§ CAPTAIN PIMasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is true that Mr. R. G. Hamilton, an assistant secretary to the Board of Trade, has been appointed Accountant General of the Navy, in preference to competent gentlemen of high character and standing who have served many years in the Department with the hope of promotion; whether Mr. Hamilton receives a salary of £1,500 per annum, being £300 a-year more than his predecessor received; and, upon what grounds this increase has been given to a gentleman quite untried at the Admiralty?
§ MR. A. F. EGERTONIt is true that Mr. R. G. Hamilton has been appointed Accountant General of the Navy at a salary of £1,500 a-year, which rate of salary is £100 a-year, and not £300 a-year, in excess of that received by his predecessor. The Accountant General's Department having been thoroughly reorganized, it was considered desirable to obtain the services of some gentleman whose known experience and abilities would enable him to carry out the reforms contemplated. These abilities Mr. Hamilton has shown himself to possess in the exercise of his duties at the Board of Trade, and the increased rate of salary is given in consideration of the increased amount of responsibility incurred owing to the abolition of one of the two Deputy Accountants General.
§ CAPTAIN PIMgave Notice, that on going into Committee of Supply, he would call attention to the appointment, and move—
That, in the opinion of this House, the appointment of a gentleman as head of a Department with which he has not previously teen connected, and without any experience of its working, and over the heads of tried and competent servants of the Crown, is unjust, and has a tendency to seriously weaken the public service.