The Sun.
London, England, 1819-07-14 00:00:00

STOREKEEPER GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT.

Mr. Mae rose to .resume the observations
which had been yesteiday evening' itverrupted.
final object was to move R.ll Address to .his,
Royal Highness the Prince Regent, which was,
in tact, an echo of the Resolution of.ahe House
calling on Ministers for economy. moved by Mi-
nisters themsb Ives; to which Addressethetefore,
be could not conceive that Ministers would have
einy objection. He was the more anxious to do
this. because, although Ministers bad moved and
carried that Resolution, they had in nti instance
shown the least disposition to economy ; but,
on the contrary, h AI 'carried on several hrauches
of the public service', especially the militaty, on a
scale which exhibited an appearatice of the ut-
most waste. aid extravagance. The Hon. Mem-
ber here entelect Mtn several statementse of the ge-
neral Military Establishments, in contii'm ition of
his assertion, and then proceeded to notice that
to which he is islibd principally to direct the at-
tentien of the House, nam sly, the Storekeeper-
General's Departmetit—a Department which he
&dared was wholly witlu*ut precedent in eoin;
of expellee. The office wss orieinalle estahlished
neder the direction of Mr. Trotter, vow
guished by the name of the Soho-stivase Mr.
Trotter, to receive in charge stores, which until
that period it bad been usual to sell. For the
fifteen years during which it had been under the
superintendence of that genii. man, the average
annual expense of the evahlishment had been
19 7171. With a, view to economy, his Majesty's
'Gosernment had placed at the head of that De-
pertinent the reesent Mr. Trotter, who had de-
'dared his ineention of considerably diminishing
the expence. The House would, however, hear
with astoni Aliment that he hail increased the esta-
tlishmeut ef clerks from 13 to 93, and the general
expence, in the first year of his stye, t etidenee,
to 30,3'2'31 ; in the next yea; , to 55 5611 ; in
1813, t 0 130.0001.: in 181 G. to 131,0001.; in
1817 Ikheing the second year of peace, and not-
tandhitz a Committee of the House of toms
matte had reported that the Storekeeper General's
paVment was one ptenliatly suss, ptible 'or re-
p seud:lonen ) to 82,5941. ; and in 1818, to 63,9681.
jt as 51.1) a fact, that dosing the liner years,
j 0.6, 1817, and 1818, the w: ole %aloe of the
fares pieced in that Gentlemen's cestoey was
tidy 153,3291. ; while the expo Lice of keeping
them for those three years atmitotted to 277,7161.
being nearly twice that amount If :hat was not
enough to prove a wasteful expenditure, he knew
nut what was. It was an expence which Mini-
sters might stop at pleesare, but yet they allowed
it to go on increasiag. They had clone more—
they had allowed the clerks of that establishment
to retire on pensions unwarranted by the practice
in other public departments. One of those indi-
viduals had been allowed so to retire site; a ser-
vice of only one year and four months—(Cries of
no ! no! from the Treasury Bench) —lt that was
pot the fact, then the returns on the Table were
inaccurate, for it was there distinctly stated.—
Unquestionably he did not ascribe to those re-
turns the praise of correctness, for it was sai-1
them that the Deputy Storekeeper-General, Mr.
smith, had intimated his intention of giving rip
his commission on the 2,lth of December, when
the fact was. that that step was taken in cone-
(pence of his basing been found guilty by a COM-
141iltee of Inquiry of most improper conduct. The
llonouratile Gentleman was proceetling, when the
discharge was heard of the cannon, announcing
the arrival of his Royal Highness the Prince Re-
gent, on which he said that he would no longer
trouble the House—(a langh,)—but move his
Address, which, as the Honourable Gentleman
bad before observed, was. an echo of the Resolu-
tion of the House, calling on Ministers to adopt
the most rigid public economy.
The "CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER severely
reprobated the unfairness et the Honour +hie
Gentleman in bringing forward a set ies of charges
which he perfectly well knew circumstances wndld
tint allow of being answered until the next Session
of Parliament. Brief as the time etas donne
which lie (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) could
necessarily be permitted to address the House, he
would beg to state one or two facts. The Hon.
Gentleman had said that the former Storekeeper-
General had lead more stores in his pnssessien
that, the p esent. By the returns on the Table,
however, it appeared, that in the fifteen years
daring nhich the former person held the office,
the v,ltot of the stores in his possession was only
1,800,000 ; but that under the present Store-
ke• per it exceeded 3,500,0001. With reference to
the observation of the Honourable Gentleman on
the superior management of that department in
fetmer times, the Right Honourable Gentleman
Trail an extract from a speech of the M brqbiess of
L,nsilown (then Lord It Petty) in 1806 ; the
exact tendency of which the noise of the great
;;nos, which l% ere firing in the immediate neigh-
bourhood, rendered it impoksitil to escerais.
Sir BYAM MARTIN ‘‘aS proCteillllg to make
some remarks on what toel fal en front the Hun.
Gentleman, wl en
The Usher of the Black Rod announced his
Royal Highness the Prince Regent's.cominand to
the House to attend oho immediately in the House
of Peers.

The Speaker and all the Members present ac-
cordingly attended. On their return the Speaker
read- to the Menihers a copy of his Royal High-
neis's Speech, anti which they separated.