The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-09 00:00:00

'`.~4 .:
J` I
~•._.1/

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 9, 1861.

UMV2.RSITY INTELLIGENCE.

CAMBRIDGE, APRIL 8.

The Vice-Chancellor has informed the members
of the Senate that he has received the commands of
his Royal Highness the Chancellor of the Univer-
sity to ascertain whether there are any gentlemen
at Cambridge who would desire to compete for the
appointments mentioned in the subjoined communi-
cation which has been addressed to his Royal High-
ness by the Right Hon. Lord John Russell:—
Foreign-office, March 30.
" Sir,—l have the honour to acquaint your Royal
Highness that I propose to nominate a certain num-
ber of candidates to compete before the Civil Ser-
vice Commissioners for the appointment of Student
Interpreter in China or Japan, and I shall have
great pleasure in including in the list of candidates
the names of three gentlemen of the University
over which your Royal Highness presides whom
your Royal Highness or the Vice-Chancellor may
recommend for that purpose, and whose age may be
within the prescribed limits of between 16 years
complete and 20 years complete.
" The object for which such appointments are
made is that the persons on whom they are conferred
should, in the first place, devote themselves to the
study of the Chinese or Japanese language, as the
case may be, and in the next place should qualify
themselves generally for the public service in China
or Japan, so that her Majesty's Government may
always have at their disposal persons competent to
discharge the duties intrusted to her Majesty's con-
sular officers in those countries.

" The salary which is assigned to the office of
Student Interpreter in either country is at the rate
of £2OO a year, to commence from the date of de-
parture from this country, the passage from Eng-
land to the place of destination being, moreover,
provided at the public expense.
"I enclose a statement of the subjects in regard
to which the relative capacity of the candidates
will be tested by the examination ; and I would
add that, as the climates of China and Japan are
considered to be more or less trying to English
constitutions, the probability that the health of
candidates will be such as to bear a residence in
those climates will be taken into consideration by
the Civil Service Commissioners.
"I have further to observe that candidates must
clearly understand that if they succeed in obtaining
one of the vacant appointments, of which, as re-
gards China, there are six, and, as regards Japan,
two to be filled up on the, present occasion, their
retention in the public service, and their future ad-
vancement in it will depend entirely on the ability
which they may show after their arrival at their
destination, and on their general steadiness and
good conduct.
" I propose to leave the successful candidates, in
rotation, to elect whether they will take one of the
appointments is China or one of those in Japan.
"I have only to add that, if your Royal High-
ness should be disposed to avail yourself of my pre-
sent offer, I should be glad to be made acquainted,
as soon as possible, with the names of your candi-
dates, as I should wish that the examination should
take place as soon after the Ist of June as may suit
the Civil Service Cpmmissioners.

" I have the honour to be, Sir,
" Your Royal Highness's most obedient humble
servant,

" J. RUSSELL."

sincerely hoped that they would long live to wear

their well-earned decoration. Col. Rea then fas-
tened the medal to the breast of each, remarking,
as he did so, that he trusted the example set the
other non-commissioned officers and men would
prove an inducement to all who then heard him to
preserve a good character in the service. Sergeant
Nicholls and Private Rose have both served in the
corps of Royal Marines upwards of 20 years, during
the whole of which period their conduct has been
most exemplary.
Intelligence has been received at the depot of
the first battalion of the 24th Regiment, Chatham,
that the head-quarters may shortly be expected to
arrive in England, the regiment being now on its
passage home from India. The 24th /has been in
India nearly 15 years, the regiment having em-
barked from England in May, 1846. This fine
corps has seen a great deal of hard fighting, the
regiment having served throughout the Punjab
campaign of 1848-49, and been present at the bat-
tles of Sadoolapore, Chillianwallah, and Goojerat,
as also the passage of the Chenab. 'The 24th also
served against the mutineers in 1857-58, and was
present at the memorable defeat of the Jhelum
mutineers on the 7th of July, 1857. It has not yet-
been announced at which station the tat battalion
of the 24th will be quartered on its arrival in
England.

Cupohis for melting iron for Martin's shells are
in course of supply to the following batteries in
the Chatham district :—New Tavern Fort, Sheer-
ness ; Tilbury Fort, Gravesend ; CAI-house Point,
Essex ; and Shornmeade, Kent. A percentage of
Martin's liquid shells will be supplied to each of the
above forts to form a part of the authorised proportion
of projectiles to be retained in store at each battery,
in readiness far immediate use.

THE DOCKYARD REPORT.

