SIR FRANCIS BARING AND THE ADMIRALTY—EXPLANATION. (Hansard, 20 April 1858)

§ SIR FRANCIS BARING

said, he wished to enter into an explanation in reference to a statement affecting him which had been made by the First Lord of the Admiralty on a previous night. It was supposed that in 1850 or 1851, when he (Sir F. Baring) was at the head of the Admiralty, an order was passed extremely injurious, as was alleged, to the public service, in that it directed the preparation of the Estimates for the dockyards to be transferred from the office of the Accountant General to that of the Surveyor of the Navy (Sir J. Graham), contrary to the practice with regard to other branches of the service. He held the Order in question in his hand, and he felt it due to himself to state that it was dated, not in 1850, but on the 30th of October, 1848— a time when he was not in office at the Admiralty. The Order did not apply to the Surveyor's Department only, but extended to all the other departments of the Admiralty. It was made on the recommendation of Sir J. Briggs by Lord Auckland when he was at the Admiralty, and it was in operation under the Duke of Northumberland, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Carlisle (Sir J. Graham), and the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Halifax (Sir C. Wood), when they were at the Admiralty, as well as under himself.

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

said, the right hon. Gentleman became very angry, and assailed him in a tone that was not usual in that House the other evening, because he (Sir J. Pakington) had simply said the form of a particular Vote was capable of improvement, and because he had not given notice of his intention to make that statement. From what then passed, he naturally thought that the right hon. Gentleman had originated the form of the Vote; but it now appeared that the change was made, not by him, but by Lord Auckland. The right hon. Gentleman, therefore, had no cause of complaint, and had no more reason to expect that he should have given him notice of his intention to refer to the matter than had the Duke of Northumberland, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Carlisle, or the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Halifax.