Star.
London, England, 1805-03-20 00:00:00

'therefore required an seems( of their balances on

be was not, like the CaSiert, in the receipt of fees J
or gratuities. of which they were then deprived, is
what we cannot pretend to affirm; but we cannot
fuppofe that the ufe of the public money was then con-
fidered as *pm:picks of the Paymafter, which would
imply, that the rccqmmendetion of the Commiffioners
of Accounts, the Refolutions of the Houfe of Com-
mons, and finally, the Alf of Parliament, were to-
tally ditregarJeci, and that an emolument fo fraught
with evil to the public, which had been lately com-
muted with the Treafurer for an additional falary of
more than two thoufand pounds a year, was, by thole
entitled to confider of the ellabliffiment of e Navy
Pay o;lice, thought jroper to devolve on his Deputy,
the Paymafter.
Mr. Trotter in his paper alto Rates, that he has no
doubt, though he cannot prove -it, that advantages
were enjoyed by his predeceffors from the ufe of the
public money ; are that .t the exceeding [manna:
o of the Nall of Paymaßer affords a prefumption,
" that Such advantages have been conftdered as form-
s' ing apart of the remuneration of fo anxious and
44 confidential a charge."
From all the information we have been able to ob-
tain, it does net appear that Mr. Trotter's predecef-
, fors did enjoy any filch advantage. If is pofitively
Rated by Mr. Harmnod, Paymafter to Mr. Barre,that
be did not ; nor did he conceive the di of the public
money to form any part cf the emolument of his of-
fice. And it is flared by Lord Bayning, that he did
not kisow, tint did he believe, that Mr. Douglas, while
he rifled ai his Paymattea, derived any profit or ad
vantage from the ufe or employment of the -public
money, except the money iffued for the payment of
Exchequer fees.
As a further anfwer to the obfervation, that he
nfe of the public money was conlidered as a perqui-
lite Co. the Paymatter, when the angmentation of fa-
I.sries in the Navy Pay Office took place in Auguß,
1786, a e find that Mr. Trotter, in his examination on
the 2d, 9:11. and t nth of Oaot:er in that year, before
the Ccmanitlioners appointed to enquire into the fees,
gratuities, petquitites, and emoluments received in
the feveral public offices, contained in the Appendix
to their fourth Report, depofes, "That be has at pre-
hot tome advantage from balances remaining in his
hands, which were impretied to the prefent Treafurer
for the purpofe of paying Exchequer fees. and tome
other contingencies ; but the amount of filch advan-
tages he cannot pollibly afcertain. He is alto allow-
ed Rationary of all forts for his own ufe, but does
not recoll,:ft any fee, gratuity, or other allowance or
perrviifi:e whatever, which he enjoys as Paymafter of
the Navy."
• If Mr. Trotter -seers in the praaice of deriving ad-
vantage from the ufe of money applicable to navy
Cervices at the time of making this dePolition, which
was only two months after the increafe of the falaries
in the Navy Pay Office, the mention of fo confider.
able a fource of pmoltiment could not have been
omitted. The Commiffioners before whom this de-
pofition was made, certainly did not colic& from it,
that the ufe r I money applicable to navy fervices,
was a pertinifire of the Paym4Rer ; for in detaining
his income, after mentioning his falary, and his al-
lowances of coach-hire, coals. candles, and Ration:
ary, they (lat.:, o he at prefent derives tome advan-
tage from the balance of money'retnaining in his
baud, for the pimp .fe of paying Exchequer fees, and
Some other crsntingencies, but has no fee, gratuity,
or other emolument whatever." And they recom•
mend that his Nary thouLl be inereafed from five
hundred to eight hundred pounds per annum, to be
in lieu of all contingensies c.r allowances whatfoever;
and that he Mould 44 not be permitted to derive any
advantage whatever from public money remaining in
bis hands ; but that the money iffued to pay Bache-
- quer fees, &c. lhotild be paid into the Bank, and
drawn from thence for the public fervice in like man-
ner as All other money for naval fervices now is."
The Mary, provokd by thole Commiffioners, was,
of crurfe shroud by them- a full equivalent for the
labour and refroolibility of the fituation.
