gers are delivered into this office; which parts of a treasurer's accounts are ufually fent thither as speedily as they can be made up after the year expires.

From an account of the balances remaining in the hands of these treasurers at the times they refpectively ceafed to be treasurers, and an account of the times when their laft fhips were made up, and a state of Mr Grenville's balances, and of the balances of Lord Barrington, Lord Howe, and Sir Gilbert Elliot, every year fince they feverally went out of office, all tranfmitted to us from the pay office of the navy, purfuant to our requifitions, we find, that Mr Grenville refigned this office in 1762, and his laft fhip's book was made up in 1771; that Lord Barrington refigned this office in 1765, and his laft fhip's book was made up in 1775; that Lord Howe refigned this office in 1770, and his laft fhip's book was made up in 1778; and that Sir Gilbert Elliot died in 1777: hence it appears, that for near nineteen years there has been in the hands of Mr Grenville, or of his reprefentatives, and for fifteen years in the hands of Lord Barrington, and for ten years in the hands of Lord Howe, and for three years in the hands of the reprefentatives of Sir Gilbert Elliot, confiderable fums of public money, (exclufive of the fums on the heads of wages, half-pay, and bounty to chaplains), deftined to purpo. fes which (except the paffing three years of Mr Grenville's accounts) have not yet exifted, and which, if we may judge from the progrefs hitherto made in paffing thefe accounts, are not likely foon to exist.

Where public money is appointed for a fervice or purpofe to arife at a future time, we are of opinion, the public alone ought to have the cuftody and ufe of that money in the mean time, and until the fervice or purpose calls for its application.

When the fees and the gratuity become payable, we fee no reason why the treasurer in office should not pay them, in like manner as the treasurers out of office pay them now.

We did not form our opinion upon thefe balances without first hearing the late treasurers themfelves, or the reprefentatives of those who are dead; and therefore we examined Earl Temple, Lord Viscount Barrington, Lord Vifcount Howe, and Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bt, not one of whom made any objection to

paying their balances into the exchequer, upon condition, fome of receiving their quietus, others of being made fecure in fuch payments. We do therefore conceive, that the balances of public money, now remaining in the hands of Earl Temple, as reprefentative of the late George Grenville, Efq; and in the hands of Lord Vifcount Barrington, and of Lord Viscount Howe, and of Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bt, as representative of Sir Gilbert Elliot, late treasurer of the navy, ought to be paid into the exchequer, for the public fervice, leaving in the hands of Sir G lbert Elliot the fums in his account placed under the heads of wages, half pay, and bounties to chaplains, to carry on the fervices to which the fame are applicable; that fuch payments fhould be without prejudice, and a proper fecurity and indemnification be given to each of them against any lofs or detriment that may accrue to them in confequence of fuch payments.

The Rt Hon. Welbore Ellis, the prefent treasurer of the navy, returned to our requifition, a balance in his hands, upon the 31st of Auguft last, of 348,9411. 11 s. 9 d. The act directs us to examine into all balances in the hands of public accountants, for the purpose of confidering what fum may be taken out of their hands to be applied to the public fervice. It is obvious, we could not examine the balance in the hands of the treasurer in office with this view; it could not be in our power to fay, that any part of it ought to be paid back into the exchequer; becaufe, in an office of fo conftant and large an expenditure, this fum must probably be exhausted even while it was under our confideration; but it was competent to us, and we thought it our duty, to examine, whether this was a larger fum than the current bufinefs of the office required fhould at that time be entrusted to the treasurer of the navy. A comparison between the quantum of the fum, and the demands upon it, would enable us to form fome judgement upon this point with this view, we examined the prefent treasurer himself; Timothy Brett, Efq; commiffioner of the navy, and comptroller of the treasurer's accounts; John Slade, Efq; commiffioner of the victualling; and John Bell, Efq; commiffioner of the fick and hurt; from whom we collect the following information.

All the money received by the treafurer, for the fervices of the navy, is either iffued to him out of the exchequer, or paid to him by fundry perfons, in pursuance of the directions of the navy, victualling, or fick and -hurt boards. The money from the exchequer is iffued to him, and arranged in his accounts under various heads of fervices; thefe heads are kept diftinct; and he cannot place or transfer a fum iffued to him under one head, to any other head of fervice. All bills affigned upon him for payment by these boards, fpecify the correfpondent head of fervice out of which that bill is to be paid; and he must not pay it out of money placed under any o ther head of service than that fo specified on the bill.

