THE

CHAPTER XXII.

NOTABLE EVENTS OF 1865.

HE year 1865 is chiefly memorable as that of the close of the American Civil War on the 14th April, and the simultaneous assassination of President Lincoln; the death of Lord Palmerston on the 18th October; and the incoming of the Russell Ministry. To the people of Sheerness it was also memorable for the appointment, on the 24th April, of Captain W. King Hall, C.B., to be Superintendent of the Yard.

Captain Hall, who was transferred from the command of the Medway Steam Reserve, was known as a bluff, warmhearted sailor, interested in the moral and social welfare of the people, and especially famous as an advocate and practiser of teetotalism.

The difficulty of junior Civil Servants with families living on their small salaries, in consequence of the general increase of prices; and the prevalence of the system of credit, by which the people who would pay were charged with the debts of those who would not; together with the regulations against Civil Servants getting into debt, had led some of the PostOffice clerks to purchase tea and other articles of domestic consumption in considerable quantities at wholesale prices, and dispose of such as they did not themselves require to their fellow-clerks. It seems to have occurred to them early in 1865 that a plan like that of the Working Men's Cooperative Societies in the North of England, established in 1844, by which the system of credit, then generally prevailing, had been superseded by cash payments with all their advantages, might be initiated among themselves; and, accordingly, a little Society was formed to which the title of "The Post

Office General Supply Association" was given, and which succeeded in obtaining from certain tradesmen, who were affiliated thereto, supplies of articles at a liberal discount. This Society at first consisted of but forty members, and professed to be "founded for the purpose of supplying Officers of the Post-Office and their friends with articles of all kinds, both for domestic consumption and general use, at the lowest wholesale prices." Tickets of membership were issued, and the production of these to the affiliated tradesmen ensured the discount on purchases. The number of members increased very rapidly, and they were allowed the use of a cellar in the Post-Office as a store. The numbers went on increasing, and it became necessary to engage suitable premises. The clerks in other departments now applied to become members, and the Association grew larger and larger. This was the nucleus of what eventually became, as we shall see, the great Civil Service Supply Association.

The Estimates for 1865-66 for Wages to the Established men of Sheerness Yard (1,064) amounted to £71,233; for men in the Steam Factory (570) to £35,660; for Teams to £955; for Police (including Chatham) to £7,522; for men employed on New (Architectural) Works, Improvements, and Repairs, to £10,325; together with a proportion of an aggregate sum for all the Yards of £269,116 for 6,233 hired men, and of £17,533 for Yard-craft.

The creation of the office of Cashier in the Dockyards, on the 1st April, as a distinct one from that of the Accountant, in accordance with the recommendation of Mr. Childers, marked a new change in the arrangement of the Clerical Officers' duties. I was given the option of retaining the position and designation of Accountant, with relief from cash duties, or relinquishing the Expense Accounts and retaining the Cash duties under the new title of Cashier. For reasons which I need not specify, I preferred remaining in charge of the money and the duties immediately connected therewith (which were embodied in a new book of Instructions for the Cashiers of Her Majesty's Dockyards); and accordingly resigned the title of Accountant, and received that of Cashier.

In referring to my relinquishment of the office of Naval

Accountant at Sheerness Dockyard, it may not be inappropriate for me to quote from the Report of the AccountantGeneral of the Navy a summary of the results of the changes and improvements which had been progressively introduced and adopted since 1859, when the new system of Accounts was initiated :*

"I. The Controller of the Navy will (concurrently with the performance of the several Services) be kept informed of the outlay incurred thereon, both in the expenditure of stores and the employment of labour, at the several Dockyards. This information, exhibiting the gradual absorption of the Parliamentary Grants for labour, the relation which the expense of particular works bears to the Estimates for them, and the connection of their cost with their progress, seems a most important and necessary check over the whole of the operations as they are carried on.

"2. Means of comparison will be afforded of the cost of articles produced at the several Yards with that of similar articles manufactured in private trade. These means have been ensured by the measures adopted for the simplification and uniformity of the accounts rendered from the Dockyards, conducing to the institution of periodical comparisons of all analogous Dockyard work; and with respect to productions in the private trade to comparisons of cost as full and precise as similarity of cost and construction may permit.

"3. The results of the separate manufactures and of the combined works of the Dockyards will alike be presented in the ordinary form of commercial balance-sheets.

"Thus in future will be shown the extent and value of the works executed, and the amount of the expenses with which they should be charged, in accordance with the principles of account observed in the commercial world." t

* See p. 241.

