Star.
London, England, 1805-04-01 00:00:00

ISSUI or NAVY BILLS FOR THR PGRFOSI OF RAISING

140II&Y.

Previoufly to the adoption of this meafure, the
Lords Commit oners of the Treafury direked the
Navy Board to caufe it to he notified to the perfons
having ninety day Navy Bills then due, " and with-
in& to have a. renewal of the fame inftead of receiv-
ing the amount in call', that they might be accom-
modated with new bills bearing the fame interefi,"
which accommodation was directed to be continued

till further notice ; but this mode not fully anfwer
ing the purpofe intended, the expedient of railing
money by the Mire of Navy Bills was reforted to.
This tranfailion appears to have arifen from a con-
verfation between the Comptroller of the Navy and
Mr. George Glenny, a merchant, having large con-
cerns with the Viaualling Department, upon the dif
ficulties which were occafionally experienced by de-
lays in the ilfues of money from the Exchequer for
the fervice of the Navy. In that converfauon Mr.
Glenny communicated the manner in which he had
procured money on the Vidualling Bills, made out
to him in payment under his contrals, through, the
agency of Melfrs. Goldfmids. This produced an in-
terview the next day betwien the Comptroller of the
Navy, Meffrs. Goldfmids, and Mr. Glenny, and the
plan of drawing Navy Bills for the p.urpofe of railing
money was thereupon concerted.
The &filet of thefe Bills for too,oool. was drawn

on the 13d of Oftober, 1800, payable. to Mr. Corn.
wall Smaller; but ha difapproving of his name being
made ufe of, there bills were deltroyed, and others
for the fame amount were made out in the name of

Mr. George Glenny. It was afterwards thought
right to make fuch bills payable to Meals. Donald-
fon and Glenny, the firm of the houfe to which Mr.
Glenny belonged.
The total amount of there Bills, ailed between
the a4th of Odober doo, and the sth of May
when the pra6ice of drawing fuch bills was difcon-
tinued, was 4.30p,0p01. betides ninety days interell,
which was added to give them the femblance of re-
gular
There was, however, this efrential difference be-
tween them : the regular bills Rated the particular
kind of Rams er fervices for which they were given
in payment ; there bilk expreffed only, that they,
were for " Sundry Naval Services."
Not being aware of any power in the Navy Board
to draw bills of this defcription, for the purpofe above.
mentioned, we fought information from the Comp-
troller of the Navy on the lubjed, but he declined to
itifwer the qoellion put to him, under the claufe of
the Ad of Parliament by which we are appointed,
which provides, that no perfon (hall be obliged to
tanfwer any queltion which may tend to crimioate
Aim, or expofe him to pains or penalties, referring us
for the authority under which he and the Navy board
had aced, to his Majetty's Order in Council, in June
t 796, for regulating the duties cf the fevers] mem-
bers of the Navy Board, and to the patent by which
they are appointed.
From there documents no loch authority is derived,
nor do we conceive the Navy Board can, without
the exprers authority of Parliament, iffue bills to raife
money to be applied to the fervice of the Navy, or
any other fervice.
It is not meant, by there obfervations, which our
duty requires its to make on this tranfadion, to inti-
mate, that it was undertaken with any indired view,
or to charge any abide in the execution of the plan,
after it was refolved upon; it is the meafure
which we have to notice.

',him.

It is proper likewifc to Rate, that there bills were
iffued under the direaions of the Lords Commiffion-
ers of the Treafury, fignified at the time of each
iflue by letters irom their Secretary to the Navy
Boards, which were inclofed confidentially to the
ComptroUer, and the produce of the bills was paid
to the Treafurer of the Navy ; the letters entered in
the 'Appendix, fhcw how this bufinefs was con-
duaed.
We enquired whether the difficulties in obtaining
medey for the fervice of the Navy, flitted to have cr-
ated in the years tfloo, 18ot, and 11302, arofe from
any. untilual deficiencies in the Navy Mutates for
thole years; the Comptroller could not fpeak io the
of itnau s, but informed us, that the difficulties which
led to the adoption of this plan, were owing Come-
times to a deficiency of money in the Treafury,
and &me; inies to the Naval Supplies being exhaufted,
which he believed to have been the cafe an Ottober.
ilk°. The Paymafier of the Navy flitted the general
occurrence of official difficulties in applications for
money, and that fuch difficulties might have occur-
red at thcperiod when thefe bills were ailed; although
he did not recollea any correfpondence of the Trea-
furer of the Navy with the Treafury or Navy Board,
which led or related to the iffue of thefe bills.
It was certainly proper that the public credit fbould
be fupported, but we cannot admit that this meafure
was indifpenfably neceffary for that purpofe; nor can
we allow the validity of the reafon given for it by
the Comptroller, namely, that no funds were mitt-
fively lbt apart for the payment of ninety-day bills,
the amount being uncertain ; it is in the nature of the
thing that an eliimate fhould be uncertain. All the
fupplies for the Navy are annually voted by Parlia.
meat on eftimate, and the amount paid by ninety.
day bills, forming no inconfiderable part of the Navy
expenditure, mutt of conrfe be included in the gene-
rarprectfion for Navy fervices.
We were led by the examinattioa of the Comptrol.,