When the Winds of the Navy Pay Office was
tinder the contideration of the Seleft Committee oft
the Houk of Commons on Vinance, in 1797, they
- required, ail account of the increafe or diminution
which had lakets place fince the year 1781, in the
amount of War es and emoloments in the Navy Pay
Office. The account farnilhed is contained in the
appendix to their t7rli report. The increafe of the
emolument of odd pence received by the clerks is
Mentioned ; but no notice is taken of the advantage
derived by the Paymatter from the ufe of the money
iffued for the fervice of the navy ; although it mutt
hate arifen fince the year 1782, as the paymafter at
that time did not derive any emolument therefrom.
Hence it mull appear, that the ufe of the public
money was not conftdered, even in tygy, as an
avowed emolument of the paymafter.
Mr. Trotter (fates in his paper, that in drawing
money from the Bank in
.grofs, and retaining it hi
his own hands, or lodging it with his private banker,
he does not confider that he has departed from the
letter or (pit it of the Aft for the better Regulation of
the Office of Treafurer of the Navy : he fays, it was
_direaed by that Atft, that all apes to the Treafurer
of the Navy from the Exchequer fhould be placed to
his credit at the Bank of England, and be drawn
from thence by drafts, fpecifying the heads of fervice
for which it is wanted; and he further Rates, that
thefe dire&ions have accordingly been Invariably
followed. We have already (hewn in what manner
flee directions for the heads of fervice being • men.
tinned in the drafts have been evaded; and in reciting
the Act, he has not noticed the clanfe whickehreas
that the monies illued to the Bank on account of the
Treafurer, (hall not be paid out of the Bask, unlefs
for navy fervices. It Purely cannot be advanced, that
the money drawn by the paymafter for private nfe
was paid out of the Bank for navy fervices.
One of the rearms* given by the paymafter for
keeping balances in his own hands is, the having of
money in readtaefs to advance to the fubacconntants,
when the demands upon them were greater than were
forefeet]; and in his evidence of the 19th of October.
he Rates, that he has made advances to them in calls
and bank notes ; but this circumftance is contradicted
by the fub-accountants • and it will hardly be con-
tended, that money Rat:ding in the name of the trea-
furer at the bank is not as much within his power as
in the honfe of a private banker. In order. however,
tojedge of the aeceffity of the cafe, we thought pro-
per to inquire, whether, as it was Rated to us by the
paymater, the calhiers received daily advances of,
mosey equal to one or .two day, expenditure t Wei

3111 of December in each year, and of the days in
each fucceeding year when thofe balances were ex.
hanged. By the following Itatement, drawn out from
thofe accounts, it will appear, that previoufly to 18016
their balances were generally equal to between a week
and fortnight's expenditure. [Here follows she table.]
As we fee no reafon why the advances Should not
be made to the Sub-Accountants from day to day,
the balances left in their hands prior to the year Iliog,
appear to us to have been.confiderably more than the
public Service required.
We think it proper, however, to obferve, that the
Cafhier of theYittualling, Since his falary was raifed,
in 1786, from one hundred and fifty pounds to four
hundred pounds per annum, does not appear to bare
derived any advantage from the life of the public mo-
ney. nor the prefentDeputyPaymafter, nor the Carrier
of Allotments, Since their appointment in !vs.
The Cafhier of the Navy, who was appointed in'
1792, appears to have been in the pre/lice of veiling
certain turns, which he rays were (mall, in Navy Bills ;
but he has not done fo latterly.
The money wanted for the department of the Ca-
Shier of the Navy is at prefent drawn from the flank
by one of his clerks. We think the Several duties of
the Sub Accountants Should be performed by them in
perfon, and this part of the duty in particular.
Mr. Trotter, in his paper, lays much firers upon
the fmallnefs of his falary, in comparifon to the re.
fponGbility of his Situation. The office of Paymafter
is certainly an important one, and conliderable con-
fidence mutt be repofed in him ; but if be regulates
bid condua firialy by the provilions of the Aft of
Parliament, his aaual rafponfibijity Is much lets than
that of the Sub-Accountants. Since the time that
the Payoufter transferred the charge of the Exche-
, quer fee money to the clerk employed in folicitinithe
money at the Exchequer, there has not been any ne-
ceffity for the Paymaller's having in nis hands any
part of the public money ; whereas, large ruins met
necelrarily be trufted to the cullody of the Sub-Ac-1
countants.