"The shipbuilding accounts of the Navy are unique, and we can only wish for a time when such elaborate and exhaustive information as they contain may be furnished by every Department under the Crown. All other Departments are content with merely laying before the country what may be called their banker's book; they show us the sums placed to their credit in the shape of grants from the House of Commons; and they show us the cheques they draw against these amounts in the shape of an appropriation account or an account of surplus and deficiencies. But what value the country gets for the money thus expended never appears, unless a special return relating to a particular item of expendiVOL. II.

21

How different is this from the state and system of Dockyard Accounts as we found them in 1846!*

By Admiralty Order of the 17th March, it was directed that steps should be taken for the Valuation of the Plant of the Dock and Victualling Yards on the 1st April.

An Official Residence within the Yard was now assigned me, and on the 9th June I took possession of the same. These residences were objects of much jealousy. Mine was certainly a pleasant one, spacious and comfortable, having a nice lawn in front with tall trees, and families of rooks inhabiting them, whose caw-caw gave a rural flavour to the surroundings; while behind was another pleasant lawn, and ture is called for by some over-curious member. The Admiralty, on the contrary, shows in its expense accounts precisely how much is spent on every ship of the Navy, whether the amount is for building or repairing, whether it is for the ship or the engines, or the stores required for equipping it for sea-service. Not only this, but it gives exactly the value of stores in hand at each Naval Yard, the depreciation of stock by keeping or by conversion, the income and capital of each Yard, the expenses incurred in conversions and manufactures, and a hundred other things which are useful to members of Parliament and their constituents in arriving at a fair estimate of the value they receive for the money they spend. And yet this is not all; the Admiralty expense accounts do more, for they enable us year by year to get a complete history of every ship in the Navy, whether on commission or reserve, if only some money is spent on them. They show us what ships are being built, what are prepared for service, what are kept in commission, what are maintained in reserve in a state of efficiency, and, lastly, what are broken up. They form, in fact, for the dilettante economist a complete vade mecum, and furnish to the inquiring taxpayer, as regards shipbuilding expenditure, a conclusive answer to the question how the money goes." Quoted from the Globe newspaper by Lord Brassey, who adds "M. Lamy, a distinguished naval critic, in a speech delivered in the French Assembly in 1878, was able to point to the system of accounts established in our own country as a model for imitation by the French authorities. In England, he said, everything was determined beforehand with regard to the cost of repairs. The number of workmen to be employed is strictly ascertained, and the account of expenditure is scrupulously examined at the beginning. English administrators are convinced that repairs, unless carefully controlled, are a fruitful source of extravagant expenditure. An exact account is kept of the materials worked up in the construction and repair of ships. Vouchers are required for every item, and a minute control is maintained. The very moderate expenditure of the English naval administrators on the matériel of their fleet is due to this careful supervision. The large expenditure on the repair and fitting out of ships in France is attributed by M. Lamy to the want of clearness in their system of accounts. He entertained no doubt that with that supervision those services would be less costly to the public purse; and that millions of francs now absorbed annually in repairs might, under a better system, be devoted to the construction of new ships."

* See p. 36.

a large fruitful garden with apple and other trees, wherein we cultivated very successfully strawberries, tomatoes, etc. (There was also a nice carriage-house, etc., at the bottom of the garden, ready for me when I should keep my carriage, as it seems that some of my predecessors did, but which was not within my range of view.) There is no privilege, however, without its drawback, and in this case it was so; for my house was coveted and claimed by another officer, and it cost me a considerable amount of trouble to vindicate and sustain my right to it.

The Second Triennial Handel Festival was held at the Crystal Palace on Monday, 26th, Wednesday, 28th, and Friday, 30th June; the leading vocalists of the day took part in the performance; the band numbered 495, the chorus 2,866, and the visitors 59,434.

On the 6th July I was again appointed to attend, and attended accordingly, as a representative of the Sheerness Literary Institution, at the first Annual Meeting of the Kent Association of Institutes, which was held at Ashford, and was elected an officer of that Association for the coming year. The Report showed-and, as this is a matter of some national importance, I may be allowed to quote it—that immediately after the formation of the Society in 1864, the Committee forwarded to every known Institute in the county a Prospectus, setting forth the objects and rules of the Association, together with a series of questions, with a view to the preparation of a table descriptive of the nature, position, and operations of Kentish Institutes: that the Institutes in Kent, as thus ascertained, numbered about seventy, and that twenty-five of these were termed "Literary," or "Literary and Scientific," ten "Mechanics' Institutes," seven "Mutual Improvement Societies," two "Soldiers' Institutes," six "Working Men's Clubs," ten "Young Men's Societies," six "Reading Societies," and four bore the less definite name of "Institute" only-that most of these Societies possessed Libraries, which contained in the aggregate about 32,000 vols., and were circulated among 9,000 members; that Lectures were annually delivered at about fifty of the Institutes; that "Penny Readings" appeared to have been successful at about twenty; indoor amusements, such as chess and draughts,