The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-18 00:00:00

THE BoYAL ENGINEERS.

A writer in a contemporary says :—The effi-
cieney of our army has been so much promoted by
the attention that has been directed in your
columns to our shortcomings, that 1 beg your as-
sistance now to draw your attention to the Royal
Engineer Establishment at Chatham.
This establishment was formed during the course
of the Peninsular war, in consequence of the im-
mense disadvantage under which our operations
there were carried on, owing to our having no corps
capable of executing the mechanical duties re-
quired in conducting sieges or in the field.
When our army took the field in Portugal, and
commenced that series of campaigns of which the
defence of the lines of Torres Vedras and the cap-
ture of Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajoz were the
most important steps, there was not a man among
them who had ever made a gabion or a fascine, or
built a battery, until taught to doso then and there
by the officers of engineers ; and sapping was, of
course, out of the question.
The delay, loss of life, and failure that resulted
from this deficiency was so strongly brought be-
fore the Government that the establishment above-
mentioned was created, and nobody would have
supposed that we should take the field under the
same disadvantageous circumstances again—an
opinion that was justified by the great eficiency
it attained under Sir Charles Pasley as a school of
instruction.

But at length evil times came and the result
was that when we sent our army to Turkey and
the Crimea the men were at first starting so ig-
norant of their duties that, as is shown in the offi-
cial report of the Royal Engineer operations, most
of the Sappers had to be taught on the spot how to
sap, and how to make gabions and fascines, as if
there had never been an Engineer establishment,
and jnst as they had been in the Peninsular war.
Since that time matters have grown worse if pos-
sible, as is well known to many connected with the
establishment, who have no power to remedy the
evils they lament, Instead of each man having as
formerly three months or more instruction in field
works, sapping, &c., a month's pontooning, a month
&c., many a man leaves who has never seen
a pontoon bridge formed, a gallery of mine driven,
or had perhaps more than a few days' instruction
in field works, and the men are therefore no more
Sappers and Engineers than they are sailors.
The causes are easily found-1. That the great
purpose of the establishment as a school of instruc-
tion in engineering is nowadays entirely subordi-
nated to the ordinary infantry duties of the garri-
son, which men under instruction should no more
be made to take part in than a recruit is who has
not learnt his drill ; so that out of a year that a man
spends there, during which he should be acquiring
that instruction which he can gain nowhere else, he
probably spends more than half in field days, garri-
son, guardmounting, rifle practice, and other such
duties, which he could learn at any station he might
afterwards be sent to, or at Chatham, either before
or after his instruction in his speciality was finished.
2, That half-taught men are draughted off from the
companies under instruction to fill up vacancies i❑
detachments at other stations.

If as much care were taken to make the Sappers
good engineers as to make them good rifle shots
there would be r.mthing to complain of. By the rules
laid down by the Commander-in-Chief, no man in
the army can escape being thoroughly instructed
and practisQd in the use of the rifle. Each man in
the army, Sappers and all, must pass through a cer-
tain number of days' drill on first entering as a re-
cruit, and must shoot a certain number of rounds at
a mark every year, or his Royal Highness will know
the reason why. The Artillery are cared for in a
similar way, in respect of gun practice; but the
Engineers, whose specialty requires more careful
instruction, which can scarcely ever be supplied if
omitted at first, are so little a subject of solicitude
that they have arrived at the condition I have at.
tempted to describe.

