SUPPLY. (Hansard, 27 March 1855)

§ MR. MACARTNEY
said, he must complain of the manner in which the Civil Service Estimates had been hurried through on the previous evening. It had been his purpose to direct attention to a certain portion of those Estimates, but happening to have left his place for a short time, in order to hold a conversation with the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary for Ireland, he found on his return that they had been disposed of. Now, he considered it a matter of reproach to the House that Estimates involving the outlay of a sum of nearly 4,000,000l. of money should have been so summarily disposed of, without the subject undergoing any test of discussion, and without due notice having been given that it was the intention of the Government to have forced them through at so late an hour of the night.

§ MR. WILSON
said, he must defend the conduct of the Treasury bench, for the exigencies of the public service required that the estimates should be passed as rapidly as possible. After the 31st of March no authority would be possessed by the Treasury to defray the salaries of the civil servants of the Crown; and it became, therefore, of the last importance that not a moment should be lost in passing these 1248 Estimates—the more especially if the House hoped to adjourn on Friday next.

§ MR. MICHELL
said, he thought the hon. Member (Mr. Macartney) perfectly warranted in complaining. He had himself intended calling attention to the way in which the subordinate clerks in the Custom House were treated, but such was the hurried manner in which these four votes were passed, that no one could inform him what was doing in the House at the time.

§ MR. THOMSON HANKEY
said, that the average salaries of the class of clerks especially referred to in the Report of Sir Charles Trevelyan did not amount to more than 150l., or, according to another account, 141l. a year, and, when you deducted the income tax and superannuation allowance, their salaries were reduced to between 120l. and 130l. a year. The Report to which he alluded stated that these persons performed inadequately the duties intrusted to them, but he wished it had also pointed out the exceeding inadequacy of their salaries. He thought the civil servants had been and were unjustly treated, and the Government ought to give the subject their best consideration.

§ SIR HENRY WILLOUGHBY
said, he was quite ready to admit that the hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Wilson) had a difficulty to encounter in this matter. Still he would ask what was the value of the privilege which had been conceded by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for the University of Oxford (Mr. Gladstone) when Chancellor of the Exchequer, and which enabled the House of Commons to criticise Estimates involving nearly 4,000,000l. of money, if they were to be thus disposed of. Last year these very Estimates were passed a few minutes before six o'clock on a Wednesday, all discussion therefore upon that occasion also was precluded, nor could any course be more calculated to bring the House of Commons into contempt than that which had been pursued on the subject of these Estimates; and let them then remember there were persons out of doors who watched their proceedings narrowly. Although he admitted the hon. Gentleman to be in some difficulty on the other point, if the public exigencies were so great, Government ought to have made timely provision. This year he believed the Estimate on account of the inland revenue exceeded that of last year, and he was extremely anxious therefore to have obtained some explanation on the matter. 1249 All he could say now was that he trusted the House would secure itself for the future against a similar surprise.

§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTON
said, he was in the House at the time the Votes were taken, and it was by no means empty. Notice had been given, and any Member who wished to make observations upon the Votes would have done better to remain in his place. He advised the hon. Member for Bodmin (Mr. Michell), if, on any future occasion, he could not understand or make out by his own ears what was going on, to ask the chairman what was the question.

COLONEL DUNNE
said, he, also must complain that the Votes for the Irish Post Office had been taken out of their turn, because these Votes would lead to discussion.