The falary of the Paymafter has always been Supe-
rior to that.of the Sub-Accountants. When the fa-
ivies of the latter were augmented on the silt of
May, 'Soo, from four bandied pounds to fix hundred
and Sixty pounds per annum, that of the Paymafter
was increafed from five hundred pounds to eight bun.
dred pounds.
With re(pea to the obrarvation contained in Mr.
Trotter's paper, namely, that the amount of money
iffited from the Exchequer did not depend upon him.
nor upon the Treafurer, it is true that in his appli-
cations to the Lords of the Treafury for money, he
was under the directions of the Public Boatds ; but
it is certainly in the power of a Paymafter, by delay-
ing his applications, or not ding due diligence in fo-
liciting the money from the Exchequer, to create a
neceffity for the different Boards to make earlier ap-
plications, and contequently to keep greater balances
with the Treafurer. However this may have been,
we know that the difburfemenis in the Navy Pay'
Office might have been carried on with (mailer ba-
lances ; in proof of which, we need only notice the
rums received from Mr. Trotter and applied by Lord
Melville, thofe in the hands of Mr. 'Procter, and chore
for many year& converted by Mr. leek
to his pri-
vate concerns, of which we Shall fe4fr hereaftcr.—
TIN amotuit of there funs (and at times they ryuit
have been very large) need not have teen taken from
the Exchequer, for it is evident the payments for the
Navy fervices were carried on without them.

We have entered in the Appendix a general Rate-
ment of the annual receipts, payments, and balances
of the Treafuter of the Navy, from the year 1786 to.
1803, both inclufive ; and a general Ratement of the
monthly receipts, payments, and balances, for the
years 1796 and 1800.

We hive likewite inferted an account, fornillted by
the Navy Board, of the amount of the Treafurerit
receipts, the affignmeats made on him by the differ-
ent Boards, and the amount of the unaffigned balance
in eachyear from 1786 to i 800, both inclufive._

Upori comparing the above accounts, We obferre,
that the amount of the affignments or orders upon the
Treafurer, as might be expeaed, does not accord
with the amount of the fums paid by him within the
year ;* and confequently, that the balances at the end
of the year by the two accounts do not agree.
There is alfo a difference in the amount of the
fums Rated to be received by the Treafurer within
the year ; but this, we are told, has arifen from the
manner in which the Treafurer has brought to account
rums paid to him by individuals (who have had money
imprefted to them by the different Boards) in order
to clear their insprefts.
Inftead of charging iiiinfelf with the fums fo paid
to him 'he has recharged himfelf with the whole
fun advanced upon impreft, of which he had pre-
viouily acquitted himfelf, and has difcharged himfelf
of the turn 'dually difburfed by the party, by which
he in fa& charges himfelf with the balance, but it
materially augments in his accounts the total of his
receipts within the year.
We are of opinion, that all monies fhould be car.
tied to account in the fame manner by the Trrafuieti
and by the perfons'empinyed in the public offices to
check his account', in order that the tWo accounts
may correfpond. •
[Here follows a Ratement, drawn op from the above
accounts, mewing the amount of the Treafurees'un•
affigned and aaual balances on the 3 tit of December
in each year, from 1786 to 1803, and the number of
days fuch balances would have lafted, at the average
rate of• expenditure of the fuceeeding years.)