A B2NEVOLENT ANNUITY SOCIETY,

For the last three weeks, Mr. Selfe, one of the
magistrates at the Thames Police Court, Stepney,
has been prosecuting an extrajudicial inquiry, re-
lating to the affairs of the United Kingdom Benevo-
lent Annuity Fund and the United Kingdom Mu-
tual Annuity Society. The magistrate has acted
with great zeal and discretion in the matter, and
as the names of several persons, both lay and cleri-
cal, appeared to be implicated in a fraud on many
benevolent persons, he did not make the case public
until it was imperatively necessary, and then only
by addressing the reporters as follows :—" I have
received several letters on the subject of the pro-
ceedings of the United Kingdom Benefit Annuity
Fund or Society. lam pursuing an inquiry into
the matters complained of, and the ends of justice
may, I think, be promoted if those interested in this
fund will promptly communicate to me all facts
relating to it within their knowledge. I have also
to request that my wishes may be made known
through the public journals." Mr. Selfe's request
was made public, and he has since received numer-
ous communications, revealing a great amount of
duplicity and fraud on one side, and misery and
blighted hopes on the other. The most prominent
of the numerous applicants was the daughter of a
Mrs. Johnstone, who was elected an annuitant by
the subscribers to the United Kingdom Benevolent
Annuity Fund. Lady Charlotte Proby kindly
subscribed upwards of £lOO to the fund for the pur-
pose of securing the election of Mts. Johnstone, an
aged widow, and obtaining for her an annuity of
£lO. Mrs. Johnstone's daughter said her mother's
annuity had been stopped about two years, that it
was formerly paid through the hands of the Rev.
F. Pearce Pocock, of Church House, Bow, and
Chaplain to the City of London Union, and that
she could obtain no satisfactory explanation from
the rev. gentleman respecting the stoppage of the
annuity, which had been productive of great
misery to her mother, who was in want and ob-
liged to sell her furniture. Mr. Selfe said this
was not the first complaint made to him, though not
publicly, J f the proceedings of the United Kingdom
Benevolent Annuity Fund or Society, and he would
immediately write to Mr. Pocock on the subject,
and he did so to this effect :

" Rev. Sir,—The daughter of Mrs. Johnstone has com-
plained to me that an annuity of £lO was purchased for her
mother in 1856, in the United Kingdom Benevolent An-
nuity Fund, which was for some time paid to her by your
hands, but that payment was discontinued, and she can get
no explanation from you or e'sewhere why this is the case.
She says the office is shut up. As your name appears in
the printed list of the committee, and you also was chap-
lain, I shall be glad if you can favour me with some ex-
planation of what has become of the society, and of Mrs.
Johnstone's annuity in particular. I may remark that this
is not the first t me I have had occasion to communicate
with you respecting the society. It is essential that any
institution professing to be patronised by influential persons
should give the fullest information of its proceedings, and
I think it right to let you know that unless a satisfactory
explanation is furnished the matter will certainly not rest
where it now is.
" I am, Rev. Sir, your faithful servant,
!'ll. S. SELFE.
" The Rev. F. Pearce Pocock, Church House, Bow."
To this communication the magistrate received
the following reply
" Alfred House, Bow, May 28, 1860.
" Sir.—The condition of the United Kingdom , Benevo-
lent Annuity Fund is so complicated that it is difficult to
understand, and much more so to explain. Before enter-
ing more fully into the subject, I may premise that the
society is not an assurance office for selling annuities, but

a charity for collecting moneys to purchase them, and
that Mrs. Johnstcne's annuity was not paid to her by my
hands, but by the secretary, at the offices of the institu-
tion ; but as I have taken some interest in her, I have
occasionally assisted her, at her own request, by advancing
a portion of her annuity before it became due, she autho-
rising me to receive it from the office. In these cases I re-
ceived the money I had advanced, and left the remainder
for herself to take. The present non •payment of the an.
nuities rests, not with the charity, but the Anglo-Austra-
lian Assurance Company, in which they were secured and
by which they were paid. That company subsequently
amalgamated with the British Provident, in Chatham-
place. Not being a shareholder, or in any way connected
with either of these offices, I am not aware of the precise
conditions of the amalgamation ; but the directors of the
British Provident gave the charity offices free of charge, as
the Anglo-Australian had previously done, and both they
and their secretary otherwise acknowledged and acted on
the agreement between the charity and the latter company.
But when the annuities became due, one causeafter another
was assigned for deferring the payment till the committee
of toe charity saw no alternative but to recover the several
amounts by legal process. They consulted counsel and were
advised that as they were not parties to the amalgamation,
their only course would be to proceed against the Angle-
Australian, and when they had obtained judgment, they
might then recover from the British Provident. This course
was therefore adopted. But, as I understand from the
solicitors, the proceedings are constantly hindered by the
defendants raising technical obstructions. In the mean-
time, the British Provident has amalgamated with the
British Nation, which, though I believe a strong office,
places another obstruction in the way of a speedy settle-
ment. As life donors to a certain amount obtain, in addi-
tion to their votes for life, the right to nominate a recipient,
for whom an annuity shall be purchased, and subscribers
are entitled to vote for the year in proportion to their sub-
scriptions, it has been considered questionable how far
donations and subscriptions should be collected, as long as
there is the prospect of an election. Hence the charity has
no income, and therefore no means of defraying the expenses
of an office and working staff, but every information can be
obtained of Messrs. Tucker, Greville, and Tucker, of 28,
St. Swithin's-lane, the solicitors, who are conducting the
law business, and to whom I always refer any one who
wishes to obtain fuller details than I am myself able to
give.