ler and ChierVlerk in the Office for bills and account ,
to imagine thaithe advantage which might accr
by the intereft en the bills, from the time of their
date to the time of their being negotiated, was to
the remuneration to the Brokers for their trouble :
but by an account afterwards laid before US, we fool: 1
that they had made the ufual charge of one-eig'i:ll
per cent. commiffion, and had given credit to G 0
vernment for the interelt on the days elapfed beim e
the bills were negotiated. The amount of Mar,
Goldfmids commitlion on the negotiation of tittle
bille, was 53751.
On examining Mein s. Goldfrvids account, it pp
peared in the fira entry, that they had not given cre-
dit to the public for the full amultot of the produce
of the bills at the tune of negotiating them. But this
is (fated by Meru. Goldfmads to have arifen from
their having advanced the money before the bills
were aftually negotiated.
This circumaance could not be difcovered from
any thing on the face of the account. We are of ~p;.
nion, that all accounts rendered to the Public Board,
Ihould be made out with Inch particularities, as may
be neceffary to a clear exhibit of each item,• which
will greatly facilitate the examination of the accounts.
LOSS AIMING FROM THB MOOS OF PAYING The INTS-

REST ON NAVY AND TRANSPORT BILLS.
By an Aft of the 34th of his prefent Majelly, cap.
2t, it is enafted, that after the sth day of April,
t 794, all Navy and Vieualling Bills than be made
payable on a certain day, not later than fifteen
months from the date of each bill ; and that the in-
terell on Poch bills as (hall carry intere9, (hall com-
mence from the day on which the Paid bills (ball be
regiltered.
And by a fubfequent AEI of the 37th year of his
prefent Majelly, cap. z 6, it is direeed, that all Navy,
Vienalling, and Trail :poi t Bills, (hall be payable on
a certain day, to be expreffed in each Bill, which day
(hall not be later than three calendar months from
the day of the date thereof ; and that every fuck bill
(hall carry an interell after the rate of threepence half-
penny per mons per deny, to commence from the day
of the date of each bill.

Upon the paffing of the laft Aft, the Cornmiflion-
ens of the Vietualling tranfmitted to the Navy Board
an account of Vieualling Bills payable in murk.
which had been regiftered in the month of January,
1797, noting them to become due in ninety days
from the day of the date, which day was not included.
The Navy Board, on receipt of the account, Elated
their objeftions to this method of computation, in a
letter to the Victualling Board, in which they (Merv-
ed. that all bills made out under the fame aft, fhould
be uniform in all their terms ; that on all occafions
dependant on time, it was cuftomary to include both
the firft and lalt day ; that this mode of computing
intereft on the navy bills had prevailed during the
late act, was followed in the Tranfport Offide. and
was in conformity with the preterit aft.
The Commiflioners of the Vieualling, in reply.
forcibly controvert thefe potitions. They flats, that
it had always been the cuftcm of their office not to
include the firft and laft days in the calculation of in-
tereft, until that rule had been departed from in rec-
koning the intereft on the bills iffued under the 34th
of his prefent Majefly, and which was done at the
fnggeftion of the officers of the Navy Board ; that
the rule now again adopted in the Vi.ftualling Of-
fice was confiftent with that univerfally obferved in
refpea to bills of exchange ; to which, except in the
inftance of the three days grace ufually taken, they
underftood thefe bills were, as nearly as poffible, to
be rendered fimilar : that they conceived their mode
to beconformable to the ad of Parliament, and that
it had not occafioned the flightelt remonftrance frrna
any perfons receiving or holding their bills. To this
letter no anlwer appears to have been returned.
In purfuing different lines of condud on the fame
occafion, both the Boards could not be right ; and.
as the intereft of the public was committed in the
queflion, it might have been expected that a reference
would have been made to the fuperior Board for a
decifion, particularly by that Board whole condue,
if erroneous, fubjeeed the public to a lots.
It does not, however, appear, that this difference
produced either reference or enquiry ; and the rule
adopted by the Navy Board, of making the 90 day
bills payable on the 89th day from the date, conti-
nued in pradlice in that and the Tranfport Office an-
til the month of December, tBor.
On the nth of that month a minute from the

