disappointment and inconvenience. In the compensation to be allowed for deprivation of office, or for the retirement of any individual in consequence of these general alterations, there will be ground for liberal regard to the claims of the parties, in the consideration that such allowances will not be additions to the existing public burthens, but only temporary diminutions of the large amount of eventual saving, which we sanguinely contemplate as the result of this measure. We have thus submitted the grounds upon which we have been led to consider the incorporation of the several boards of revenue throughout the United Kingdom, as an indispensable preliminary to the attainment of that uniformity in the management and collection of the public income which was contemplated by parliament in the act of our appointment. We have also submitted the outline of what has appeared to us, after the fullest consideration, the most eligible mode of accomplishing that incorporation, as it concerns the two principal branches of the revenue, the Customs and Excise. The other departments will be the subject of separate reports. In framing a plan for that purpose, we have steadfastly borne in mind the several objects which it is our peculiar duty to suggest the means of attaining, viz. an uniform system of revenue administration, an improved collection of the public income in Ireland, and a reduction of the charges of management. We have also kept in view the connexion between this charge in the constitution of the revenue departments and the other alterations of which we submitted the general heads in the commencement of this report. Upon the fullest consideration, the plan submitted has appeared to us the best calculated for accomplishing all the purposes for which, in conjunction with those measures, it is intended. But we desire distinctly to be understood as not insisting upon this particular mode of effecting an incorporation of the departments with the same degree of confidence as that with which we insist upon the indispensable necessity of the incorporation itself. We are sensible, that other modifications of the same principles, and other schemes of arrangement in the application of them, which have not suggested themselves to us, may perhaps be deemed preferable, notwithstanding the anxious consideration which we have bestowed upon the subject. But whether the object shall be accomplished in the form which we have proposed, or in any other, we shall be equally ready to devote our best endeavours, aided by the powers of inquiry with which parliament has invested us, (to ascertain and report to your lordships the scale of the subordinate establishments which may be most consistent with it, having a just regard to all those interests, financial and commercial, which are involved in the due execution of the service belonging to these departments. We are well aware that it is to those interests alone that the province of our commission extends. In closing this report, however, we trust it may be permitted to us to observe, that some beneficial consequences, even beyond those immediately affecting the revenue and the merchant, may be expect ed to ensue from the union of these departments with the corresponding branches of the revenue in Great Britain. They comprehend a large number of officers extensively distributed, connected in the discharge of their duties with the interests of a considerable proportion of the community, and possessing a degree of influence in Ireland greatly superior to the weight which belongs to them in this country. Any measure which would have the effect of introducing into such establishments an improved state of discipline, better habits of general conduct, a more faithful regard to the interests of the crown, and a more impartial consideration of the just claims of the subject, could hardly fail to produce advantageous results, beyond a mere improvement in the execution of their own functions. We confidently trust, that all of these benefits would follow the extension of the English system of reve nue to Ireland, together with the intermixture of British and Irish officers in the administration of it; and we cannot but entertain the hope that such a change would contribute, in some degree at least, to that amelioration of the general state and condition of Ireland, which a closer approximation to the usages and institutions of this country is best calculated to effect, and which is an object of such vital importance to the political welfare of the United Kingdom. T. WALLACE. (L. S.) THOS. F. LEWIS. (L. S.) J. C. HERRIES. (L.S.) W. I. LUSHINGTON. (L.S) HENRY BERENS. (L. S.) Office of Inquiry into the Col lection and Management of the Revenue, June 28, 1822. REPORT ON THE NUMBER OF OFFICES Held by MembERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. The Select Committee appointed to examine the Returns made by the Members of the House, in pursuance of the several orders of the House of Commons, of the 8th day of June, 1821, in the last Session of Parliament, and report the same to the House; and who were instructed to examine the said returns, and to amend and complete the same to the present time; have pursuant to the order of the House, considered the matter to them referred, and agreed upon the following Report: Your committee have to report to the House, that it appears to them, that fifty-seven members of parliament hold offices under the crown, at the pleasure of the crown or otherwise, the nett emoluments of which are 108,565l. 11s.; that there are thirteen members of parliament, holding offices in the appointment and at the pleasure of the public officers, the emoluments of which are 28,1071. 