The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-17 00:00:00

THE REFORM BILL.

Mr. MASSEY gave notice that, on the second reading
of this bill, he would move that it be referred to a select

committee.

NAVAL EXPENDITURE.

On the motion for going into committee of supply,
Sir C. NAPIER said that before the Speaker left the
chair he wished to make a few remarkson the navy, which,
he thought, was not in a satisfactory condition. Last ses-
sion, before the change of Ministry, the present Secretary
to the Admiralty stated that a deficit of something like
£5,000,000 had been created in 11 years, and the noble lord
attributed it, or at least a large portion of it, to constant
alterations and changes of ships. But,it appeared from re-
turns on the table that, while about £90,000 was expended
upon alterations between 1830 and 1843, in the 11 years
during which Sir Baldwin Walker was Surveyor of the
Navy the outlay under that head did not amount to more
than £550. There was a great difference between the con-
version of sailing ships into screws and the capricious alte-
rations of vessels before they left the stocks. A few years
ago sailing ships became useless, and a considerable sum
had necessarily been expended on their conversion. By the
alterations which had been lately made, and which the
house, no doubt, approved, the country had at last got a
very large and powerful steam fleet, though the getting it
had cost a great deal of money. Successive Governments of
late had allowed the French to go ahead, and therefore it
became necessary to expend enormous sums of money to
enable the navy of this country to recover its proper posi-
tion. The whole of the alterations had been effected with
green timber ; and this did not agree with the old timber,
which the ships wore originally made of, so that by the
time when the whole of the navy should be converted into
screw vessels it would be requisite to begin to repair the
ships over again. Consequently the country need not ex-
pect a diminution in the Navy Estimates next year. The
country had likewise got, after a lung struggle, a Channel
Fleet; but, as far as he understood, it was indifferently
manned, and the manning of it was not yet complete. There
was a great want of petty officers, who constituted the back-
bone of the navy. This was owing to the Channel fleet being
paid off in 1857, when the potty officers were turned adrift to
get other employment how they could ; and it would now
take years to bring back the fleet to the condition in which
it was in 1857. There was also a want of midshipmen,
owing to the course pursued by the Admiralty, and the
Government ought to repair the error by borrowing from
the merchant service. He had complained over and over
again that no encouragement was given to the lower clad of
officers to rise in the navy, and that the distinction in pay
and ether matters between the petty officers and the corn-
moil seamen was not sufficient to give the former a proper
command over the ' latter. The effect was seen in the
mutinies by which the fleet had been disturbed since the
present Board of Admiralty came into office; and the last
mutiny on board the Edgar was more important than the
others, because it was begun by the marines. This was the
first time ho had heard of the marines rising in mutiny
against their officers, and unless those strict and severe mea-
sures which mutiny necessitated were' adopted, there was
no knowing to what extent these mutinies would go. The
warrant officers had been put upon a better footing, but
with regard to the grant of a pension to the widows of war-
rant officers, though the Government had conceded that,
yet they had done it in a shabby way. The widow of a
warrant officer appointed in December last and deceased in
January would get a pension ; whereas, if he happened to
die in 1859, his widow would get no pension, though ho had
gone through hard service for 10 or 15 years as a petty officer.
With regard to the Channel fleet, it was true that we had
one ; but the Admiralty did not make a proper use of it.
In the present position of this country they ought to have
the means of increasing the fleet at any moment without
much expense. The commission recommended that there
should be more marines in our garrison towns ; and if fewer
marines and more seamen were on board ship yoU might
on an emergency, by shifting the seamen to other vessels
and supplying their place with marines, soon double
the fleet. This had been impressed on the Govern-
ment over and over again, but without effect. It
was said, " Oh, we can't got seamen." Why, then,
had they cut down the bounty from £lO to £2 or £3 ? The
fleet was not yet complete, and from what he heard it
was by no me.ins manned as an English fleet should be.
With regar4 to corporal punishment, he was of opinion that
it would be impossible to maintain discipline if that system
were at once abolished. But he was surprised that the Cora-
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