" I have the honour to remain, Sir, your obedient ser-
vantH,
"enry Selfe Selfe, Esq." "F. PEARCE Pococx.
Mr. Selfe also communicated with the Earl of
Shaftesbury and the Bishop of Oxford, who were
represented in the printed book containing the
rules, regulations, and list of subscribers, to be the
patrons of the United Kingdom Benevolent An-
nuity Fund. Both informed the magistrate that
their names had been used without their sanction
and authority, and they had no recollection of ever
hearing of the society. The Bishop of Oxford had
also called upon the Rev. F. Pearce Pocock, to ex-
plain, if he can, how his name came to be used. The
chairman of the society was represented to be the
Rev. Ralph Buckmaster, 8.A., and the Vice Presi-
dents to be the Rev. George Pocock, LL.B. incum-
bent of St. Paul's, Marylebone, and Sir Fitzroy
Kelly, M.P., and others. Then followed a long list
of noble and titled ladies as patronesses. The Rev.
Mr. Buckmaster, of No. 16, Holland-street, Ken-
sington, in a letter, dated June 4, 1860, acknow-
ledged he was chairman, and that he lent £lOO in
order to the formation of the charity, which, with
the exception of what may have been recovered in
votes, has been lost ; that the annuities, when
obtained, were purchased in the United Kingdom
Insurance Society ; but as he never was in the
direction of that company, nor was ever connected
with any except the charitable part, he knew
nothing of the proceedins. The rev. gentleman
added, " that he resigned his post as chairman soon
after he heard of the defalcations as to the payment
of the annuitants." Some other correspondence
took place between the Rev. Mr. Buckmaster and
Selfe. The magistrate was not at all satisfied
with the Rev. Mr. Buckmaster's explanation, and in
a letter to him, dated June 9, 1860, stated that the
" United Kingdom Mutual Annuity Society" is a
mere swindle and a sham, set in motion by and
worked by the same parties who got up the United
Kingdom Benevolent Annuity Fund. I cannot find
that they ever granted any annuities, at all events,
not more than one or two, or transacted any business
whatever, except the annuities which they granted
in exchange for the moneys handed ever to them
from the United Kingdom Benevolent Annuity
Fund. I have reason to believe that all the moneys
so paid to the society by the Fund had disappeared,
and that the United Kingdom Mutual Annuity
Society had no funds whatever; indeed, as I gather
from the bankers the ' Society' and the ' Fund' were
one and the same thing under different names."
In another part of the same letter Mr. Selfe wrote
as follows :—" The annuitants have a right to look
to the committee of the fund for justice. I cannot
admit that there were no defalcations prior• to the
time when you (Mr. Buckmaster) sent in your re-
signation, in April, 1857, or that all was ' justly
done' during your time, because, by means which I
will not at present characterise, funds were found
to continue payment of the annuities up to 1858."
The magistrate corresponded and had personal in-
terviews, and eventually, on Tuesday last, he an-
nounced that he had made a most satisfactory
arrangement, and a pledge had been given that the
whole of the annuitants should be paid. A state-
ment would be made at two o'clock on Thursday
afternoon, at which time he wished the annuitants
to be present. At the appointed hour Mr. Tucker,
solicitor, of the firm of Tucker, Greville, and
Tucker, of No. 28, St. Swithin's-lane, attended.
There were several of the poor annuitants, who were
labouring under great mental anxiety, present.
In the course of a lengthened discussion,
Mr. Tucker would not pledge himself that the
award to be made by a legal gentleman of high re-
putation, to be appointed by the magistrate, would
be acted upon, and wished for a further postpone-
ment, more particularly as legal proceedings were
pending.
Mr. Selfe declined to postpone the revelations he
was bound to make, unless the arrears were paid to
the poor annuitants. That must be the first thing
done.