4s. 2d.; that there are seven members of parliament holding offices or pensions for life under grants from the crown, the emoluments of which are 9,658l. 8s. 10d.; that there is one member of parliament holding office for term of years, under grant from the crown or other public officers, the emolument of which is 15l. 19s. Id.; that there are four members of parliament holding offices for life, under appointment from the chiefs in the courts of justice, or from other public officers, the emoluments of which are 10,030l. 1s. 3d.; that there are five members of parliament holding pensions, or sinecures, or offices chiefly executed by deputy, held by members of the House of Commons under grants from the crown, or by act of parliament, the emoluments of which are 7,4781.; that there are two members of parliament holding the reversion of offices under the crown after one or more lives, the emoluments of which are 6,4897.; that there are 79 members of parliament holding naval and military commissions; that 59 of them hold other offices, and are included in the preceding classes. It then appears to your committee, that 89 members of parliament hold offices or pensions either in possession or reversion, not including those who have naval and military commissions, to the annual amount of 170,343/. 14s. 4d. [Mr. H. G. Bennet was the chairman of the committee.] Appendix, No. 1.-A Return of Members of the House of Commons holding Offices under the crown at the pleasure of the Crown, or otherwise : Antrobus, Gibbs Crawford, secretary of legation to the Archdall, Mervyn, governor of the Isle of Wight And a lieutenant-general in the army. Bagwell, right hon. Wm., joint muster-master-general in Ireland Barry, right hon. John Maxwell lord of his majesty's 1,220 O 0 Bathurst, right hon. Charles, chancellor of the duchy of Beresford, lord George Thomas, comptroller of the And a major-general in the army. A lieutenant-colonel in the army, and a captain in Clerk, sir George, bart., lord of the admiralty And a vice-admiral of the Blue. 3,563 0 0 880 13 0 1,261 10 0 1,000 0 0 1,000 0 0 Cole, hon. sir Galbraith Lowry, governor of Gravesend A lieutenant-general in the army, and colonel of the 34th regiment of Foot. 793 0 0 It appears by the Parliamentary Return, No. 602, of Session 1821, that sir George Cockburn was appointed a major-general of Marines on the 5th of April, 1821, and receives 1,0371. per annum pay. Congreve, sir Wm., bart., king's equerry, comptroller of And a king's sergeant at law. 2,401 5 0 4,500 0 0 Courtenay, Thomas Peregrine, secretary to the East 2,200 0 0 Agent to the Cape of Good Hope, with a salary of 600l.-Vide Parliamentary Paper No. 377, Cranborne, lord viscount, commissioner of the board of Ellis, Thomas, master in chancery in Ireland Gifford, sir Robert, attorney-general Graves, lord, lord of the bedchamber Hart, George Vaughan, governor of Londonderry Hill, right hon.. George Fitzgerald,† vice-treasurer of Holmes, William, treasurer of the Ordnance Hope, sir William Johnstone, bart., lord of the Admi- Has a pension of 1,200l. from the civil list as a retired under secretary of state, which ceases whilst receiving 2,000l. from other offices. Londonderry, marquis of, secretary of state for foreign affairs, lord of trade, and commissioner for India affairs Long, right hon. sir Charles, paymaster-general of the army 3,500 0 0 A pension from the 4 per cents. Lovaine, lord, lord of the bedchamber 409 5 4 It appears by Parliamentary Return, No. 653, of 1804, that William Henry Freemantle, esq., receives one-half of an annuity of 20302. 10s. 8d. Irish, as compensation for loss of office as joint resident secretary in London to the lord lieutenant of Ireland; and also joint solicitor in England for the revenue of Ireland. + It appears by the act 40 Geo. III. c. 50, of the Irish Parliament, that sir G. Hill also receives an annuity of 2,2651. 138. 94d. Irish currency, for life, a a compensation for the loss of office as the clerk of the House of Commons of Ireland. Lowther, lord viscount, lord of the Treasury And lieut.-colonel of 3rd dragoons. Martyn, sir Thomas Byam, comptroller of his majesty's navy 1,218 0 0 2,000 0 0 And a vice-admiral of the White (no half-pay.) Presenter of the signatures in the court of exche- Nolan, Michael, king's counsel Nugent, sir George, bart., governor of St. Mawes Castle A general in the army, and colonel of the 6th O'Neill, hon. John Bruce Richard, governor of Dublin Castle And a captain in the guards. Onslow, Arthur, king's sergeant Osborn, sir John, bart., lord of the Admiralty Palmer, Charles, aide-de-camp to his majesty at 10s. 5d. Palmerston, lord viscount, secretary at war Phillimore, Joseph, commissioner of the board of Con- Plunkett, right hon. W. Conyngham, attorney-general of Ireland Ponsonby, hon. Frederick, aide-de-camp to his majesty, and a colonel in the army Rae, sir W., bart., lord advocate of Scotland Raine, Jonathan, king's counsel. Robinson, right hon. Frederick John, treasurer of the Ditto, president of the board of Trade. navy 3,000 0 0 no salary. Rose, right hon. sir George Henry, clerk of parliaments and envoy extraordinary at Berlin 1 Somerset, lord Granville, C. H., lord of the Treasury. Ditto, commissioner for inquiring into the department of Customs Vansittart, right hon. Nicholas, lord of the Treasury, chancellor of the Exchequer, and chancellor of Ireland. no salary. 5,296 7 1 |