The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-08 00:00:00

ROYAL COMMISSION ON ARMY
STORES AND CLOTHING.

On Saturday morning the Royal Commissioners
for inquiring into the State of the Depots for Mili-
tary Clothing and Stores met again at the Arsenal,
Woolwich. Accompanied by Captain Clark and
Captain Farmer, the principal officers next to
Colonel Tulloch in the Royal carriage department ;
Colonel Wilmot, the superintendent of the gun
factory.; Captain Boxer, at the head of the labora-
tory ; and Captain Orr, they made a tour of the
more remarkable parts of the Arsenal, in which

they were occupied more than two hours, and saw
much to excite their interest and admiration in the
various processes and appliances which came under
observation. Of the gigantic proportions to which
this great national establishment has grown, espe-
cially since the outbreak of the Russian war, and
of the extent to which machinery of marvellous in-
genuity has of late years been applied to all the
different operations connected with the manufac-
ture of the implements and munitions of war, the
general public has but little conception ; and no-
thing like justice could be done to a subject so re-
plete with interest and importance in the space in
which a report of the proceedings of the Commis-
sioners must of necessity be limited. The manner
in which the several departments are conducted, so
far as that has come within the cognisance of the
commission, is such as to impress the visitor with
the idea of efficiency, carried almost to perfection,
in the several branches, united with a careful re-
gard for the public interests in the use and adoption
of materials. Reference is now made to the inter-
nal economy of the establishment, irrespective of
the mode of supplying the raw materials from with-
out, under the auspices of the War-office, which is
a question on which considerable difference of opi-
nion prevails. Since the Crimean war the Arsenal
appears .to have been conducted to a great extent
on a new principle. The object is not now so much
to accumulate enormous quantities of the materials
and instruments of war against a time of war, which
may become obsolete or suffer decay during a long
interval of peace, but rather to develope the capa-
city of the establishment for producing them as
they are wanted, with far more rapidity and effici-
ency than was ever known before, and with all the
improvements which ingenuity can from time to
time suggest. By the introduction of machinery
equal, it said, in the aggregate, to the united
labour of 12,000 men, the handicraft of skilled
artisans has, to a large extent, been dispensed
with, and by far the greater part of this
machinery, which performs alike the most deli-
cate and the most ponderous operations
with unerring accuracy and effect, can be
set in motion and tended at any time by young
men and boys brought from the streets or the
plough tail, and submitted to a slight amount of
preliminary training.
It will be seen that the commissioners during
their sitting on Saturday had for the first time with
anything like directness, and suddenly and in the
most incidental way, evidence adduced before them,
both in a positive and negatite shape, of a practice
having the semblance of systematic corruption, and
it gave an unwonted interest to their proceedings,
which was enhanced by another incident, curious
enough in its way, and as unexpectedly elicited by
a question put by Mr. Commissioner Turner in the
course of the inquiry.
After the Commissioners had completed their

perambulation of the Arsenal they repaired, at 1
o'clock, to the head-quarters of the Royal Carriage
Department, and took additional evidence, Mr.
Selfe acting as chairman.
Captain Milward, of the Royal Artillery, com-
manding a field-battery at Woolwich, was recalled,
and explained that before the establishment of the
clothing and tailoring depot at Woolwich, which
was begun about 18 months ago, under the direct
auspices of the War2office,for supplying the whole
of the Artillery and Engineers w ith clothing, each
captain of a troop could obtain his " necessaries"
for the use of the men under his command where
he liked, and those necessaries were generally ob-
tained from tradesmen on the recommendation of
the pay-Aergeants. Those pay-sergeants used to
get Crpgular allowance—often as much as 10 per
cent.—from the tradesmen they patronised on the
amount of the bills sent in to the captain for neces-
saries from time to time. He (Captain Milward)
knew this to be true from circumstances which came
within his own knowledge. After their return from
the Crimea a pay-sergeant in the battery which wit-
ness commanded, and who was now in India, got as
much as 10 per cent. from the tradesmen on the
necessaries supplied to the men during the war,
and which amounted to a considerable sum. The

