The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-06 00:00:00

ticular tax, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had some
surplus at his disposal, it was the highest duty of the House
of Commons preliminal•ily to expiesk it fipiriiqf as to the
tax which it believed to be a prominent grieVance. That
was the condition with regard to the paper duties when the
house came to that resolution; but the Government an-
nounced in no unequivocal language that it was accepted
by them as a resolution that would not affect their conduct.
But was that the position of the member for Sussex ? The
resolution with respect to the paper duties did not at all touch
the impending budget. The present was a resolution which
must affect the budget, and it was impossible if it was
carried that it should not affect the financial arrangements
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer intended to recom-
mend to the house. Was thst fair ? He was aware of all
the arguments that could be urged against the hop duty ;
he had tried to relieve that interest, but he could not sub-
scribe to the doctrine that this was a tax that as a griev-
ance took the highest rank of those which could injure
her Majesty's subjects. He thought there were many
others which they must consider before, in the remission of
taxation, they came to that; and be thought nothing could
be more unwise, in the present condition of the country,
than that we should enter into those fanciful and partial
schemes of remission of taxation, when they ought to pre-
pare their minds for real and severe toil, for really under-
standing the difficulties of their position, and bringing to
bear on it all the resources of the country, and what was the
most important of all national resources, that spirit of the
community which was ready to bear great burdens when
they felt they were required by the necessities of the coun-
try. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. DODSON, in reply, disclaimed all intention of in-
terfering with the financial arrangements of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer.
The house divided—
Ayes llO
Noes
Majority ..-92
The motion was therefore lost.
NAVY (PROMOTION AND RETIREMENT.)

Sir J. ELI' HINSI ONE moved for a select committee to
consider the present system of promotion and retirement in
the Royal Navy, and tne present'part and position of the
several classes of naval officers, and to report what changes
1 therein were desirable, with a view to the increased effici-
ency of the naval service. The hon. member said the officers
complained that their pay was deficient, and the command
money which had been granted them by the Admiralty was
accompanied by conditions which left them in some cases
worse off than before. This allowance had been given them
in order to enable them to entertain those persons who perio-
dically became their guests, but the Admiralty before mak-
ing the addition had reduced their ordinary pay. Forty-nine
captains would receive from £36 10s. to £133165. Bd. addi-
tional, but only two would have the highest amount ; 45
were to receive £6ls. Bd. per annum, or 4d. per day. What
portion of a gentleman's dinner was represented by 4d. he
was at a loss to imagine. (Laughter.) Nineteen would re-
ceive sums varying from £l3 7s. 6d. to £B5 3s. 4d. Cora-
mend ers would receive 25.6 d. per day as command money,and
out of that they would have at times to entertain persons of
the rank of ambassadors. The way that lieutenants in corn-
wand had been treated was worthy of the Admiralty. They
were to receive 2s. a day; but their ordinary pay was first
reduced from lls. to 10s. (Laughter.) Only two captains
would receive the highest allowance, and between 40 and 50,
or half the entire number, would receive only £456 ss. 6d. a
year, instead of their present pay of £7OO a year. In the full
pay of captains of the highest grade there was a difference
of 140 per cent. in favour of the American service, and one
of 227 per cent. in the half-pay. The French full-pay was
46 per cent., and the Prussian 22 per cent. above the Eng-
lish. The highest commanders received 117 per cent. more
in the American service on full pay, and 157 on half pay. In
Prussia the advantage was 42 per cent. An American
lieutenant in command was better paid by 143 per cent., and
a Prussian by from 47 to 20 per cent. The difference be-
tween the highest American and English lieutenant was
134 per cent. on full pay and 75 on half pay. The lowest
grade had an advantage of 71 per cent., and the highest 242
per cent. Nor was this the whole difference. The English
naval officer was liable to income tax. (Hear.) The paint
and brooms allowed by the Admiralty were insufficient, and
the captain or first lieutenant who desired to keep his ship
clean was obliged to find what more was requisite out of his
pay. The half-year's paint till of the commander of the
Royal Albert was £67. Then there was the difference in
the cost of living, which was something like 30 per cent. in
favour of France. Russian officers who were sent by their
Government to this country were allowed a guinea a day,
whereas, when they were in France they only received 14s.
Another grievance was that is calculating the time of offi-
cers for flag rank, commanders' time was entirely ignored.