Mr. Tucker dared to say that would be done,
but he could not pledge himself that it should be
done.

Mr. Selfe asked if he was to understand that, if
the gentleman he was to appoint to investigate
the accounts decided that the arrears were to be
paid, and also made an award which was fair and
honourable, that his decisions would be carried out.
Mr. Tucker could not go to that extent, and
a ppeared desirous that further time should be
granted.
Mr. Selfe said that arrears were due to the an-
nuitants varying from one and a half to seven
years, and a grievous wrong had been done. The
benevolent and personal friends of candidates had
subscribed funds for the purchase of thirty annui-
ties of £lO each, and the funds had disappeared. It
was scandalous and cruel. The personal friends of
a poor woman, named Willis, had subscribed £llO,
and she was elected an annuitant. The money was
squandered, wasted, lost, and the society was two
years in arrear. The misery inflicted upon many
poor women was heartrending. He had been mis-
directed and played with. He had been given fully
to understand that the just claims of the annuitants
would be satisfied, and he was now met with
evasions, and delay was sought for. He meant no
disrespect to the highly-respectable solicitor before
him, for he was only following his instructions, but
he would not allow any more shuffling. He would
not be played with. Ho would not be put off
again, unless he had a distinct understanding that
the arrears would be paid, and that the just claims
of the suffering parties would be conceded in a fair
and honourable manner. If some assurance of that
kind was not given, he should put all the documents
before him in the hands of those who would make
them public.

Mr. Tucker said if that were done it would be
unfortunate for the annuitants, and ex parte state-
ments would go forth to the world.
Mr. Selfe said the statements would not be ex
parte. He had heard, corresponded with, and
seen all parties. He had no hesitation in say-
ing a gross fraud had been perpetrated. The
names of noble and distinguished persons had
been paraded without authority, and thousands
of pounds had been subscribed in consequence.
The whole of that money was gone. There
were thirty annuitants of £lO each, and they
were two years in arrear. One lady had sub-
scribed £l5O, to secure an annuity for a destitute
woman. That was gone. He hell. in his hand
letters from Lord Shaftesbury and the Bishop of
Oxford repudiating the society, and stating that
their names were used without their authority.
Every member of the committee was bound in
honour to see that justice was rendered to all the
annuitants. He was not quite sure that he had
not neglected his duty in postponing an exposure
of the parties.
Mr. Tucker asked for a fortnights delay, and said
he had no objection to make an advance to the an-
nuitants without taking it as a payment on account
of the arrears.
Mr. Selfe—One gentleman, a member of the com-
mittee, who waited upon me, said he could pay the
whole amount due an,' not miss it.
Mr. Tucker said he was only authorised to go to
a certain extent. He believed if the matter was post-
poned all would be satisfactorily settled. Although
not pledging himself to anything, he believed his
clients would act justly.
The conversation was prolonged for some time,
and the magistrate in vain attempted to obtain some
decided pledge from Mr, f ucker to bind his clients.
At length a delay of
ftwodiu
a7sckwearstgoratankteeda, aconpdythoef
magistrate requested Mr.
the following proposal, and return an answer on
Saturday :

In the matter of the United Kingdom Benevolent An-
nn'lty Fund. Mr. Tucker undertakes, on behalf of his
clients, that all shall be done for the annuitants to which
Mr. Iliffe, to be app 'lilted by the magistrate, shall say they
aro in honour and good faith entitled."
On Saturday Mr. Selfe stated that four of the
annuitants (Mrs. Fisher), Mrs. O'Connor, Mrs.,

