Star.
London, England, 1816-04-04 00:00:00

.

posiesslons were adminttietiti h tirOloOghi to be.
would be impassible for the Heine or Foreign Do.
perm** td'atteNd to them. •
Mi. J. SMITH -wished to tell to the tecolleetion
of the House, that the. office now proposed ore be done
away had. been abolished by Mr. Bartel Sill, in'
178'2, and'the office was nevi. d by Mr. Ditndas, in
l 784; and he Wished'to know why it should now be
kept •utr,- when there were no voltinteers, and no mi.,
,MINa ? He was persuaded that one principal Secre-i
.tary of State would be suffitient to discharge ;he whole
:of the•fligest. and. Colonial, Department. He thought
• nonsp and retrenchment essentially necessary in
the preaent circumstances of the country, and those
he considered would be sufficient. If Ministers, how.
ewe, neglected the voice of the 'country, they did not,
deserve to he its servants.
Mr. BANKES said, that he always felt a disposi-
lien to agree to every, proposition, the object of which
was public economy, and it eas not without doubt
and aliffitulty that he had come to the determination,
char it was not consistent with the convenience of
public business to abolish the office under detrate.—
(Ilear.)—lie was not lcd to this determination by
the circitmdance, that this office was not included in
the Bills which he had brought into the House, be.
cause those Bills had been drawn up in tone of war,
when there could have been no questiOn of abolish-
ing that office. He was afraid that in endeavourin..
to 'tee the expense of this office, and to effect a con-
sequept reduction of patronage, the Hon,- would
cause considerable inconvenience to the public ter
vice. He agreed with the 16th Report of the Finance
Committee, that the continuance of this office should
depend on the state in which the country was left in
time of peace. What was the state in which the clue
try had been left ? With a great increase of Colonies
beyond what could have been in the contemplation
of that Committee. The Right Hon. Mover was
aware of this, and he had proposed to call in the as-
sistance of an office which had been appointed tor
quite different purposes, the Board of Controls'. It
was desirous that an uniform system sloald be
adopted with respect to the Colonies, and he there-
fore thought it unsdvisable that any of them should
be put under the same officer as the Company's pas-
sessiont in India. Then with regard to the saving,
he did not think it could be considerable, because an
addition would be requisite to the salary of the Pre-
sident of the Board oi Controul, for •hil additional
serviee, and there would be a great increase of clerks
required. -The expense would probably be as great
as at- present, and the system would -be less conve-
nient. In his exertions on the subject of public cco.
nomy, he had always endeavoured to recommend,
that the efficient officers should be fairly and amply
paid, and those offices which were nicks' should be
atrolislied. Why, for instance, should the two Jus-
tices in Eyre be continued so long after their duties
had ceased On the other hand, in the efficient offices
of the State, the duties had increased in a large pro-
portion. In the Tieasury the business of late years
had doubled ; and he was convinced that the Colonial
business was so increased as to require the whole at
tentiou of one Secretary. As he thought, therefore,
that it would be inconvenient to throw this business
on the other departments, he could not agree to the
motion.—;Hear, kear, from tis diVissitioni Jae of the'
Hemp.)—lt would be more2griteable to him to sup-
port a measure, the 'object of which was economy,
but he. did not think the office under consideration
was one of the first which should be reduced.—(Naar,
hear, in a groaning lone )
Mr. PONSONBY was sure the. Honourable Gen-
tleman who had just sat down had made'his decision
on the present questi,n ,vith considerable doubt and
hesitation ; and he hoped the Honourable Gentleman
WAS not against the motion of his Ittglit Honourable
Friend, merely because it did not strike him first
(Hear, hear).—How very unfortunate it was, that
there was hardly any motion for public economy,
made by any other Gentleman than himself, which
the Honourable Member did not oppose !—(ls'ear,
iiear)—He begged the House to consider what the
situation of the country now was at the close of the
war. If we were to take the word of Ministeri, it
was one of perfect external safety ;—there was no
reason, they said, to expect a renewal of hostilities.
Thai was its state abroad ; and what was it at home ?
It was one of unexampled and unparalleled distress,
in which no man felt
.the blessings of peace, and in
which the public burthens were felt more severely
than during the hottest of the war. Was not this a
'reason for every possible_ economy ? The Honour.
able Member had asserted that we had more colonial
possessions than at any former period. This he. de-
nied. Before the separation of the thirteen provinces
of America, the whole business of these colonies was
transacted in this office; and could any man'of toin-
mon sense say, that there must not have been then
more business than now belonged to it ?—{Hiarriear)
---,Yet all this business of the colonies was transacted.
in the Home Department down to the year .176& the
period when the American war broke out, and when
there was an additional officer appointed. But untold,
any man pretend to assert that there was more colo-
nial business now than before the year 1701. T.
'Honourable Member says, however, that it wouldbu
unseemly to place our islands under the Bowl; of
Controul, who were paid by the East India Com.
pany r but how could .the Members of that Board be
the.paid servants of the India Completes • when they
were placed there to controul ihet:consPanf TIM
were appointed by.the Crown not hy.tbe Company,;
and the circumstance of their. salaam coming, from
the Company was a 'mere matter of arransomeot.---
Where would be the inctingruity.of piaci/a#*01:084
ness of Ceylon, the Mauritioa, aosl. the .Capc, isndet
that Board, when-they akeady,ltad the seirrinteed-
nice of all India ? The mono. .Of his, Right Uwe
nourable Friend left the business of the•ColOwitllA.
PaitMent. itthat office was abolished; JO be arranged
by Ministers in the way they thotight proper.; sod
there was a particular aptitude in the time for making
a proper arrangement, ibecaoSe Rresidentship of
the Board of Controul was now vacant. He was
satisfied that there was no. Gentleman in. the country
who would refute that office, even tlotigh clogged
with this additional duty. The smallest sum . that
would be saved by the ,abolitibu of this: place was
412,00 U a year, a sum.of no hule importance under
the present distresses. He.did. not taish to 'snake in-
vidious remarks; but the country would not fail to,
observe the great discordance between
_the ..Noble
Lord's promises end .praitiee . of. etpoopty-T-Ohlie.
,liar.)- -HO 41* tOia 40nitelltriAklibitit