officers in the Artillery never knew that such a
practice had been going on; and he himself happened
only to find it out by a paymaster, who was an
honest fellow, telling him about it. He (Captain
Mihvard) believed the practice was carped on to
an immense extent until the recent change in the
system of supplying clothing to the Artillery, for the
more the things that were ordered the more the
pay-sergeants got; but all that had now been put
a stop to by the new arrangement.
The Chairman asked Mr. Dolan, of St. Martin'S-
lane, a partner in one of the oldest and largest
firms in London as contractors for army clothing,
and who was in the room while Captain Milward
was:examined, if he had given any douceur, or made
any allowance or present, such as had been men-
tioned by Captain Milward ?
Mr. Dolan—l must decline to answer the ques-
tion.
The Chairman—Well ; I have had great expe-
rience in courts of justice, and I must say I never
knew a refusal to-answer a question such as I have
just put which did not do a great deal more harm
to the interests of the party declining to answer
than any amount of frankness on his part.
Mr. Turner—l would advise you to be candid,
Mr. Dolan. Are we to understand that you abso-
lutely decline to answer that question ?
Mr. Dolan—Yes.
Mr. Turner—Very well.
The Chairman—I can hardly- conceive anything
more damaging, the opinion of the Commis-
sioners, to the interests you have at heart, Mr.
Dolan.
Mr. Turner—By your refusal to answer the
question put to you by Mr. Selfe we now come to
understand why it is that some of the main objects
contemplated in this inquiry by my brother Com-
missioners and Myself have been frustrated. We
p of
ono youeur
can t
never have been able to get any sort of tangible in-
formation with regard to douceurs from any one.
Neither
e,
give
Isuiees eiac l part t
f nor
the the
inquiry giver of
of
the
which due
iip
any
in formation ; and when we arrive
atany essential
light you refuse to do so. That being
so, the Commissioners in this case are left to draw
their own inferences.
Mr. Dolan—l have. never given an allowance in
any case in which the public has had to pay.
The Chairman asked what was meant by that.

:Mr. Dolan—l mean to say I have never given any
allowance to any one for which the public has had
to pa.
They Chairman—That is an evasion of the ques-
tion, Mr. Dolan. The question is, whether you paid
it ; if you did, it was worth your while to do so for
other considerations.
There was a pause here, in which the Commis-
sioners waited for an answer.
Mr. Turner—You adhere to your refusal ?
Mr. Dolan—l do.

At a subsequent part of the sitting Mr. Dolan
gave a reason why he had refused to answer the
question, but it was not domed satisfactory by the-
Commissloners, and they ordered it to' be struck off
their minutes.

Quartermaster and Commissary Grant, who has
charge of the Government clothing establishment
at Woolwich for the artillery, under Colonel Bing-
ham, was called by Colonel French, and expressed
a wish to withdraw an observation made inciden-
tally in his previous examination, and construed
as unduly reflecting on others, in connexion with
the former system of supplying clothing to the
artillery.
The Chairman told Quartermaster Grant that he
had taken a manly, straightforward, and soldierly
course ; and he wished civilians would show the
same readiness to withdraw charges they were not
in a condition to prove. •
Quartermaster Taylor next tendered himself as
a witness. He said be was an Inspector of Artillery
cloth, and superintendent of the military tailors
in the Government establishment at Woolwich ;
and the evidence he gave went to show that the
clothing now supplied to the artillery batta-
lions was very much better, both in quality and
workmanship, than it was under the old sys-
tem, when they were supplied by contractors;
but that furnished to the Horse Artillery was
no better. Under the old system there was a
rigid inspection by a board of field officers of the
clothing supplied for the artillery service by the
contractors, who were Iklesrs. Stephens and Clarke.
Now the cloth was first inSpected at Weedon before
being made up, and the clothing, when made up,
was subject to an inspection by a board of field
officers, as formerly. The old inspection always
secured elothing as good as the sealed pattern. The
improvement which had since taken place was in
the pattern, and in bringing the clothing up to that
pattern. The • cavalry now made up their own
clothing ; and he thought the cavalry were not so
well clothed now, either in point of quality or work-
manship, as under the old system, arising, as he
thought, film the patterns not being so good. The
cloth for some of the cavalry came from- the estab-
lishment at Weedon which was not the case before.
The tunics in the line 'were UQW much superior tO ,