§ MR. DALRYMPLEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, in correction of a Question put to him on the 18th ultimo on the subject of a payment to a pilot who towed Her Majesty's ship "Nelson" to Greenock, and which should have referred not to the "Nelson" but to the 536 sister-ship the "Northampton," Whether the same pilot, who towed Her Majesty's ship "Northampton" to Greenock, did not receive less than would have been paid for towing a merchant ship of the same draught; and, whether an application for additional remuneration was refused?
§ MR. W. H. SMITHSir, I am not aware if it was the same pilot who towed both the Nelson and the Northampton to Greenock; but the pilot who took H.M.S. Northampton was paid the full amount due for pilotage by the Admiralty scale—namely, £2 10s. 8d. per stage, which is 3s. 4d. less than the sum that would be paid for a merchant ship of the same draught. An application for additional remuneration was made, but was not complied with, on the ground that the scale of payment, which had been framed to meet general cases, could not be altered for the Service in question. The difference between the amounts paid in the cases of the Northampton and Nelson arises from the fact that for the latter ship an allowance for six days' attendance, in addition to the pilotage, was granted. In the pilotage certificate for the Northampton, no mention of any attendance was made.