NAVY ESTIMATES.—SUPPLY. (Hansard, 14 March 1859)

§ SIR CHARLES WOOD
said, he hoped the First Lord of the Admiralty would give some explanation of what he intended to do in reference to the Coastguard. It included two descriptions of men,—old civilians not available for the sea service, and seamen. Some of the seamen had served in ships of war, had been discharged with a good character, and, as a reward, had been employed in the Coastguard. But there were a certain number of men employed who had not served in the navy. It was obvious that the most valuable men were those who had been trained; in case of need they would serve as the nucleus of the crews of ships of war. It was most desirable to increase the number of the Coastguard men as much as possible, and the Manning Commissioners recommended that this force should be raised from 10,000 to 12,000. This augmentation could only be made gradually year by year, as the class of men whom they required could not be obtained at once. When he was at the Admiralty he took a vote for 10,000 men, though he only expected to raise 9,000 of them at once, and that number was nearly obtained; and he thought that subsequent events had proved that he had formed a correct idea of the value of this class of men. This year, however, there was no increase proposed in the Coastguard seamen, and it was to be hoped that the First Lord of the Admiralty would explain why he had not followed the course which it was understood was to be pursued when this force was established,—namely, to increase it as rapidly as circumstances would permit.

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
said, he entirely agreed with the right hon. Gentleman as to the value and importance of the Coastguard, and felt great satisfaction that the Manning Commission had recommended that this excellent reserve should be increased. The reason why he had not asked for a larger number of men for this force was, because they were at present many hundreds short of the strength granted by Parliament, and therefore any increase for this year would have been merely nomimal. The deficiency throughout the year ranged between 700 and 800 men.

§ SIR CHARLES NAPIER
said, he wished to ask why the number of Coast Volunteers was not given in the Estimates? All the particulars that the Committee was furnished with were the sums of money which were required for this branch of the service. There were at present rather more than 7,000 Naval Coast Volunteers. He 162 was also anxious to know whether it was true that men had been drawn from the Coastguard to man the ships in commission.

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
said, it was true that a few men had been allowed to volunteer from the Coastguard ships, but they were very few. They had manned two ships of the line and two frigates recently with a rapidity which was very uncommon. In fact they were deriving the advantages of the continuous service of the men of the fleet, and of experienced sailors, who had recently come home from foreign ships in Her Majesty's service. The number of Volunteers was about 7,000.

§ MR. LINDSAY
said, he had been informed that nearly 600 men had been taken, from the Coastguard to man the ships in commission. If that were so, it would seem to indicate that there was a difficulty in getting seamen for the navy.

ADMIRAL DUNCOMBE
said, it appeared from the statements made that the Coastguard was 700 or 800 below the number voted. It was evident, therefore, that there was still something wrong, and that we had not that reserve which was necessary in case of an emergency.

§ MR. CARDWELL
said, if the Coastguard were to be rapidly raised either to 10,000, at which it stood under the Act of Parliament, or to 12,000, which the Commissioners recommended, it would be necessary to relax the present rule with regard to admission to that service. Men were anxious to obtain situations in the Coastguard, and when the Government began to make their reserve from the merchant service he would suggest that they should admit to the Coastguard men who had volunteered for the reserve. They would thus fill the Coastguard, and give a valuable stimulus to the merchant service to form a reserve for the navy.

§ SIR CHARLES WOOD
said, he had always thought it to be of the greatest possible importance to keep the greatest possible number of old men-of-wars men in the Coastguard. This would show the merchant service what good things the navy led to. He wished to receive an answer to the question he had put to the right hon. Baronet. As he understood, the best men were employed ashore, and the inferior class on board ship. He wanted to know why the increase of the men on board ship was caused by a diminution of those on shore.

MR. CORRY
said, that the revenue cut- 163 ters in the present year were supplied by men from the Coastguard service afloat, which was not the case last year. The fact was that we had on shore a larger number of men this year, and we were short of the number afloat.

§ SIR CHARLES WOOD
said, he wished to ask whether the number of Coast Volunteers had increased since last year.

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
said, that the number last year was about 6,000; at present it was between 7,000 and 8,000. He might also state that the number of men who had entered from the west coast of Scotland was between 400 and 500.

§ SIR CHARLES NAPIER
Was it true that only about 200 men had accepted the short-service pension of 6d. a day?

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
Yes. The number was small; it was about that number.

§ SIR CHARLES NAPIER
said, he had been told that the fitting-out and changing of the nine block-ships had cost £164,000. He could not understand where the money had been put. The operation upon a single ship could be accomplished in forty-eight hours. He could not understand where the money could have gone.

§ SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONE
said, it was generally acknowledged that the men of the north of Scotland were extremely fine men, and, indeed, it had been said of them that they were a race of giants, but they were found to be very averse to going far from their homes, and were not to be relied upon as a naval force. The restrictions existing, especially with regard to their not serving more than 100 leagues from the land, rendered such a force one which it was not desirable should be absorbed in the reserve proposed to be created.

§ MR. LINDSAY
said, he had come to a different conclusion. It was true that the Volunteers were not to go more than 100 leagues from the shore, but there were many services in which they would be able to supply very important aid. Still there was one great defect in the volunteer system, and he wished to ask the right hon. Baronet if he could state how many of them were absent from drill last year. He understood that out of 7,000 only 3,000 or 4,000 could be relied upon.

§ SIR CHARLES WOOD
observed, he was surprised at this, because in the first year only three or four men out of 300 or 400 were absent from drill.

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
said, he 164 could not exactly state the proportion, but he believed that about one-tenth did not appear when they were called upon. He thought that with some slight encouragement a very fine class of men called "wreckers," who at present were idling about the coast, might be made very efficient crews for the gun-boats.

§ SIR CHARLES NAPIER
said, he thought if some extra inducement were offered to the men of the Coast Volunteers they would be more willing to serve, such for instance as a dinner on a Sunday, and that if more organized they would be found an efficient force.

§ SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONE
said, he ought to mention that though it was the opinion of the Committee who sat on this subject that the Coast Volunteers might be superseded by a more efficient force, yet, as far as it had gone, great benefit had resulted from the institution of that corps. It had habituated the men of the north to the discipline observed on board men of war, and thus paved the way to the creation of a large and useful force in cases of emergency. Among other suggestions made, it had been proposed that a gun should be placed at each port, under the direction of old mariners, and that the inhabitants should be practised in the use of the gun, the best shot receiving a shilling reward, or some encouragement of a similar nature; this would induce the attainment of a great knowledge of gunnery among such men.

§ MR. CARDWELL
was of opinion that, when it was well understood the old system of impressment would not be again resorted to there would be no limit to the number of volunteers that the country might obtain. It would, however, be better to discuss the whole subject on another occasion, and in a more formal manner.