76 
he had no doubt that when the re- 
venue of Ircland was collected in a 
fair and proper manner, it would 
be found infinitely more productive. 
But, till these exertions were made, 
he did not feel himself justified in 
calling for new taxes, when not 
above two thirds of those now im- 
posed were collected. 
We shall next proceed to the 
measures taken by parliament for 
the correction of abuses connected 
with the revenue department of the 
state. ; 
The first of these was an act for 
regulating the office of treasurer of 
the ordnance, on the principle of 
Mr. Burke’s bill for regulating the 
office of paymaster of the forces, 
and of the bill introduced (and af- 
terwards violated) by Mr. Dundas 
for regulating the office of treasurer 
of the navy. By this act the ba- 
lances of the ordnance were ordered 
to be deposited at the bank of En;§ 
Jand, and the payments to be made 
by drafts upon the bank, except the 
payments on the treasurer’s petty 
account, for which small sums, on 
' the requisition of the board of ord- 
nance, were to be issued ‘to him 
from the bank, and applied by him 
to no purposes whatever, but those 
authorized by law. In bringing 
forward this bill, lord Henry Petty 
announced his intention of extend- 
ing the same principle to the post- 
office, the excise office, custome 
house, and other public offices, to 
which it was applicable, that an end 
might be put to the practice of pub- 
lic officers deriving profit from the 
public moncy in their hands. 
And accordingly, before the ses- 
sion of parliament was closed, acts 
were passed toextend the principle to 
the excise and customs, to the stamp 
and post offices, and to the office of 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806, 
surveyor general of woods and fo- 
rests. An act was also passed for 
increasing the salaries, and abolish- 
ing the fees of the custom house 
officers of the port of London, and 
for diminishing the number of ho- 
lidays at the custom house, and re- 
gulating the attendance of the offi- 
cers. 
The attention of parliament was 
next called to a reform in the mode 
of auditing the public accounts. It 
appeared that in consequence of the 
imperfection of the provisions esta- 
blished for that object, there had becn 
a gradual accumulation of inaudited 
accounts, amounting, when the pre- 
sent ministers came into office, to the 
enormous sum of 534 millions. Not 
a single account in the army pay 
office had been audited since 1782. 
The store accounts had been suffered 
to Jie over, without examination, 
during the same period. The navy 
accounts were greatly in arrear, 
None of the accounts of the late 
war were audited, and those relating 
to the expeditions to Holland and 
Kgypt, and to the treaties of subsidy 
with foreign powers, had not even 
been touched upon by the auditors. 
It is unnecessary to expatiate on 
the manifold risks to which the 
public is exposed by such delay in — 
auditing and settling its accounts, 
Not to speak of the loss of money — 
from the insolvency of those indebted 
to it, the chances uf which must be 
multiplied by every year’s delay 5 if © 
its agents have been guilty of fraud 
or negligence, how must the lapse 
of so many years increase the dif- 
fieulty of sifting into, and» probing 
to the bottom their delinquencies. 
And, on the contrary, how many 
Suspicious circumstances may arise, 
when such accounts come at length 
to be examined, which at the time 
wher ~ 
