The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-13 00:00:00

the cost of these vessels, nearly £600,000 a piece,
would be entirely thrown away. (Hear, hear.) Having
now stated his views, he should not further trespass
on the house than to express his confident hope that under
the noble duke at the head of the Admiralty, the noble lord
the secretary, and the noble lord the head of the adminis-
tration, all of whom had such a deep interest in the effi-
ciency of the navy, and also with Sir Richard Dundee for
lest naval lord—a man who was unrivalled in his position—
the subject which he had introduced would not be neglected.
He ventured to ask for a committee to inquire into our naval
administration, with a view of putting it in such a state of
efficiency as that England, who expected so much from her
navy, might not be disappointed in the day of trial.
Lord C. PACKET, having complimentedthe gallant admiral
on his moderation, declared that the present Board of Admi-
ralty had no disposition to evade any legitimate inquiry.
He would remind the house that a committee was sitting
on the piers and harbours, respecting which his hon. and
gallant friend was under a mistake in saying that he (Lord
C. Paget) had opposed the bill. He had admitted the prin-
ciple of the bill but had objected to the details. They were
then about to appoint a committee on transport ships, and
also the committee on the gunboats, to which he had not
offered any objection. There were at the present time three
inquiries going on with the different branches of the Admi-
ralty duties, not one of which had been opposed by the
Admiralty itself. Besides this, a royal commission had
lately been appointed to inquire into the mast department,
and he trusted the result of that commission would be that
wherever improvement was required it would be carried
out. He was not prepared to say that he thought the pre-
sent system as satisfactory as could be wished, but at the
same time this was not the moment for him to enter into the
merits or demerits of the system. All he could say was that
if he were called upon to give evidence, he should give it
with the utmost frankness and candour. There were, there-
fore, four inquiries going en into the various branches of
the Admiralty business, all of which had received the full
approbation of the board ; but his hon. and gallant friend
was not satisfied with that, and wished for an inquiry into
the constitution of the Admiralty Board itself. He thought
that as there was a very important inquiry now going on
into the constitution of the War-office and military depart-
ments, and, as ho understood, although he had only heard
it from rumour, that there were very many great authori-
ties who, whilst his hon. and gallant friend was for chang-
ing the constitution of the Admiralty, considered the ten-
dency was rather to assimilate the War-office to the Admiralty
—(no, no)—at all events, he thought it would be advisable
under the circumstances to await the report of the committee
of inquiry going on with regard to the management and
control of the War Department. He did not gather from

the observations of his hon. and gallant friend that he
found fault with the Admiralty beyond these particular
branches to which he (Lord C. Paget) had alluded. He

believed the gist of the hon. and gallant member's argu-
ment was that the whole board, with the exception of the
First Lord, should be composed of naval men. In the first
view no doubt that looked very well. He might be excused,
as a naval man, for having the highest respect for his
brother officers, and he certainly had every reason to believe
that they performed their duties, in whatever situation
they were placed, as well as anybody else. (Hear, hear.)
Bat the military duties of the Admiralty, so to speak,
formed but a small portion of the general business of the
board. The hon. and gallant gentleman seemed to have
overlooked the vast amount of social duties imposed on the
Board of Admiralty, and he (the noble lord) would there-
fore give a little sketch of those duties irrespective alto-
gether of the purely naval duties. He would speak first of
its municipal duties. The board had the management of
all piers and harbours, and the dealing with all the tidal
waters of the United Kingdom entailed a vast amount of
business. Until very lately they had the packet duties also
to perform, but of these they had now been- relieved with
great advantage, not only to the board, but to the country.
With regard to the civil duties of the board, first of all they
were merchants. They purchased a vast mass of raw ma-
terial.—(An Hog. MEMBER—They don't sell.) They
sold old stores—(hear)—and among their purchases were
timber, copper, coals, hemp, and a variety of other articles.
They were also great manufacturers almost of every trade
from great anchors down to the minutest nails, and they
were shipbuilders in a very extended sense of the term. All
these matters and each of them were under the control of
a lord of the Admiralty. His hon. and gallant friend had

made a little mistake in leading the house to suppose the

chip-building department was not under any particular
lord. It was entirely under the first sea lord of the Ad-
miralty. The board also purchased an immense amount of
provisions not only for the navy, but for the army and
other public departments; and they were chemists, for
they purchased all the medicines for the great bulk of the
feet, and for our more distant stations. These were duties
which the house must admit were entirely of a civil nature.
(Hear.) Then came the scientific duties. They were as •

tronomers, for they provided all the scientific instruments
necessary for the guidance of the mariner ; and they were
hydrographers, for they had to survey every sea on the
globe. They were also architects, having to construct vast
docks, barracks, and hospitals, and in fact buildings of
every nature. Ile (Lord C. Paget) was ready to maintain
that the Admiralty business as carried out by the board
had very many advantages over any other department. The
whole of these duties and a vast mass of other business to
which ho had not adverted, were so interwoven with one
another that if the officers were not to meet daily at the

