On Thursday, Supply was taken in the Commons, and the
debate turned chiefly on a proposal of Mr. Hanbury's to reduce the vote for retiring pay and allowances by the salary of,;Sir John Adye, as a punishment for the blundering which caused the scandal in relation to the conversion of those naval cut- lasses which turned out so absolutely useless. As Sir John Adye was at the head of the Artillery and Stores Department at the time the conversion was made, he ought to have pre- vented it. Mr. Stanhope asserted that Sir John Adye had ceased to be connected with the Stores Department when "the main conversion " took place, but he did not deny that Sir John Ayde was there when it began. Of course, in the end, no one was found to be responsible, and even the mild proposal to reduce the vote by £50 as a moral protest against the blundering, was defeated by a majority of 13,-145 against 132. We fearthat not only the services, but the whole mind of the country is in that flabby condition when it shrinks from finding any one responsible for any act which deserves sharp censure. We do not say that Sir John Adye was the chief offender in this case, for we do not know ; but we do say that veal responsi- bility should rest somewhere, and that when a discreditable blunder is made, some one ought to suffer for it.
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