Committee of Accounts (one of the Committees in-
to which the Navy Board is divided) Rating, that
doubts had been fuggefied of the propriety of the
mode in which ninety day Bills ilTued from that

Office had been made out, was referred to the Board

at large.
In this minute the Committee fet forth the pro-
priety of their prefent mode of proceeding, grounded
on the eftablifhed praEtice of their office, and the ne-
ceffity of keeping faith with the merchants, who had
been ufed to this mode of computing the intereft en
their bills. They alto exprefs their doubts -.whether
any faring would accrue to the public from the day's
intereft in quellion, on a prefumption that the Con-
traaors reckon upon it in the terms of their con-
traas ; yet notwithltanding thefe reafons offered in
favour of the alining praaiee, the Committee refer
to the confideration of the Board, whether it might
be proper at that time to depart from the ancient
ofage of the office, and make an alteration in the
computation of the time the go day bills are made
out to run, in conformity with the Viaualling Offices
and the cullom of merchants in difcounting bills."
In confequence of this minute the Navy Board,
upon !he 18th of the fame month, came to a refolu-
tion, that the Navy Bills iffued in future fhould not
bear littered for the day on which they are dated,
agreeably to the pra&ice with regard to Exchequer
Bills, and Bills made out at the Victualling Office,
and direfted thts change to commence on the follow-
ing day.
Previoufly to our having any knowledge of the
above minute and refolution, we bad defired infor-
mation of the Navy Board as to the caufes of the re-
jeaion, and fubfequent adoption, of the mode in ufe
at the Viaualling Office, of excluding the day of the
date in reckoning the intereft on the.ninety day bills.
The rejeaion of that mode is no otherwife accounted
for, than by obferving, that they did not fee reafon,
on receiving the letter from the Commiffioners of the
Vieualling, to change the conduit ptaaice of their
office fine the Lift efiablifltment of Navy Interett
Bills, and which extended to all paymen.s of falary,
penfions, full er half pay, and all other a.lowances

ard from that department. The teefonsaliGgned
the fitbfequent alretarion, are; that An uniformity
• ight pervade the public Boards from which bills of
fintilar defcription are ;fried ;
o
time arrived at the cnclufion of the late ayar, that
many contraCts were put up, utd many more were
intended to be fir, it was thought a good opportunity
for making an alteration in the mode of paying the
interell on Navy Bills, which could not, without
imputation of departiey from an univerfally under-
lined cutlom, be alive(' whillt the contraas were
pending. It is likewise intimated to be immaterial
whether the Bills were paid one day limner or later,
the fum paid for dm intriea being the fame in one
cafe as the other.

We !hall now make tome remarks nn the above
proceedings of the Navy Board, and afterwards ob—
• terve on the ',ills drawn by the- Commiffioners of
'l'ranfports.

Altiintip the Navy Board might have been unin,
firmed of th• general pradice of compnting the dif-
co:ii:t on bills of exchange, and the mode of calcu-
lating intereil on Exchequer bills, yet, when theVic-
'nailing Board fo Ilrongry pointed out to them, that
they were in error, and that error injurious to the
public, we think they (hould have inßituted an en-
quiry. HO they done fo, they muR have come to
the fame conclufion then which they did afterwards,
and on the fame grounds ; for the method of com-
puting iniereft on Exchequer bills was the fame in
1797 as in aot; and the pradice of the Vidualling
Board they were before fully acquainted with, and
had rejeded.
It is certainly the rule in the paying of wages, fa-
larks, &r. as obferved by the Navy Board, to include
both days, but nothing is gained by this to the per-
fon receiving Inch payment, as his time is afterwards
reckoned frvm the day next to that included in the
termer account, In that in the courfc of the year he
is only paid for 365 day s ; but by the Navy Board's
mode of making the 90 days intereft payable on the
89th day, a peifon might obtain 369 days interell
in the euinfe of die year—or, by following up that
mode, a day's intereft might be gained every time
individuals changed their fecurity, provided the
money was again lent on the day of its being re-
ceived.