On eonfideringthe•above flatement, it will appear,
particularly before the year 1796, that Much larger
fums were left in the hands of the Treafurer than the
publiefervice required: on an average, the undigned
balance left in his hands prior to the above Oetiod,
was equal to thirty-three days expenditure 'of each
fuoceeding year, and hir aaual balance, during the
fame period, would have been equal to forty-five days
expenditure. ,
We fee no reafon why the money in the Treafurer's
charge thould at any time beMore than equal to tui
days probable expenditure, exclufive of the money
lodged at the out ports to pay the wagesoffuch this
as may unexpeaedly arrive in time of war.
e practice of the public Boards, and particularly
of-the Navy Board, in applying for rums under esa-
ante, heads of fervice, and of•coufidering fuch fume
as appropriated to thole fervites, inftead of being
applies:Ale to the general fervice of each department,
'tends vary much to Wank the Tuatara's balm*

• •
•
• .
be was not, Übe the Cafhiete, in the fteetpt of fees I therefore required an account of their balances on i
or gratuities. of which they were then deprived, is 3111 of December in each year, and of the dap
what we cannot pretend to affirm.; but we cannot each fticceeding year when thofe balances were
• fuppofe that the ufe of the public money was then con- hanfted. By the following Itatement, drawn out fo
• fidered as a perqnifite of the Paymafter, which would thofe accounts, it will appear, that previoufly to 18
imply, that the recommendetion of the Commiffioners their balances were generilly equal to between a w
of Accounts, the Refolutions of the Houle of Com- and fortnight'aexpenditure. [Here knows the tabl
nums, and finally, the Ad of Parliament, were to- As we fee no reafon why ihe advances Should
tally di:regarded, and that an emolument Co fraught be made to the Sub-Accountants from day to d
with evil to the public, which had been lately coin- the balances left in their hands prior to the year 18
muted with the Treafurer for an additional Glary of appear to us to have beenzonfiderably more than
more than two thoufand pounds a year, was, by thofe public Service required.
entitled to confider of the eftablifbment of e Navy We think it proper, however, to acme, that
Pay (Nice, thoughtproper to devolve on his Deputy, Cafhier of thoYittualling, Since his Salary was rail
the Paymafter. in 1786, from one hundred and fifty pounds to f
Mr. Trotter in his paper alfo Rates, that he has no hundred pounds per annum, does not appear to b
doubt, though he cannot prove it, that advantages derived any advantage from the ate of the public I
were enjoyed by his predeceffors from the tire of the ney, nor the prefentDeputyPaymafter, nor the Cafl
public money ; ar.' that " the exceeding fmallnefs of Allotments, Since their appointment in !vs.
oof the Mara of Paymaßer affords a prefumptioa, The Callaier of the Navy, who was appointed
a' that filch advantages have been conlidered ise
form- '792, appears to have been in the practice of veil
ing apart of the remuneration of fo anxious and certain turns, which he Pays were fmall, in Navy Bi
44 confidential a charge." but he has not done fo latterly..
From all the information we have been able to ob- The money wanted for the department of the
lain, it does net appear that Mr. Trotter's predeeef- Shier of the Navy is at prefent drawn from the
, fors did enjoy any fuch advantage. If is poGtively by one of his clerks. We think the leveret dutie,
Rated by Mr. Harmood. Payrnafter to Mr. Barre,that the Sub-Accountants Should be performed by then
be did not ; nor did he conceive the ufe of the public perfon, and this part of the duty in particular.
money to form any part cf the emolument of his of- Mr. Trotter, in his paper, lays much firers to
&e. And it is Stated by Lord Bayning, that Ise did the fmallnefs of his Mary, to coumarifon to the
not kiow, tint did he believe, that Mr. Douglas, while fponGbility of his Situation. The office of Payma
be acted ai his Pay:tuner, derived any profit or ad is certainly an important one, and conliderable c
vantage from the use or employment of the -public fidence mutt be repofed in him ; but if be reguli
money, except the money Weed for the payment of bid condua Aridly by the provifions of the Aft
Exchteper fees. Parliament, his actual refponfibility is much lets tl
As a further anfwer to the obferration, that he that of the Sub-Accountants. Since the time t
ufe of the public money was confidered as a perqui. the Paymafter transferred the charge of the Exc
Site of the Paymailer, when the augmentation of fa- quer fee money to the clerk amployed in Nicking
larks in the Navy Pay Office took place in Auguft, money at the Exchequer, there has not been any
1786, a e find that Mr. Trotter, in his examination on ceffity for the Paymaller's having in nis hands
the :d, orb. and 2th of 04tober in that year, before part of the public money ; whereas, large fume m
the Ccmanitlioners appointed to enquire into the fees, neceffarily be trotted to the cullody of the Sub-4
gratuities, petquifites, and emoluments received in countants.