Johnstone, and Mrs. Phipps, had been paid their
arrears to the amount of £BO, by Mr% Tucker, from
whom he had received the following letter :

" 28, St. Swithin's dane, June 16, 1861
" Dear Sir,—United Kingdom, &c. As my clients de-
cline authorising me to sign the memorandum drawn up
by you on Thursday, it is needless for me to attend before
you to day, and as an act of courtesy, I think it duo to you
to state their decision, and to report that I am still willing
to communion e with Mr. Iliffe, or any other person, with
a view to an adjustment of the matter in a fair and honour-
able manner.--I am, sir, your obedient servant,
" JOHN TUCKER."
Addressed "H. S. Selfe, Esq., Thames Police-
court, Stepney."
Mrs. Beard, an annuitant of £lO, who was elected
by the subscribers to tbe fund, said the arrears due
to her amounted to £37 10s., and she was in great
distress.
Mr. Selfe—You are the fifth person who has
applied to me this day on the same subject.
Mrs. Beard, in a tone of the greatest anxiety,
asked the magistrate if the matter would be satis-
factorily adjusted ?
Mr. Selfe—My good woman, I am net so sure of
it as I was last Tuesday. I have no satisfactory
assurance for the annuitants at present. I have a
pile of letters on the subject, and I will not flinch
from my duty. Take this letter to Mr. Tucker,
and if he pays you anything give a receipt simply
for the money, saying, I have received so much
money. Nothing more. Do not sign your rights
away.

Mr. A. J. Baker, of No, 42, Holywell-street,
Millbank, Westminster, represented that his wife
was entitled to an annuity of £25, bought of the
United Kingdom Mutual Annuity Society in 1853.
It had nut been paid for two years, and he and his
wife had been put to great pecuniary inconvenience.
His wife's sister was also entitled to an annuity
from the same society of the same amount, but her
non-payments were to a great extent in consequence
of her living in Australia. She had only that at
present to depend upon, and a family of five children
to support.' He had applied to the Rev. F. Pearce
Pocock, at Bow, times he could not number, and
was always put off with the most paltry excuses.
Mr. Selfe said it was a lamentable' case, but there
was this difference as regarded the two annuieies
of £25 ea oh and the others. The annuities of Mr.
Baker's wife and sister-in-law were purchased with
their own money, those of the other annuitants
with money subscribed by the benevolent. It would
not become him to interfere in Mr. Baker's case,
and he would advise him to consult a respectable
solicitor.
Mr. Baker thanked the magistrate and retired.
Mr. Selfe wished it to be distinctly understood
that the two bankrupt societies had no connection
with, and were never allied to, the United King-
dom Life Assurance Society, Waterloo-place, Pall-
Mall, which was a respectable and solid concern,
conducted by a gentleman of the highest integrity.
The prospectus of the United Kingdom Benevo-
lent Annuity Fund states that it was " founded to
give permanent relief by allowing annuities from
£lO to £3O to indigent persons of all classes, and
of either sex." The following are the names of
the committee :—The Rev. R. N. Buckmaster,
chairman ; Phillip Burrows, Esq., Thomas Fred.
Clay, Esq., Rev. F. P. Pocock, M.A., G. Pocock,
Esq., F. Drosier, Esq., John Savage, Esq., George
Sawyer, Esq., M.D., Rev. J. K. Tucker, 8.A.. J.
H. Tucker, Rev. E. Francis, E. Turnor, John Wer-
theimer, Esq., and T. T. Williams, Esq., M.D.;
secretary, C. V. Coleman, Esq.
The directors of the United Kingdom Mutual
Annuity Society, registered under the Friendly So-
cieties Act, were the following :—Mr. Dawson, Mr
Drosier, Mr. J. P. Pocock, Rev. F. Pearce Pocock,
J. R. Tucker, chairman, J. H. Tucker, Mr. Smythe,
Dr. Williams, and Mr. Wertheimer. Six of the
nine directors were on the committee of the United
Kingdom Benevolent Fund.