CommilWariat.

THE functions of the Commissariat are to provide provisions, &c. for the troops, and forage for their horses. It ought therefore to be a mere subordinate branch of the Army or Ordnance ; but it is an integral part of the Treasury. When a new system of managing the public business is adopted, this transfer will of course take place. If effected at present, it might perhaps merely change a tolerably good plan of account into a very bad one.

Unlike the Victualling Office, which persists in manufacturing its articles, the Commissariat proceeds by contract ; and a saving is the result. This saving is perhaps greater than it appears, if the respective cost of merely loading ships and of distributing provisions, &c. to troops scattered over many countries be taken into consideration.

The reader who merely glances at the detailed accounts should qua- lify any jumping conclusion be might draw from the following Sum- mary, either as to the cheapness at which a soldier is maintained, or the comparative cost of the Commissariat management in proportion to the total expenditure of the department, by remembering, that the sol- dier is understood to provide himself', out of his daily pay, with bread and meat to the amount of (id. per diem. It is only when the cost, from peculiar circumstances, exceeds this sum, that his living appears to be provided for by the public. The entire cost of the soldiers' horses is defrayed by the Government : the officers receive allowances for their horses, and a certain sum is deducted for all the forage with which they are supplied.

Voted for tra:t-S.

Commissariat Department in Great Britain £10 153 Ditto in Ireland 2,331 Contingent Expenses of the Offices, including Coals, Candles, Postage, and Advertisements 3 113

Total of Management at Home . . . . . . 15,897

Pay of the Commissariat ()Ricers dial Clerks at Foreign Stations 40,378 Travelling and Contingent Expenses or Officers of the Commissa- riat, ordered to or returning from Star ions Abroad . . . 520 Total of Management Abroad 10,898

PROVISIONS, F0RA0E, &C.

Expense of Bread, Meat, and Forage, provided by the public, after deducting the common rations or the troops defrayed out of their pay 171,915 Ditto of Coals. Candles, and Palliasse Straw for Barracks, in G reat Britain and Ireland 72,181 Ditto for the supply of Foreign Stations with Coals, Candles, Oil for Light. and Oats; together with Wine for the Hospitals in the West Indies 11 612

Total for Provisions, Sc. defrayed by the public 253.738 SUMMARY.

Total of Commissariat £315,533

The employi!s of the Commissariat have the reputation of being amongst the most efficient and the worst-paid functionaries of Govern- ment. Judging from their accounts before us, they are entitled to the praise of comparative efficiency. The Estimate is clearer and con- veys more information than the documents of any other department, ex- vepting, perhaps, the Ordnance. A more detailed account as to some of the heads of expenditure would have been better, but what details -are presented are sufficient for the particular purpose ; whereas, in the other Estimates, the inquirer is presented with mere generals, or overwhelmed by a mass of details, whilst the facts that would guide him in his economical suggestions are, whether designedly or not, for the most part kept out of view. The reader will form his own con- clusions, from the following Table, as to the bad pay of the Commis- sariat service. As Government people are paid, the salaries are not exorbitant. The plan of paying "heads of departments" as clerks is good, and should be generally followed.

AT 1IOME.

COMMISSARIAT DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.

1 Agent for Commissariat Supplies 1 Assistant ditto Voted for 1832-3.

1 400

700 1 Ditto ditto . ..... . . „ . . .

5 Senior Clerks or the 1st class, from X 200 to X 300 . (One of these receives £450, the salary be enjoyed when transferred to this Office, but this rate will not be continued to his successor.)

5 Senior Clerks of the RI class, from X 150 to £ 300 . . 1,450 13 Junior Clerks - - 90 - 200 . 1,208 1 Offieekeeper 91 Ditto, Allowance for Housemaids 70 2 Messengers 140

34 Persons. Total for Great Britain . . £10,153 COMMISSARIAT DEPARTMENT TN IRELAND. Per nay. X 1 Deputy Commissary-General in charge, at . 47s. 6d. 866

1 Assistant Commissary-General 14 6 260

2 Deputy Assistant ditto, each 9 6 346 Special Allowance to OM of them 1 0 18 I Principal Clerk 11 7 212 1 Clerk 6 11 126

2 Ditto, e.ach 6 6 237 1 Ditto 5 7 102 1 Ditto 48 85 1 Office Messenger - 51 1 Offieekeeper - 23

12 - Persons. Total for Ireland' . . - 48,331 C- ontingent Expenses of the Commissariat ()fares,

including Coals, Candles, Postage, and Advertisements £3,413 Voted for taag.a. 4 Clerks, as heads of departments, at 511/. each . £2,044 500 1,850 Africa,

Sierra Leone

(iambi Bahamas Bernmila

Canada Cape of Good Hope

Gibraltar Honduras Jamaica Malta Mauritius

Newfoundland Nova Scotia . .

New South Wales Van Diemen's Land

Swan River

"West Indies ..... . . Ionian Islands (paid out of Colonial

Revenue) £1,391 Account Branch.

New South Wales Vim u Diemen's Land Total of Voted for. Vorsons. 18154.

2 £652

1 1 351 2 483

3 3

37 37 7

6 6 2 2

5 5 6 6 6 6 3 3 10 10 16 23

6 6

1 2 39 - 39

7

£39,426

3 606 - 2 346 Persons 172 - £10,378

FOREIGN.

COMMISSARIAT ESTABLISHMENT AT FOREIGN GARRISONS AND POSSESSIONS.

Supply Branch. :Cumber of Commissary Othrer, Clerks.

Total for Foreign Stations . . . 698 8,753 1,820 1,647 652 1,875 1,647 1,218 698 2,427 4,338 1,218 355 10,591 Bread and Meat for the Troops £179,300 Deduct, Antolini of Stoppages from the Troops, not exceeding 6d

a day, per man 177,300 Travelling and Contingent Expenses of Ofie....rs of the Com- missariat, orderad to or returning frou: Stations Abroad .

PROVISIONS, FORAC I:, Sc. £520

Vied f..r1r32.3. Oros Cost. Amount drOoyed by the Cubic.

2,000 Forage for the Cavalry Deduct,

11"-,3O 0 Amount of Stoppages from the Pay of Officers of Cavalry, at the rate of 84d. for each ration or Forage supplied to their Horses 10 750 Forage for the Royal Artillery, Sc. 13 000

Deduct.

Amount of Stoppages from the Officers 650 Forage for the Cavalry, Royal Artillery, Sc., in Ireland, net amount Total for Provisions, Forage, Sc.

COALS, CANDLES, Sc., S.M

Coals, Candles, and Palliasse Straw for the Barracks

and Stations in Great Britain 36 000 Fuel, Candles, Straw, ditto, ditto, in Ireland . . . 36,181

106,550 12,350 51,015 £171,915 Total for Coals, Candles, Sc. in Great Britain and Ireland . £72,181

Coals for Corfu. Gibraltar, Newfoundland, Bermuda, and the West Indies 6 736

Candles for Gibraltar, Cape of Good Hope, Newfound- land, Canada, Halifax, Bermuda, Bahamas, Honduras,

Jamaica, and the West Indies 4 065

Oats for the West Indies S237 Wine for the Hospitals in the West Indies . . . 604

Total for Coals, Candles, Sc., Scc., Abroad £14,649