2 JULY 1870, Page 3

The Admiralty has lost a man with a real genius

for swindling. A clerk was dismissed in 1861 by the Duke of Somerset for mis- eonduct without a pension. Finding that pensions were to be .commuted, this man applied for the commutation of his own. 'The clerks in the Admiralty Pension Office considered his applica- -tion, calculated the price, and finally, after making every inquiry but one, sent him /2,233, with which he removed to America. 'The one question they took for granted, as he, knowing official ways, was sure they would, was his right to any pension at all. No clerk had been appointed to check that detail.