The most unpleasant part, however, of his statement was the
confession that the Admiralty had been so careless as to under- estimate by no less than £850,000 the expenditure they had incurred in the recent preparations for war. Sir Michael said that evidently there was some great imperfection in the control pf the Department, the secret of which he was endeavouring to find out ; but the fact was certain that they had under-estimated the actual expenditure incurred by £850,000. Mr. Childers expressed his profound surprise, having indeed gone through the estimates of the departments with great care," with the assistance of the two Accountants-General of the Navy." Evidently Lord Northbrook has not kept the Department as well in hand as he was expected to do, or it would have been impossible that so accurate a man as the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the best assistance of the Department, should not have discovered at once a gigantic error of this kind. The Depart- ment must be quite out of gear; and we suspect that Lord Northbrook, what with his long absence in Egypt and other work, must be held responsible for it.
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