There were cases in which officers had been prevented from
completing the remaining few weeks or months which they
had still to serve. His late friend Admiral Trotter when his
time had only three months to run, and when he was cruis-
ing on the South Coast of Africa, was surprised off Simon's
Bay by a brother-in-law of the First Lord, and sent home,
where he died a rear-admiral. One might be employed for
years in surveying, and in other capacities of the highest
possible importance, but he was not allowed to count a day
of it ; while another in a flag-ship might not go beyond the
breakwater in Plymouth harbour and yet be entitled to
reckon the whole. (Hear, hear.) There was another class of
officers, the reserved captains, who, being liable to be called
upon in an emergency, were considered as still on the active
list. A deliberate bargain was made with these gentlemen
in 1852. That bargain was much puffed at the time in the
newspapers. Writers were employed to extol the services of
those officers, who were incite I a hundred of the most meri-
torious in the service. There was hardly a general engage-
ment in which they had not fought. Their commissions
were made out in exactly the same form as those of other
officers, and they were even nailed to a ship, generally the
Valorous or the Royal William. They were, in fact, led
to believe that they were in exactly the same position.
Those gentlemen believed they stood in the same position as
other officers in the service, but when their time came to be
promoted to the 14s. list they were told by the Admiralty
that the list was drawn up fsr a different purpose than what
it bore on the face of it, and were thus cheated out of their
just rights. (Hear, hear.) The reason why ho said this was
because they took the opinion of Mr. Lush on the matter,
and he told them that if it was a case between A and B the
agreement would be binding, but as it was an agreement
with the Board of Admiralty it stood upon different grounds.
The full pay and the half pay of commanders was insuffi-
cient. They also claimed and justly claimed that their time
as mates should be counted. The coastguard's time now
counted as sea time, but all the officers who had heretofore
served in the coastguard were cut off from two-thirds of their
time. In the civil service every day that a man served
counted for him, but in the navy two-thirds of the coast-
guard's time and the whole of the mate's time was cut off.
They asked for a graduated increase of pay according to the
period for which they served, rising every year or two years
till it became an income on which they could keep their
families from poverty. He could assure the house that
many men who spent their lives in the service of the coun-
try were half starving. .(Hear, hear.) Within the last 20
years there had been an increase of something like 20 or
30 per cent. in provisions; whilst in the pay of these men
there had been no increase. It was only right that, the
senior lieutenants should receive extra pay. A post-captain
was now obliged to spend £5OO of his own money in fitting
up his ship, and a senior lieutenant had often to spend
£lOO. But when a ship came home the mess plate and
fittings were sold for what they would fetch, and when they
were sent out again they had to meet the same expenses.
It appeared only fair that the Government should supply
the ship with mess plate, linen, and beds. (Hear.) The
allowance to the artillery instructors in the army was 9s.
6d., but in the navy it was only ls. He wished to call the
attention of his noble friend to the state of the Naval Col-
lege at Portsmouth. The public rooms, such as the library,
hall, and dining room, were good enough, but he could as-
sure him that the sleeping rooms were perfect dog-holes ;
the bedding was most indifferent, and the state of things
there was on the whole most disgraceful. (Hear, hear.)
The matter of leave was most important. In the army the
officers had nothing to complain of in that respect ; every
facility was afforded them for visiting their families even
from distant pia,,ets; but it was with the tircateet difficulty
that officers in the navy got a month's leave after a four
years' commission. This had a most detrimental effect,
especially in the case of young men. In the coast guard,
transport, and contract service the officers should be al-
lowed full time and pay wherever they were serving. It
was well known that the first lieutenant was the coun-
sellor and adviser in all cases of emergency, yet he was
often allowed to languish without promotion till the end of
his life. These were just matters of complaint, and should
be fully known to the house. Ho thought at all events
that they should have an early chance of retirement
when it was not intended to promote them. They
should be allowed to leave the service whilst they had
still energy enough left to follow some other occupation.
They also looked for a fixed rate of half-pay after a certain
number of years in the service, and that the amount should
be such as would enable them to live. Then they considered
the title of mate an anomalous title. He thought they
might be called second lieutenants, or receive some more
dignified appellation. They were also justly entitled to
some addition to their pay of £66 18s. 6d. a year. There
was not a more valuable class of men in the service than the
mates, and there was great difficulty in finding men willing
to undertake their duties. They might perhaps, under im-
proved circumstances, be able to control the present reckless
expenditure of the midshi?caen's mess. The first thing the
midshipmen did at the present day when they were paid off,
v. as to break every article of furniture in the mess-room.
He also thought that milshipmen were allowed to enter the
service at too early an age. Temptations were thus offered
to idle boys to run away from school and go to sea at an
age when they were physically unable to perform the duties
required of theta. Then there was the case of the warrant
officers. They had presented a petition to the Admiralty,
some portions of which they had been told were reasonable
and others not. He thought the greater number of these
complaints were highly reasonable. There ought to be a
corps of petty officers appointed with the view and expecta-
tion of being able to take warrants. Now there was great
difficulty in getting men to come forward. By so doing
they forfeited their pensionsand badge money, were obliged
to get an expensive outfit awl were liable to be dismissed the
service without trial. The• complained that their widows'
peneiorte were ealy fr9Dl £26 to ko, varying With lOnlitU of