It is as well that the public should bear in mind
the broad facts established by the Dockyard
Report, and the position in which a most impor-
tant financial question is now lift. One-sixth of
our whole national expenditure is consumed upon
the Navy. One-half or so of tiat enormous sum
is taken to satisfy the demands of the dockyards.
Upwards pf five millions of money must be pro-
vided by Mr. Gladstone's forthcoming budget for
the purchase of stores, the corstruction of works,
and the wages of workmen borne upon these
establishments. Now, what was felt and said all
over the country on this subject was, that such
outlay must needs be excessive, and that equal
results ought to be obtained at a less extravagant
charge. It was not merely the miscellaneous
public that entertained these ideas. Foremast
among the assailants of the system were seamen
themselves, and there was hardly an officer who
was not ready with his assertion that things were
most wretchedly managed, and would never,
until the system was changed, be managed any
better. Nor was the popular opinion without
certain substantial justification. True it was
that nobody could tell exactly what ships ought
to cost, or even what they did cost, but, besides
the misgivings necessarily suggested by the
overwhelming magnitude of the charges, there
was the fact that we were never in a proper
position, bat were always building vessels of the
wrong kind or at the wrong time. France
managed these matters mach more economically,
and yet came out periodically a head of us,
simply because the money was applied at the right
point without waste of power. Such being the
convictions prevailing, we out of half-a-dozen
commissions charged vith investigating the
administration of the Navy received special
instructions to visit the dockyards, and report
upon the system of control and management,
the method of keeping accounts, the cost of
shipbuilding, and the plan adopted in purchasing
stores for the establishments. The commissioners
devoted six months to their work, and a few
weeks ago presented a report which places the
actual facts of the case beyond any further
question.
Well, do our ships really cost too much money ?
There is not a doubt about it, although, in conse-
quence of a peculiar impediment, the Commissioners
are debarred from returning a specific verdict on
the point. The truth is, they found the dockyard
accounts in such a state that it was impossible to
arrive at the real cost of anything. Of course, there
was no want of pen and ink work; in fact, the
system of accounts was both " elaborate and mi-
nute," but so ingeniously devised as to be utterly
useless for any practical purpose. So the Commis-
sioners, after painful inquiry, were fain to give this
matter up,'and admit that they could neither insti-
tute any profitable comparisons nor get at any
credible statement of facts. However, not only
from what they heard, but what they saw, they do
not hesitate to echo the general opinion of the pro-
fession and the public, that a better system of ma-
nagement would enable us to make large retrench,
ments without any sacrifice of efficiency. That is
exactly what everybody was convinced of, and the
universal persuasion will certainly not be weakened
by what is now disclosed. When a man finds, first
of all, that an item in his private expenditure is
appallingly heavys and then ascertains that there
is no account to be got of it, he is not long in form-
ing his opinion on the point. If the Commissioners
had proved that every ship in the fleet cost 100 per
cent. above the proper price they would not have
proved more against the, system than they have
done now by reporting that the facts could not be
discovered at all. This happy state of general ambi-
guity had its natural influence on the officials em-
ployed. They adopted a belief exactly opposed to
that of the public. The public, knowing nothing,
concluded from the look of the bill that the proceed-
ings must be terribly extravagant. The dockyard
officers, not knowing any more, persuaded them•
selves that they were doing their work with remark-
able cheapness, and that their figures for a ship
were decidedly below those of private yards. This
impression they communicated to the Admiralty,
and the consequence was that the dockyards got
hold of the steam factory work, as well as the old
timber work of the navy, and this new department
was added to the establishments on a very unne-
cessary scale. The Commissioners are only afraid
that iron shipbuilding may go the same way, and
recommend that the dockyards shall not be allowed
to touch this branch of manufacture, at any rate
till their accounts have been revised. They dis-
approve even the experimental attempt now pro-
ceeding at Chatham, observing, very reasonably,
that, as nobody will be able to tell what that vessel
has really cost, no test of the prices charged by
private builders will ever be forthcoming.
On one of the chief points of investigation, there-
fore—the method of keeping accounts—the report
condemns the existing system absolutely, and leaves
a very easy inference to be drawn as to its economy.
On a third point—that of the administration gene-
rally—the verdict is equally clear. The Commis-
sioners state in distinct terms that the system of
control and management is inefficient, and explain
how this inefficiency has been brought about. The
presiding Board—the Board of Admiralty is ill-
constituted ; the departments under it are defec-
tively organised ; there is no definite responsibility
anywhere, and there are no means of checking ex-
penditure. The results are certainly pretty, well
accounted for by these announcements. What
would be the fate of any private establishment
conducted without organisation, responsibility, or
check upon outlay we need not say. It was long
ago observed that any ordinary yard managed
upon Admiralty principles would soon send its
proprietors.into the Gazette, and enough has now
been put upon record to seal the fate of our Admi-
ralty administration. Who can wonder at the
Estimates being heavy, and who can defend such a
system ? It deserves to be remarked that there is
n
Commissioners do, indeed, remark, that the
actual
tsuinalgie point,'on which the dockyards are acquited.
Tworkmanship is excellent ; but that was not
denied.
launched,
were not good specimens of their kind.
The
e chargewere was that they cost too much before
launched; and were too often on obso-
lete models. Neither is there much excuse offered
on the point of conversions and alterations ; for
they
the question was not whether these changes
were judicious in themselves, .but whether they
might not have been saved by better arrangements
at the outset of the work.
This, therefore, is the state of the case at the pre-
sent moment. We know and feellonly too surely that
our system of Naval Administration costs us an ex-
travagantgrievous weight of taxation. We are told, upon
authority which no oo
impeach, that the sys-
tem is actually so organised as to render these re-
sultsamount
canmoney,
extremely natural, and in this position we are
left. How long are we to continue accepting the
combined conditions of inefficiency and extrava-
me 1,0 ti 4 br:ouriegielMorite dettnciing, We

hope that a system which answers no good end will
be presently reformed. There would be something
to say for it if it were particularly cheap, or if it
were particularly efficient, but it is neither one nor
the other. We have got some excellent vessels, no
doubt, but we have only got them at a lime when
it is doubtful whether they are not superseded by a
new class of ships, and at a probable cost which
drives the Commissioners to recommend that no ships
of the new class shall be constructed under the same
system. That is the condition of affairs. We do
not deny that, except in the event—by no means
impossible—of iron-plated ships sweeping every-
thing before them, we have got a very fine navy,
but this navy we only got by au abrupt and con-
vulsive effort, and for it we shall this week be
charged twelve millions sterling ; whereas it ap-
pears plain that under a better system of Naval
Administration much of this charge might be re-
trenched. How long, then, in the face of estab-
lished convictions, are we to go on in the same way
That is the simple form to which the great Dock-
yard question is now reduced.—Times.