beard to discuss important measures, the effect would be
that they would have one officer carrying out works with-
out the knowledge of the board. Ho had endeavoured to
show the working of the Board of Admiralty. There were
two important principles belonging to the board. It had the
power of acting with suddenness and secrecy in all matters
where suddenoss and secrecy were required, and in all mat-
ters where ventilation was required the Admiralty had
equal power to deliberate carefully. He would now
refer to its military duties. The First Lord had in his
hands a very important privilege, and when the hon. and
gallant gentleman wished to touch the constitution of the
Admiralty, he should bear in mind that promotion in the
navy, from top to bottom, with the exception of the ap-
pointment of flag officers—all promotions and appointments
to ships of every description, were in the gift of the First
Lord. (Hear, hear.) He thought it was a very important
thing that the First Lord should have the power of these
promotions. Whereas in the army promotion generally
went by purchase, and in some branches of it by seniority,
promotion in the navy was by choice, and the First Lord
had the whole power in his hands. He maintained that if
they were to put that power into the hands of us, al men,
they would be running a very great risk. (Hear, hear.)
Ho was far from saying there were not many naval officers
who would conduct that patronage with the strictest im-
partiality, but he maintained that those who had spent their
Jives in the service must have necessarily a great number
of personal friends and followers, and they would be liable
in the office of First Lord to be pressed by many considers.
titers of that nature which the First Lord was entirely clear
from now. (Hear, hear.) He might add that he was
fraakly stating his own opinion with regard to these mat-
ters.. A very strong opinion had been lately given with
respect to Board meetings. He referred to the opinion given
by thie dockyard committee, with regard to the officers of the
yard 3. They found that there was not sufficient personal
corm nunication the one with the other, and they recom-
mended morning meetings at the dockyards with the view
of carrying out their plans in common. He had now
touched upon all the objections which he believed had been
made as to the present constitution of the Board of Admi-
ralty. He trusted his hon. and gallant friend would not
push this matter to a division, as there were at the present
time s'everal inquiries going on with regard to the Board of
Admiralty, and also an important inquiry as to the consti-
tution of the War Department. If the hon. and gallant
gentleman should persevere, he (Lord C. Paget) was afraid
he must, on the part of Government, oppose the motion.
Mr. B. OSBORNE said he never heard a more practical
or sensible speech than that made by the gallant admiral.
He never made a suggestion against the present system of
promotion, nor that the First Lord of the Admiralty
should be a naval man. His motion was simply for a
select committee to inquire into the constitution of the
Board of Admiralty. The noble lord's answer was tha t
there were four commissions already. Then he said that
the Admiralty were engaged in many trades, and the
country had a right to say that the board were "A Jack
of all trades, and master of none." But who was to blame
for issuing all those commissions ? Why, the noble lord
himself had done more to bring discredit on the board than
any member of the house. Did he not, in that house, itn-
pea3h the Board of Admiralty for having wasted £11,000,000
in five years ? After that statement, the noble lord was
bound to second the motion of the gallant admiral. He (Mr.
Bernal Osborne) would support that motion, because ho
thought it would do a great deal of good, and tend to relieve
the board from many charges brought against it by the
noble lord himself. In fact the noble lord had given that
evening the strongest reasons for granting the commission ,
to inquire into the constitution of the Board of Admiralty.
He was surprised at the noble lord taking the present
cruse,, as, on a former occasion, he spoke in strong terms of I
Lae neeesaity of an inquiry into the constitution of the I
board.

Lord A. PAGET denied having said so.
Mr. 13.0 SBORNE—WeII, when the noble lord made the
charge of 111,000,000 having been wasted by the board, he
was bound to have asked for an inquiry. He (Mr. B.
Osborne) mould vote in support of the motion, and, in his
opinion, the Comptroller ought to have a seat at the board.
(hear.) There was no doubt that the navy estimates were
enormous, but the country would not grudge them if they
saw that the system was well worked. (Hear, hear.)
Colonel DICKSOR thought the reasons urged by the
noble lord against the motion were not satisfactory. He
(Colonel Dickson). would be very sorry to see the army
placed under a bos rd constituted in a manner similar to
that of the Boyd or. Admiralty. He thought that the various
duties which had to ba performed by that board could not
be properly attended to, and it ought to be inquired into
whether a more judicious arrangement could not be made.
In his opinion they cc uld not too soon have the proposed
inquiry. (Hear.)
Sir J. PAKINGTON said the charges which had been
made by the noble lord Twit year against the Board of Ad-
milubciihet;o excite unpleasant
euhnapdleniesavnert feelmiralty had tended vea
ings in the minds of t
hesi-
tated to give the noiAe lora credit for the frank and manly