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

0:411 -REPORT •.? •
, .
'KUM VIE COMM ITU& 0.24 'Tee 1411116/C EXPAND!.
/1/141., &C. UV THE UNITSIO*I)IIIDgML.
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°UWE Or PA TSIASTIen. 01 P 4 katXr4 1 AND AVODIT
Or iocourti:
u The Committee ipp*tail. eiatnilie and
consider what Regulations, ititT;,Flecks hove, belie
00)1610, in order. to c9ntroul the stiverol
branches of the Public tiotpenditure of Great
Britain and Ireland, 'and hoW far the same have
been effectual; and what further •measures can be
ihltiete.l fur reducing aoy part of the said Expen-
diture, or diudiiiihnig the amount of Salaries and
r.:ll,ifutneutr, without detriment to the Public

Scrvice ;
Living informed that a considerable default
been discovered in the Office, of r4youtster of
Marioes, have directed their first inquiries to the
slAture of the regulations •tander which that de-
partment is conducted, with a view to ascertain
whether thoserugulations are inseiliCieel in them.
fielirtYal or ill aikpllOd to the service, or. whether
lhere has beep a culpable or negligent departure

from them. ' •
64 The Paymaster, whose duty is confined to
the payment of the Marines while on shore, pre.
scuts monthly accounts to the Admiralty, stating
his receipt and expeutliture during the last month,
and an estimate of. the probable demands upon
him fur thccarrant month, together with a state-
ment of the balances remaining in his hands on the
first and fait. days •,of the month.; in
cousequence of which '0-placation, an order -la lor
warded to the..Navy-otlice, accompanied by a
copy of the astinthly.account, directing att imprest
to be issued by the Treasurer of the Navy, aho
i 3 the general Banker, as the Navy-offro is the
general office of account for everybranch of naval
service. . A statement .of the balances in the Pay-
master's hands, included iu the monthly account,
is transmitted. with the order for each imprtst to
the Navy-office. •
66 This statement of the balances in these month_
ly accounts affords, in appearance, a secure and
constant guard against any undue accumulation of
money in the hands of the Paymaster.; but this
appearance is delusive; for these accounts, being
necessarily unaccompanied with vouchers, do not
admit of any efficient check, until the delivery,
at a subsequent periotk of the general annual ac-
count : the consequence of which has been, that
they have unfortanately produced the effect of
preventing, rather *than forwarding, any useful
examination into the: real state of the Paymaster's
balance, andaseem to have precluded all suspicion,
either at the Admiralty or Navy-office, of any
Improper accumulation of money in his hands."-
" ln the printed regulations and instructioys
relative to the Royal Marine Forces while •on
shore, the 7th article diri:cts 44 that the Paymaster
is to pass an account with the Commissionerctuf
the Navy ; et thaend of every year he is to deli-
ver a general account of all money.receivett and
paid within • that,,liete," If it was the duty of
the Paymaster to itt became the duty of the
Commissioners of the. Navy to examine ; and your
Committee cannot view, without great dissatisfac.
lion, the delay which has prevailed inAhVilelivery'
of the general annual Accounts; the causes of
which will be noticedtheseafter. •
" 4 The practice 4 the Office with respect tolhe
accounts of the Paymaster of Marines appears to
have been this The monthly accounts already
alluded to, which are transmitted by the Admiralty
to the Navy Office, receive no particular
nation, and indeed do not admit of being checked,
as before stated, except in the articles of impreste
and balances brought over from the preceding
month ; but an examination of these items aloft
would obviously not ascertain
.the correctness 'of
the balance remaining.
" The general annual account, when delivered,
is examined with. the Imprest Ledger on the one
side, and with the Accountant's Vouchers on the
other, by one or more of the Clerks in the Office
of Bills and Accounts ; by them the balance sta_
ted by the Paymaster is confirmed or corrected.
A statement is then made out by the person who
has examined the account, of the disbursements
only, detailing the nature of them and of the
vouchers, with observations on any irregularity
ti either, on the authority under which the pay-
ments were made, or on any other circumstance
deserving nofice., The statement io made out
by the Examining Clerk should be checked by
the Chief Clerk, and is then submitted to the
Committee of Accounts ; and it is their ditty, af-
ter due consideration, to direct the sums disbursed
and properly vouched to be allowed towards clear-
ing such Imprest as maybe stauding out against
the Accountant. To what sum thiS
sfinprest may
umotiot, is not however brought under the notice
ether of the Committee of Accounts or 'of the I
Board (unless specially called for), the statement
it,cif not containing the Imprests, or the balance,
remaining ; and the otiginal annual account never
wide:going their revision. And here youi Com-
mittee cannot but express their surprise, that thu
gcural practice otthe Office should have sanction-
ed so extraordinary an omission in the statement of,
:gay accountos that of thesurn owing by the accoutt_
oat to the public: and (hails this particular instance
0,2 Examining Clerks should not have deemed it
their deity to bring under the immediate no.
of that Committee, an article of such magni-
tude and importance. ' They trust this practice
has been at length effeetually 'corrected by a mi-
nnte of the Navy Board, dated 17th January,
In other respects, it appears to your
Gemilittee, front the, inspection 'of many of the
statements *hick have. been laid before them, that
'tie disbursements in the Paymaster's accounts have
received anittentive and accurate investigation :
And it further appear., from a dottiment produced
by the Navy Board, that fowl of the• accounts in
the (Mice of Bills and Accounteare in arrear,aefi
none greatly so; and that.thp balances of none of
them are so large as to excite suspicion.
" The lion. George Villiers was appointed
Faymaster of Marines by the Beard of Admiralty,
l nth March, 1792, and re-appointed Parana*
and Inspector, fisai May,• 1803,- with 'part-Wu/if
directions as to theiMede in, which his departMent
as to be cooductd4Petibioing him to snake fro.