When money is wanted, the application for it never originally moves from the treasurer, except in the fingle in ftance of money to pay fees, and other contingent expences; this he craves of himfelf, when that fund is nearly exhaufted; in all other cafes, the board in whofe department it is, by letter, defire him to prefent a memorial to the Lords of the Treafury, fpecifying the fum wanted, and for what particular fervice; the memorial purfues the letter, and the iffue is directed from the exchequer in the terms of the memorial. The treafurer immediately certifies to the navyboard the whole fum he receives, and to the other boards fo much of that fum as concerns them: he alfo tranfmits to the navy-board an account of all his receipts and payments in the cashier's and victualling branch every fortnight, and in the pay-branch every month: by thefe means they have an exact knowledge of the ftate of his balance under each head of fervice. Each of these boards enter in their books all the affignments they make upon him for payment; of which they transmit to him a lift; hence they know what the actual demands upon him amount to; and, from their experience in the course of the navy-bufinefs, they can form fome conjecture relative to the probable approaching demands that may be made upon him in the various branches of the service. By fuch knowledge and conjecture, thefe boards are guided in their directions to the treafurer, as to the time when the quantum of the fum, and the fervice for which every application for a fupply is to be made to the treasury.

At the end of every month, the navy-
VOL. XLIII.

board tranfmit to the treasury a certificate, containing an exact state of all the receipts and payments made by the treafurer during that month, as they appear from their books: hence the Lords of the Treasury have full knowledge of the ftate of his balance every month. This certificate for the month of August laft we procured from the navy-office, on which the balance in the hands of the treasurer appears to be 260,716 1. 1 s. 8 d. 19.

Being made acquainted thus far with the courfe of bufinefs in this office, our next step was, to refolve this balance of 348,941 l. 11 s. 9 d. into its conftituent parts, and compare the quantum of each part, as far as we could, with the actual and probable demands of service upon it, Aug. 31. the date of his return.

The first circumftance that engaged our attention, was a difference between the treasurer's balance and the navy-balance upon the fame day, the 31ft of Auguft; the former exceeding the latter by the sum of 88,225 l. 10 s. 3 q. This ditference lies in the cashier's and victualling branches; and arifes from the following caufe: When the three boards affign bills upon the treasurer for payment, they immediately give him credit for thofe bills in his account kept at their offices; but the treasurer does not him, felf take credit for any bills in his own account till he actually pays them the perfons who receive thefe bills do not always immediately prefent them to the treasurer for payment, but frequently keep them in their poffedion for a confiderable time; the treafurer's balance muft therefore exceed the navy-balance as much as the fum of the bills affigned upon him for payment exceeds the fum of the bills actually paid by him. We conceive this excefs is not money for which the treasurer is accountable to the public, but belongs to the proprietors of those bills, and remains in his hands, at their risk, until they apply to him for payment. This fum, therefore, we think, fhould be deducted from his balance.

We, in the next place, obferved, that feveral fums in each branch were not actually in the hands of the treasurer, but of his officers and clerks, either carrying on fervices in London, or at the diftant ports, whither thefe fums were directed to be fent by the navy-board, to carry on the fervices at thofe ports. It may reafonably be prefumed, that the boards would not have directed

S

into

into the hands of the officers, nor the treasurer have intrufted them with, larger fums than were wanted; and therefore thefe fums, too, may be deducted from the treasurer's balance; which will reduce the public money actually in his hands to the fum of 128,083 1. 16s. 10 d. 1q. as appears by the ftate inferted in the appendix. The conftituent parts of this balance, under their feveral heads of fervice, confifting of a variety of articles, are stated in the navy certificate: fome of them carry the appearance of having been applied for fooner than the fervices feem to have required; but, upon examination, we find, that the boards do not direct an application for a fupply to any fund, until they know that fund is nearly or likely foon to be exhaufted. The treafury are fometimes prevented from granting the issue until many days after it is craved; and therefore the boards are careful to apply early enough to guard against the hazard of a demand upon an exhaufted fund. To fearch in to the actual and probable demands at that time upon each of these fums, was hardly practicable; one circumftance alone might enable us to judge with fufficient accuracy, whether the fum-total was too large or not; that is, in what time this balance was in fact paid away by the treasurer. It appears from his ac counts for the month of August, that this whole balance, and much more, was received by him during that month; and by his accounts for the month of September, tranfmitted to us purfuant to our requifition, it appears, that not only the balance remaining on the 31ft of Auguft, but a much larger fum, was in fact paid away by him during the fucceeding month. Confidering, therefore, this fum by itfelf, independent of and unconnected with his other receipts and payments prior and fubfequent to the date of this balance, we have no grounds to fay, that this individual fum, received in-one month, and paid away in the next, was more than the fervice required should be in the hands of the treasurer of the navy upon the 31ft of Auguft laft. But it was neceffary to extend our inquay fill farther. What is the amount of the fum that has been continually in the hands of the treasurer of the navy, and has that fum been more than the emrent fervices required? To come at this knowledge, we obtained from the navy-office an account of the total fums received and paid by the treasurer of the

navy for every month, from the 1ft of January 1779 to the 31st of Auguft laft, with the total of the balances remaining in his hands at the end of each month, as they appear in the monthly certificates to the treasury.