the leveral public offices, contained in the Appendix The Salary of the Paymafter has always been fu
to their fourth Report, depofes, ',That be has at pre- rior to that.of the Sub-Accountants. When the
Ant fame advantiok from balances remaining in his larks of the latter were augmented on the silt
hands, which were impreded to the prefent Treafurer May, tBOO, from four hundred pounds to fix hand
for the purpok of paying Exchequer fees, and tome and Sixty pounds per annum, that of the Paymai
other contingencies ; but the amount of Inch advan- was increafed from five hundred pounds to eight k
tages he cannot laollibly ascertain. He is alfo allow- dred pounds.
ed ftaei“nary of all forts for his own ufe, but does With refpol to the otifervation contained in
o not recoiled any fee, gramity, or other allowance or Trotter's paper, namely, that the amount of mot
peririfire whatever, which he enjoys as Paymafter of iffited from the Exchequer did not depend upon t
the Navy." nor upon the Treafurer, it is true that in his ap
If Mr. Trotter-vets in the practice of deriving ad- cations to the Lords of the Treafury for money,
vantage from the tire of money applicable to navy was under the directions of the Public Boalds ; I
Cervices at the time of making this delsolition, which it is certainly in the power of a Paymaller, by del
was only two mounts after the increafe of the Salaries ing his applications, or not ufing due diligence in
in the Navy Pay Office, the mention of fo confider. liciting the money from the Exchequer, to treat,
able a fource of emolument could not have been neceffity for the different Boards to make earlier
omitted. The Cummiffioners before whom this de- plications, and confequently to keep greater balan
pofition was made, certainly did not tolled from it, with the Treafurer. However this may have be
that the of: of money applicable to navy fervices, we know that the difburfemenis in the Navy I
was a peraptifire of the Paymalter ; for in detaining Office might have been carried on with Smaller '
his income, after mentioning his rater'', and his al- lances ; in proof of which, we need only notice
lowances of coach-hire, coals, candles, and Ration: fume received from Mr. Trotter and applied by Li
ary, they Rao:, "he at prefent derives tome advan- Melville, thofe in the hands of Mr. 'Trotter, and th
Sage from ;he balance of money remaining in his for many years converted by Mr. leak
to his ;
bands for the purpak of paying Exchequer fees, and we concern', of which we Shall fealr hereafter.
tome other contingencies, but has no fee, gratuity, TIN amount of thefe Sums (and at times they :v
or other emolument whatever." And they recom• have been very large) need not have Ism taken fro
mend that his calory IhouLl be increafed from five the Exchequer, for it is evident the payments for I
hundred to eight hundred pounds per annum, to be Navy fervices were carried on without them.
in lieu of all contingensies or allowances whatfoever; We have entered in the Appendix a general Re
and that he Mould " not be permitted to derive any ment of the annual receipts, payments, and halals,
advantage whatever from public money remaining in of the Treafurer of the Navy, from the year 1786
his hands ; but that the money iffued to pay Exche- 1803, both inclufive ; and a general Statement of
- quer fees, &c. Should be paid into the Bank, and monthly receipts, payments, and balances, for
drawn front thence for the public fervice in like man- years 1796 and iBOO.
net as all other money for naval fervices now is." We have likewife inferted an account, furniffied
The Mary, propoled by thole Commiffioners, was the Navy Board, of the amount of the Treat ure
of courfe deemed by them- a full equivalent for the receipts, the alignments made on him by the dift
labour and refootifibility of the Situation. ent Boards, and the amount of the unaligned baler
When the toutokA of the Navy Pay Office was in eachyear from 1786 to i 800. both inclufive.
under the contideratian of the Seieft Committee of Upon comparing the above accounts, We obko
the Houk of Commons on l'inance, in 1797, they that the amount of the alignments or orders upon t
• required, a,: account of the increafe or diminution Treafurer, as might be expeSled, does not acco
which had take', place Since the year 1782, in the with the amount of the fums paid by him within t
amount of Ulu es and emothiments in the Navy Pay year and confequently, that the balances at the ei
Office. The account forniihed is contained in the of the year by the two accounts do not agree.'
