The Sun.
London, England, 1810-05-01 00:00:00

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P116:4 THE COMINIITTEi •OiJ
TUliEj GOF THE UNITED KINGDOM,

OFFICE OP PAYX.A_STR bF MARINES ; AND AUDI*

OF ACCOUNTS.

" -
" The Cumniittee appointed to examine and cone,
Sider what regulations and checks have been estabe
lished, in .order to controul the several bri'ocites of
the PUblic Expenditure of Great Britain and Ireland;
and ,how far the sanfo have been effettnal and
what further -measures Tan be adopted tor reducing
-any part of the said Expenditure, or diminishing ihrs,
amount of Salaries and Emoluments, whileut de-
&intent to the Public Service;.,
Being informed that a considerable default had
been discovered in the Office of Paythaster of Ma-
rines, have direded their iisst nquirie;,tothe nature
of the regulations under" which that department- is
condlidecl; with to aseertain whether thosc
regulations.. are insufficient in themselves; or ill
adapted to the service, or whether there has been a
culpable or negligent departhre front them.
" The Paymaster, whose duty is confined to the
payment of the 'Merines while-on shore, presents
monthly accounts to the Admiralty, stating his re- _
ceipt and expenditure during the last inbtith, acrd-an
estimateof the probable .dettereds upon him for the
current mewls, together wi-h a statement of the
balances remaining in his hands on the first andelaq days of the preceding month ;in consequence of
which application; an ord.r as forwarded to the
Navy-office accompanied by a copy ot the monthly
account, directing an iruprest to be issued by the
Treasurer. of the Nary, who is the general banker;
as the Navy-office, is thegqieral'ottice of account
for every branch of naval service., A statement of,
the balances in the Paymaster's hands, iii, lulled in
the monthly account, is transmitted woh the order
for each itnprest to the Navy-office.
" This statement of the balances in these month-
ly accounts affords,. in appearance, a secure and
constant guard .against any undue aecutnolaiion of
money. in the hands of the Paymaster ; but this an--
pearance.is delosive : for these accounts, being ne-
cessarily. unaccompanied with vouchers, do not ad-
mit of any eifietusl check, until the delivery, at a
.stibsequsnt period of tire general annual account :,
the consequence of which has been, that they have
unfortunately produced the effect of preventing,
rather than throe; ding, any useful ex.entitatin into
the real state of the Paymister's balance, and seem
to have precluded ad suspicion, either at the Ad-
miralty or Nary-office, of any improper accumula-
tion of money in iii, bands.
..
itiationi and ingrudioui
" the'prinle,l ret;
I,tive to the Royal Alarioe Forces w:tii-o
the seventh article:directs
that psi on shore,
ytntster q:) pass an account with the C0111111iSslu,; 6-s ot t
Navy ; -at the end of every year he is to deltverhe a
general account of all money received and paid ein that lime.' - It it was the duty 01 tree' Paymaster
to pass, it became the duty of the Comm7ssiouers
of the Navy_ to examine; and your Committee cannot view without great dissatisfiClion are delay
which has prevailed in the delivery of the general,.
annual accounts; the causes of which will be no-
ticed- hereafter.
‘.‘ The practice of the Office, with resped to the.
account° of tire . Paymaster ot Matines, -- appears to
have been this : The monthly aceonnts -already als
luded to, which are transmitted by the Admiralty to.
the Navy-office, receive no 'particulas•exatnina ion;
and indeed do no admit of being checked, as before " z
statad, except in the articles of imprests and ba-
lances
.brought over from the preceding month
but an examination of these items alone would ob-
Viouily not ascertain the correctness of the balance remaining.
" The general annual account, when. delivered;
is examined with the Impreit Ledger on the one
side, and with the-:-Accountant's Vouchers on the
other, by one or more of Clerks in the Office of
Bills and Accotints; by: theni the balance stated by
the PayniaSter is confirmed or. correded. A state-
meat is then made out by the person who leas exas
mined the account, of. the disbursements only, de-
tailing the nature of them and of the vouchers, with
observations on any irregularity in either, on the aus
tbority under-which the payments were made, or on
any other circumstance deserving notice. The state-
ment so made out by the examining Clerk should
be checked- by the Chief Clerk, aqd is then sub--
mitted to' the Committee of Accounts and it iS
their duty, after due Consideration, to direct the sums
disbursed and properly vouched, to .be allowed to- '
wards clearing such Imprest as may- be sanding out
against the Accountant. To what sum this Imprest •
may amount, is not hoWever brought under the no-
tice either.of the Committee of Accounts or of the
'Board (unless specially called for), the statement it- • -
self
not containing the linprests, or the balance re:
maining ; an& the original annual aecount neyer
undergoing their revision. And here your Coin-
mittee-cannot but express their surprise, that the
general praclice, of the Office should have sandions .
e so extraordinary an omission in the statement talk*
any account; as that of • the sum owing by the Ac~
countarit to the public; and that in thit particular
instance the examining.-Clerks should not have deem-
ed it their duty to bring under the immediate notice
of that Committe an article of such magnitude and,
importance. They trust this ptadice has been at
length effectually corrected by a minute of the Navy
Board; dated 17th January, /310. In other res-
speds, it appears to your Committee, from the . . speetion of many of the statements which have been -
laid'beforethem, that the disbnrsements in the Pay-
master's accounts have received an attentive and-ace,
curate investigation : Atidit-further appears; from g
document produced the Navy Board; that few of
iheaccounis in the Office -of Bills and Accounts
are in arrear, and none greatly fora; and that the
'balances of none of them are so large as to %Fite
suspicion.
The Hon. GeOrge 'Villiers Was appointed Pay-
master of Marines by tbe.Board of Admiralty, igth
March, -1792; and re-appointed as Paymaster and Inspector,' 9th May,. 1803; with particelar- direcs
tidns as to the mode in which his department wcs
to be conducted, enjoining him to
make frequent •
visits to the different divisions and stationa of Ma-
rioes, from the went of neglect of which gre;it
abu,,es had prevailed.. His salary was ratstAi by that
-Wart ant to 1000 i. clear of all deduciions, with an
allowance of 53.01. for Iris clerks, 1901, for house•
rent,slkc, and a further allowance for travelling ez,i,