SIR FREDERIC SMITHsaid, he wished to ask the hon. Member for Pontefract, If there be any valid reason for limiting the tenure of office of the Superintendents of the Royal Dockyards to five years, and whether lie will object to furnish a Return showing the length of time which each Superintendent held office since 1841. He had been acquainted since 1815 with all the dockyard superintendents employed at Chatham, and he bad never known a single instance in which the officers selected for that post were not men of distinction who had rendered good service to their country. The duties in the dockyards required their whole time and undivided attention. Even the accounts came under their supervision, and he maintained that the working of the system had been attended with rigid economy. He hoped his hon. Friend before the next Session would reconsider the rate of wages of the men, for they were obliged to live where lodgings and provisions were dear, and that he would place it upon a more equitable footing. He hoped also that the Government would not feel restricted to a period of five years for the employment of the superintendents if those gentlemen rendered good service, for no one could become acquainted with the various duties of the dockyard until after a long period of time.
§ MR. CHILDERSsaid, he would not follow his hon. and gallant Friend into all the questions which he had raised, nor would he attempt to revive the debate which had taken place last week upon the Motion of the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr. Seely). With regard to that debate he would merely say that he would take an opportunity before the House rose to lay some papers upon the table, and to make a statement on the subject. The Return as to the 752 superintendents who had held office since 1841, which had been asked for by his hon. and gallant Friend, should be given. His hon. Friend had asked whether there was any valid reason for limiting the tenure of office by the superintendents to five years. The reason was this, that if it were right that naval officers should he-come superintendents in consequence of their experience at sea, it was also right that those who had been superintendents should bring their experience acquired in the dockyards to bear upon their duties afloat. To carry out both these objects properly there were decided reasons why the superintendents should not hold office for a very long time, for if so they would soon revert to the old system which existed before the time of Sir James Graham, when the Commissioners of Dockyards held their office for a long period, and the House of Commons put it down. The present arrangement was that the superintendents were appointed for five years. However, the First Lord had a discretion vested in him to re-appoint particular officers for a second period of five years, if their re-appointment was very desirable.