appendix to their r7rit report. The increafe of the There is alfo a difference in the amount of t
emolument of odd pence received by the clerks is rums Rated to be received by the Treafurer with
Aventioned ; hot no notice is taken of the advantage the year ; but this, we are told, has arifen from t
derived by the Paymafter from the ufe of the money manner in which the Treafurer has brought to acccu
iffued for the Service of the navy ; although it mutt (urns paid to him by individuals ( who have had mon
have arifen Since the year 1782, as the paymafter at imprefted to them by the different Boards) in ord
that time did not derive any emolument therefrom. to clear their insprefts.
Hence it mull appear, that the ufe of the public Inftead of charging himfelf with the Sums fo pa
money was not confidered, even in 1197, as an to him,. he has recharged himfelf with the wha
avowed emolument of the paymafter. Sum advanced upon impreft, of which he had pr
Mr. Trotter States in his paper, that in drawing vioufly acquitted himfelf, and has difcharged himfi
money from the Bank in grofs, and retaining it in of the turn 'equally dilburfed by the party, by whit
his own hands, or lodging it with his private banker, he in fad charges himfelf with the balance, but
he does not confider that he has departed from the materially augments in his accounts the total of
letter or fpiiir of the A& for the better Regulation of receipts within the year.
the Office of Treafurer of the Navy ihe remit was We are of opinion, that all monies Should be co
_direifted by that AB, that all iffites to the Treahree ded to account in the fame manner by the Trained
of the Navy from the Exchequer Should be placed to and by the perfons'employed in the public offices
his credit at the Bank of England, and be drawn check his account', in •order that the tWo aecoun
from thence by drafts, fpecifying the heads of Service may correfpond. • ' •
for which it is wanted; and he further Retch that [Here follows a Statement, drawn op from the abo'
thole directions have accordingly been Invariably accounts, (hewing the amount of the Treafurees'u
followed. We have already (hewn in what manner aligned and actual balances on the Sill of Demob
the directions for the heads of fervice being • men• in each year, from 1786 to 1803, and the number
tinned in the drafts have been evaded; and in reciting days Such balances would have lased, at the avant;
the Aft, he has not noticed the chafe whicloshreas rate of• expenditure of the focceeding years.)
that the monies iffued to the Bank on account of the On confideringtheabove Statement, it will apps
Treafurer, (hall not be paid out of the Bask, unlefs particularly before the year 1796, that Much larg
for navy Services. It finely cannot be advanced, that rums were left in the hands of the Treafurer than tl
the money drawn by the paymaSter for private ufe public ferries required: on an average, the unaffigni
was paid out of the Bank for navy Cervices. balance left in his hands prior to the above perm
One of the rations given by the paymafter for was equal to thirty-three days expenditure 'of eat
keeping balances in his own hands•is, the having of fuoceeding year, and hir actual balance, during tl
money in readiaefs to advance to the fub•accouotants, fame period, would have been equal to forty-five dal
when the deinands upon them were greater than•were expenditure. ,
foreken ; and in his evidence of the 19th of October, •We fee no reafon why the money in the Treafurer
• he Rates, that be has made advances to them in cant change should at any time bentore than equal to n
and bank notes ; but this circumitaace is eontradiaed days probable expenditure, exclufive of the mons
by the Sub-accountants • and it will hardly he con-. lodged at the out ports to pay the wagesoffuch Shit
tended, that money Standing in the name of the trea- as may unexpeaedly arrive in time of war.
Curer at the bank is not as much within his power as Tele practice of the public Boards, and particularl
in the honk of a private banker. to order, however, of-die Navy Board, in applying for (ems under at
to
quire, the aeceffity of the cafe, we thought pro- ante. heads of Service, and of•confidering Such fun
per t uire, whether, as it was Elated to us by the as .appropriated to thofe (crakes, inftead of beim
parmiller, the carriers received daily advances of; applteaple to the general fervice of each departmen
mosey arta to one or .two data espadtture S Wei.tendo Tory much to iota& the maiooces balauc
. .• • • •
•