,000 or 300,000, would be available
in the navy, while others supposed that no ;tac,:lseeerfivr%evoseurl‘dibeee
available, except
. those who actually engaged
• the fact was. this :—There was at all times in the .UNniotw'
Kingdom a very considerable body of merchant seamen un-
employed, employed, the number varying according to the season.
- That would form the reserve force of her Majesty's navy in
case of war. The moment there arose a reasonable appre-
hension, and long before a declaration of war, merchants
were afraid to send their ships to sea, and of course did not
need hands. The men were compelled to find some service,
and, being unable to do so in merchant ships, they were of
necessity forced to seek employment in the Royal Navy.
The number of men unemployed at the commencement of
- the next war would be infinitely greater than at the com-
mencement of former wars, because, in consequence of the
very narrow balance between our naval force and that of the

French it would be impossible, at the beginning of the
war, to keep up our convoys to enable merchants to make
their voyages. -The navigation of the seas by merchants
would ly; stopped, and a great many men employed in the
naval service would then be disposable here for her Majesty's
service. The same thing would occur in every part of the
world, for the merchant would be afraid of putting his ship
to sea unless he could receive a great degree of protection
from men of war. Therefore the men of the merchant
service in different districts abroad would be available for
service in ,the Queen's ships in the same districts ; and,
even if the proposed navel reserve should fail, still he
thought there would be that reserve which he had just
now alluded to, and of which no circumstances could
deprive this country. He must say that the account
given by the noble duke of the prospects of the naval
reserve was a great deal better than he had expected ;
and, considering that the Admiralty had confined themselves
in the first instance to accepting as volunteers able seamen,
he had no doubt, recollecting how comparatively few were
the numbers of that body, they might congratulate them-
selves on having established a system which would produce
on paper a resnectable force. He was, however, under the
apprehension that, in consequence of the men being engaged
in distant voyages, the number available in war wor'd not
be so great as he should desire to see. There was one thing
he would venture to recommend, and that was the Admi-
ralty should consult Lieut. Brown, who was a perfect mas-
ter of this subject. He would likewise advise them to have
at all times in their possession an account of the number of
seamen actually in this country. The number, of course,
vat:ed at different times, tut there should be no week in
which the Government should net be aware of the total force
of the seamen in the country. He congratulated the coun-
try on the efforts made by successive Boards of Admiralty
ito mpros e the condition of the seamen. There could be no
doubt that the country bad acted with great lAisdom, libe-
rality, and benevolence towards the seamen, and he trusted
that the jealousies and suspicions entertained by the latter
would gradually cease to exist, when the seamen observed,
as they must of necessity soon perceive, the kind manner in
which they were dealt with by successive Boards of Admi-
ralty and by Parliament. (Hear, hear.)
!ORDNANCE SURVEY OF RAILWAYS.
The Earl of POWIS asked the Under-Seertary for War
what provision was made for marking on the complete
sheets of the Ordnance Survey new lines of railway as they
were opened for traffic ?
The Earl DE GREY and RIPON replied that officers
went about the country from time to time to survey different
lines as they were made. The reports of those surveys were
sent to the office at Southampton, and then the plates from
which the sheets were printed were altered by laying down
the new lines. Sveys were being continually made, and
the stock of prinuterd sheets kept on head was extremely
small.
Their lord ships then aijom aed.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—(YEsTEBDAY.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.

NEW MEMBER.

Captain STACKPOLE took the oeis and his seat as mem-
ber for the borough of Ennis.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The following bills were considered and ordered for
third reading :—Blacklorm Gas, Silverdale and Newcastle
Railway, and West Middlesex ater.
PETITIONS.
Several petitions were presented against the uncondi-
tional abolition of church rates ; in favour of the reduction
of the malt duties ; against the proposed system of li3ensing
eating-houses and coffee-shops for the sale of wine ; in
favour of the repeal of the duty on paper ; for the reduc-
tion of the duty on tea and sugar ; praying that the income
tax might not be imposed on incomes under £2OO a-year ;
against the highways bill, &c.
MR. GLADSTONE'S MISSION TO THE lONIAN
ISLANDS.

Mr. MAGUIEIii, gave notice that, on an early day after
the Easter holidays, he would move for the produU.lon of
any papers in the possession of Government in reference to
this matter.

:THE SERPENTINE.
Mr. COWPER gave notice that to-morrow he would
move for the appointment of a select committee to inquire
into the best means to be adopted for cleansing the Serpen-
tine. (Hear, hear.)
ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION (IRELAND).
Mr. VANCE moved for a return of all annual salaries
paid under the Irish Ecclesiastical Commission, with the
names of the recipients and the situations they hold, and
the number of years' sei vice in every instance; and, de-
tailed account of the income and expenditure of the Com-
mission for 1858.—Ordered.
THE STATUE OF RICHARD CCEUR DE LION.

In reply to Mr. RANKLY,
Mr. COWPER said that some unavoidable delay had
arisen in reference to the erection of this statae.
WINE LICENSES.
Lord E. THYNNE asked the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer whether magistrates would have any control ovez
licenses to sell wine granted to confectioners, eating-house
keepers, end others in towns, boroughs, or rural districts,
and, if not, what remedy was proposed ageOnst those per-
sons if they kept disorderly houses or harboured persons of
bad character?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
most satisfactory answer he could give to the 'question
would be a general one. Before he would ask the house to
come to any vote in regard to this matter, he would
laf on the table of the house the whole of
the regulations which the Government proposed to
introduce in respect to licensing eating-houses. It was
certainly most desirable that magistrates should have a
power, not only with reference to granting licenses, but
that facilities should be afford_ 1 them of enforcing the law
against persons who conduct_ I their business in a disorderly
manner.