As the public money should pafs without delay from the pocket of the subject into the exchequer, fo it ought not to iffue out of the exchequer, either before it is wanted, or in larger fums than the fervice for which it is iffued requires. By this last account, a very large sum has been conftantly in his hands, during the period therein mentioned, exclufive of the amount of bills affigned upon him, but not prefented to him for payment. The principal caufe of the magnitude of this balance is, the practice, in this office, of not applying money iffued under one head towards fatisfying a demand upon any other head of service; the confequence of which is, when the money upon the account of any head of fervice is nearly exhaufted, a fupply muft be procured for that fervice, how abundant foever the fums upon other heads of accounts, or the fum-total of his cash, may be. Were all the fums he receives to conftitute and be confidered as one common general cafh, and be applied indifcriminately to every service, a much lefs fum than the loweft of the balances in the account last mentioned would, in our opinion, fuffice to carry on the current fervices of the navy, even various and extenfive as they now are. It would create no confufion in the accounts; for the receipts and payments under each head of fervice, might ftill be kept dif tinet; and though the payments might frequently exceed the receipts on fome heads of accounts, yet the treasurer would not be without fufficient cafh, and the next iffue from the exchequer would reftore the balances. What the fum neceffary for carrying on the service should be, muft depend upon circumstances; it will be different at different times, and must be left principally to the difcretion of those commiffioners from whom the direction for fupplies moves, who, being converfant in the bufinefs, can beft determine. But, to enable the Lords of the Treasury likewife to judge of the propriety of and be a check and controul upon the requifition, we are of opinion, that, befides the certificate fent every month from the navy board, an account of the fum total of the balance in the hands of the treafurer of the navy fhould

be

be inferted in every application for a fupply to the treasury.

We have not been inattentive to defects we have obferved in this office during the course of our inquiries; defects which concern the officer, the office, and the public.

The treasurer finds his business does not end with his office; his accounts are fill open. He goes on, receiving and paying, until he feels himself, his family, and his fortune, fubject to all the evils of long public accounts far in arrear, and the difficulties of rendering an account increafing daily he continues refponfible for millions, without an expectation of obtaining his final discharge during his life.

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The office is perplexed with the multiplicity of thefe accounts. There are four diftinct accounts, of four treafurers of the navy, at this time open at the pay-office, and business is carried on upon every one of them at the fame time, by the fame officers, when the current business of the prefent treasurer alone would find employment enough for │them all.

There have been iffued to three of thefe treasurers, for the navy-service, upwards of thirty-three millions, the accounts of which are not paffed; exclufive of above 25,000,000l. to the late Mr Grenville, whofe final account is not yet fettled; and of 16,000,000l. to the prefent treasurer, none of whofe accounts could as yet be fettled.

The navy-accounts in July last, when the impreft-certificate was tranfmitted to us, were in arrear in the office of the Auditor of the Impreft twenty-two years. This delay is occafioned by the accounts of the fubfequent years not being made up at the pay-office of the navy, where there is a want of officers and clerks for this department. A fufficient number of perfons, intelligent in this branch, fhould forthwith be provided by the proper authority, with adequate falaries, for the fole purpose of proceed ing upon, bringing forward, and making up, these accounts, with as much difpatch as the nature of the bufinefs will admit.

By this delay in making up the accounts, the public lofes the ufe, at leaft, of confiderable fums of their own money. Not that the principal itself has always been fafe: A defaulter of above 27,000l. ftands at the head of the lift of treafurers of the navy upon the imprettcertificate,

We inquired why a treasurer, under the prefent conftitution of the office, might not, upon his refignation, immediately pay over his balance to the fucceffor, or into the exchequer, and all the fubfequent tranfactions of office be carried on by the treasurer for the time being.-Two reafons were affigned for the neceffity of keeping cpen his accounts, though out of office:

Ift, That fufficient time may be given to his fubaccountants to clear their im. prefts.

The fubaccountants are certainly very numerous; and as, according to the prefent mode of paffing these accounts, they muft all be fet infuper upon the final account, was that account to be made up foon after the expiration of the treasurership, it would be very voluminous and troublesome to the office. But fince the treasurer in office does now clear the imprefts of fome of his predeceffors, and can clear the imprefts of all, and the three boards can, at their pleasure, call upon the fubaccountants to clear their imprefts, we do not think this reafon conclufive.

2d, That the payment of his fhips books may be completed.

A fhip's book is the voucher for the treasurer who pays it. Two cannot pay upon the fame book; it would create confufion, as the payments of the one could not, without great trouble and difficulty, be diftinguished from those of the other; it could not therefore be made a voucher for two treasurers. To enable a treasurer in office to carry on the payment of a ship's book open in the time of his predeceffor, the names of all the feamen not paid must be abstracted, and entered in a new book; a work of great labour and length of time, where the books are fo numerous; and during all that time, no payment of wages could be made to the feamen unpaid upon thofe books.

Upon the examination of a fhip's book, there appears a foundation for this objection, which opens a door for a poffible mifchief, worthy confideration. It is in the power of a treasurer of the navy, retiring in difguft, to refuse carrying on any more payments, and by that means to put a ftop, for eight months or more, to the payment of all the feamen on the numerous volumes of fhips books open at the feveral ports in his treasurership. Mr Grenville left open a bove thirteen hundred. This evil does