The faith to he preferred with perfons whcfe con-
trails were pending, is a circumflance much infifted
upon in the Navy Board's letter to usoand in the mi-
nute of the Committee of Accounts. In order to
judge what influence that confideration could have
had upon the ref lution of the Board at the time it
was carried into execution, we called for an account,
chewing what (landing contracts had determined be-
tween the la of October and t 9th of December, 18ot
(the day on which the alteration took place), and an
account of fuch as were then in force, and continued
to be fo for twelve months. By the tetum made to
oar precept, it mutt appear how little the confidera-
tion of keeping faith with the contractors could have
influenced the decilion of the Navy Board, as only
two contrails, of (mall confequence, had terminated
within the firft-mentioned period—and one hundred
and twenty-three contracts were remaining in force a
pear after the change, beyond which time we thought
it ureters to carry our enquiries ; and the change
being ordered to take effect the day after the refolu-
Lion, operated immediately upon all thefe contraas,
contrary to what was alledged to be the common un-
derftanding of the parties.
It further appeared, by the examination of the Se.
cretary to the Navy Board, that although the con-
traaors were not confulted on the alteration, they
did not (skied to or complain of it, confirming in this
rcfpca what had been obferved in the letter of the
Victualling Board.
The Commiflioners of Tranfports, in anfwer to
our application to them on the fubjea, informed us,
that they had allowed intereft both for the day on
which the bills were dated, and that on which they
became payable, becauce the perfons to whom pay-
ments were made by 90 days bulls were, in fltianefs,
entitled to their money upon the completion of the
fervices performed ; but that an interval of fereral days
almon invariably occurred whilft their accounts were
under inveffigation, and the bills preparing—and be-
caufe, according to their conliruaion of the Jut of
Parliament, they conceived it to have been intended
that the bills fhould be fo paid.
If the Tranfport Board thought themfelves jun
fied in their practice by their conaruaion of the At,
they thould not have departed from it without legal
advice, or proper authority. If a compenittion, in
proportion to the delay, was looked for by the con•
traitors, one day's intereft was not fufficient. It
would feem that this Board folloWed the courfe taken
by the Navy Board, and altered their practice when
they found that the Navy board had refolved upon
a change.
We rather think the Contraltors did not look for
any anticipation of payment, as a compenfation for
the lofs of time whin} their accounts were palling,
fume delay in which mull necelfarily occur, and that
it had not then, nor has it fince had, any weight
with them in regulating the prices at which they
made their tenders to Government.

The following is the amount of ninety-day bills,
Wised between the 26th of December 1796, and the
gth of December itfot, at an intereff of threepence
halfpenny per cent. per day, allowed both for the
day of the date, and the day of the payment of the
bills—

trued by the Navy Board - Zt9,74035 tt tt
Tranfport Board - 6,305 976 it f

16,633,8i2 3 6

I.ofs of one day's interelt on the above !um - 309 to a
Although the iofi of between 7 and pool. per ann.
adds little to the raft amount of the National Ex-
penditure, yet it is becaole the necelfary Expenditure
is in great, that all poffible care thould be taken to
avoid any improper increafe of it, fuch as we think
this to have been.' To the public, one Jay's interefl
on ninety, operating on fa many millions, was a con-
fideration ; to each individual it was not.
We think it tight to ()Verve, whenever a difference
of of inion may arife between the Naval Boards on
the conftrudion of an Aet of Parliament, or any
mitet general regulation, that fist-1i difference of opi-
nion Mould be laid before the Lord. Commiffioners
of tl e Admiralty, for their decition thereon, AS the
l.u• fning of different lines of conduEt Enna tend to
pr. duce difritisfaetion, and will in general be found
to be injurious to the public interen.