The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-23 00:00:00

COST OF THE IVEEDOA INQUIRY.

A Parliamentary return, printed at the instance
of Colonel Dunne, shows that the cost of the Wee-
don Commission amounted to £9,835 Os. 6d., which
is thus accounted for :—Remuneration to Colonel
French (Commissioner), including personal, and
travelling expenses, £538 9s. 2d. ; do. of Mr. Selfe
(Commissioner), 60 days, at £5 Ss. per diem, £315 ;
do. Mr. Dew, the secretary, for his services, £324
Os.; personal and travelling expenses of Mr.:Tur-
ner, Mr. Selfe, and Mr. Dew, £157 9s. Bd. ; allow-
ances to witnesses for attendance, £l7 17s. 4d. • paid
for notes of evidence, £390 4s. 4d. ; claim of Messrs.
Qvilter, Ball, Jay, and Co., accountants, in investi-
gatiog the store accounts at Weedon, £8,039, 4s. 10d.
The Treasury auditor has reported to the Commis-
sioners of the Treasury on the above charges. Refer-
ring more especially to the enormous sum claimed
by Messrs. Quilter and Co., the auditor says, "
feel it my duty to disallow it, as having been in-
curred without authority and without reasonable
proof of necessity, and as involving, both from the
course pursued in the investigation and the high
rate of charges made by the accountants employed,
an useless and extravagant expenditure. He also
states that the report of Quilter and Co. does not
present those accurate results which might have
been expected from professional accountants, after
the expenditure of so much time and labour and that
the report "is really of no practical value." • The
auditor, it appears, wrote to Quilter and Co. for de-
tailed information with regard to their account, but
he states that all he had been able to ascertain from
them was, that the number of clerks employed from
first to last was 21, of which number, with slight
occasional interruptions, 17 were continuously em-
ployed. In answer to his inquiry respecting the
pay allowed to their clerks, they replied, " the re-
muneration paid to our clerks is a matter strictly
between them and us, a*d upon which it is not the
practice either to give or require explanation." The
auditor has, however, consulted other accountants,
and obtained the ordinary scale of charges, from
which he is enabled to report " that considerably
less than half the amount claimed by Messrs.
Quilter and Co. would afford ample remuneration
for their service, supposing that the time claimed had
been usefully employed." Upon the claim of Mr.
Selfe, who is in receipt of a salary as a police magis-
trate, the auditor thus remarks:—" The next item is
the account of Mr. Selfe, chairman of the commission,
amounting to £328. Of this account tke .sum of
£l3 is for hotel and travelling expenses; the re-
mainder is charged as-personal remuneration, at the
rate of five guineas a day for 40 days employed
in the examination of Acitnesses—viz., 21 days in
London and Weedon, 12 at Woolwich, and seven at
the Tower, £2lO ; and at the same rate for 20 days
employed at home " in perusing and abstracting
blue book in July, 1858, in perusing evidence,
drafting, revising, and considering report with my
fellow commissioners,
ie remindingsecretary,iil andacctohue om
accountants,
£105."
Com-
missioners The
ef
the auditor,Treasuryw that Mr. Selfe has a
salary as a police magistrate, omits to state that
Air. Dew, , who received three guineas per day
(exclusive of £B4 Os. 6d. for personal and
travelling expenses), is a clerk in the House
of Commons, in receipt of a fixed stipend. Messrs.
Quilter and Co. have refused to abate .any portion
of their account, but have consented fp a competent
reference on certain conditions, one of which is that
they should be allowed to withdraw the acccuut
already furnished in order to submit another at
what they term " usual charges," which they state
will give a larger claim on the Treasury. The
Treasury decline to consent to ally conditions which
could have the effect of incurring a charge which
they designate as " enormous" and " extravagant."
The matter must therefore be arranged by the hon.
member for Lambeth in committee of supply. The
report and correspondence from which the above
facts are gleaned forms an instructive, if not asatis-
factory, State paper.

On Friday the Emperor Napoleon entered 11:4
538 year.
The monster American steamer Adriatic is ex-
pected at Cowes today from New York, which port she
was to leave on the 14th inst.