The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-23 00:00:00

MUSEUMS, &c,

Several petitions were presented praying for the
opening of the Crystal Pa!ace, the British Museum, and
oth,•r museums on Sunday.
SUPERANNUATION ACT AMENDMENT BILL.
Lord NAAS moved the sec,,,nd reading of this
Mr. WILSON said that he never rose with greater
reluctance to pwrt,rin a great public duty in the hou.e
than on this occa,ion, when, after five years close con-
nection with a body of men whose merits had been
acknowledged by all, and the discharge of whose duties
had been such as to secure for them riot only the re,:pect,
but the admiration of every one assoc:a'ed with them in

the public service, he was Compelled to opp-se the second
reading of the noble lerd's bill, which, at first eight, ap-
peared to be an enactment highly important and bend•
ficial to the public service. He acknowledged that the
course he was pursuing gave him great pain, but,
nevertheless, he should shrink from the important duty
he owed to the house if, in his official position, he were
not to take every care and trouLle to bring the whole i-:f
the facts that he considered necessary before the house
for a perfect understanding of the question, in order
that whatever decision the houu may arrive at
it may be done with a full knowledge of the
circurris!ances. The impressions ur de r which this ques-
tion had arisen into one of great public importance, and
had become what might be ttrmed a great public grie-
vance, were, he believed, to be traced in the first in-
stance io a belief that the contributions of the civil ser-
vants of the Crown towards the pensions they were
entitled to under the Act of Parliament were con-

siderably larger than, wa • necessary to provide for that
land, and tbat indirectly tl e State had already made,
and would in future make, certain deductions from
these contributions. Wbetever was the nature of the
contract entered into be..ween the civil servants of the
Crown and the Crown itself, he was prepared to admit
if that charge was established, that it would be policy
on the part of the house to relinquish the charge so far
as the rates were concerned sufficient only to provide
for these pensions, If, therefore, it could be shown that
the charges now made were t.-o high, he coi,sidered
that whatever were the terms of the act of 1834,
and the contract, or implied contract, under
which they accepted office, they were entitled to a
corresponding deduction. The next ground on which
these impressions bad obtained currency in the public
mind was that th-re bad been a breach of engagements
on the part of the Crown with the civil servants, in-
"moon as they contemplated that a fund would hays
been set apart for them, which by compound interest
would have produced a surplus entirely at their (ha-
p-mai for any purpose they might think fit. Now,
a more grave charge than a breach of engagement be-
tween the Crown and its 16,000 civil servants could not
be imagined, but the question bad been disposed of by
the Commiesionerg, who, in their report, agreeing with
the Committee of the Rouse of Commons said last year
that. it had been clearly and definitely decided that there
was no breach of engagement. It was the duty of the
house to see that the salaries of the public servats had
not been settled or reduced by these deduc-
tions, so as to deprive them of the prospect of
a future sup!rannuation allowance, and it the ques.
tion rested on the sufficiency of the salaries paid, he
could show that w:thin the last four or five year, there
bad been a revision of salaries in almost eve:y depart
mint of the State. The investigation had been most
liberally and carefully made, and the result had been
a large increase in the annual charges. The salaries
paid in the Inland Revenue, Gusto 'DR, and Pest-office
departments in 1852, were 2,167,0001,, which had in-
creased in 1856 to 2,460,0001., making a difference of
289,0001. The right bon. gentleman then proceeded to
contrast the salaries and pervious paid by the Bank of
England and the Government ; and with reference to
the foriser he said that a clerk of 18 years of age re-
ceived M the Bank of England 601. a-year ;19 years of
sge, 701.; 20 yearn of age, 801.;
from 21 to 29 21 years of age, 100/ ;
years of ge it increased 51. a-year, when
he received 1401.; and from that it increased up to 45
years of age, when he received a maximum salary of 2501
In the Government offices a much higher scale was paid.
The lowest salary paid was 901. a-year, and in many
offices in London it was not lower than 100/. a.year ;
sad although it might be true that the Bank of England -