APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 449 



defrayed, leaving about 33,000/. 

 clear profit to be divided among tiie 

 commissioners. 



Secondly. Iftbe principle adopt- 

 ed in 1756, of two and a half per 

 cent on the «(?i^ proceeds, (which 

 may amount to about ],300,OOOi5. 

 or 1 ,400,000/.) should be resorted to, 

 a sum of about 32,500/. to 35,000/. 

 veould be receivable, which, the 

 expences of the establishment being 

 paid, would leave about 15,500/. to 

 18,000/. to be divided among the 

 commissioners. 



Thirdly. Ifthecommissionshould 

 be calculated at the rate which was 

 usual among prize agents at the 

 time when the commissioners began 

 to act, namely, five per cent on the 

 gross proceeds of sales, the sum 

 would be about 99,000/. subject to 

 a similar deduction, leaving a clear 

 profit of about 82,000/. 



Your committee can by no means 

 agree to decide the question ac- 

 cording to this principle. The com- 

 mission received by prize agents at 

 the time when the commissioners 

 were appointed, has lately been de- 

 termined to be a more than ade- 

 quate remuneration for the whole 

 of their trouble. It should also 

 be recollected, that the commis- 

 sioners not only have been exempt 

 from the labour of distributing the 

 proceeds of their sales among the 

 individual sailors concerned in the 

 captures, and from much other 

 trouble and responsibility, as well as 

 from the advances to wliich prize 

 agents are subject, but are also en- 

 abled by the magnitude of the sum 

 on which their commission is charg- 

 ed, to transact the public business 

 at a much lower rate than is fairly 

 due to individuals receiving ordi- 

 nary consignments. 



On the whole, your committee 



Vol. LI. 



recommend that a commission of 

 five per cent on the nett proceeAs of 

 sales should be allowed to the com- 

 missioners, they paying the charges 

 of their establishment. 



This allowance will probably 

 amount to not less than about 

 50,000/. or 10,000/. to each com- 

 missioner, and will be more by 

 about 17,000/. than would be due 

 to them, according to the usual 

 practice of merchants, and more by 

 at least about 32,000/. than they 

 could claim according to the pre- 

 cedent of 1756, to which they have 

 appealed. 



The excess of this remuneration 

 above that enjoyed by merchants, 

 as well as above that granted in 

 1756, may be justified on the 

 ground partly of the more than or- 

 dinary trouble imposed on the pre- 

 sent commissioners, and partly by 

 the length of time during which 

 their commission has necessarily 

 subsisted, and perhaps partly also 

 by the circumstance of your com- 

 mittee, in consequence of the omis- 

 sion not only of the commissioners, 

 but also of the government, having 

 to recommend a retrospective ar- 

 rangement. The sum which the 

 commissioners will have to refund, 

 in case of the adoption of this sug- 

 gestion, will be not less than be- 

 tween 60 and 70,000/. They will 

 also fail to receive nearly 20,000^. 

 which they appear to have expect- 

 ed to appropriate to their own use, 

 for further interest and commis- 

 sion. 



Your committee cannot allow 

 any weight to the observation, that 

 two of the commissioners having, 

 after a term, quitted their profes- 

 sions with a view to the fulfilment 

 of their trust, some reference 

 should be made to this circum- 



2 G stance 



