STATE PAPERS. 



30 



•uch, than l;e paid indirectly as 

 one of the Joint Paymasters-Ge- 

 neral. 



One Deputy Paymaster-General. 

 — The office of Paymaster-General 

 being recommended to he exe- 

 cuted by one person, it follows, of 

 course, that one deputy in the of- 

 fice will be sufficient; and that the 

 salary now leceived by the second 

 deputy should be saved. 



There are no longer any De- 

 puty-Paymasters abroad acting by 

 deputy; and the duties of all the 

 Deputy- Paymasters themselves, 

 during peace, are transferred to 

 the commissariat. 



Tiie office of Paymaster of Ma- 

 rines is now discharged in person, 

 under regulations adopted in 1S13, 

 without any deputy allowed, or 

 paid by the public ; but as some 

 further inquiries may be neces- 

 sary before your committee can 

 finally report upon it, they defer 

 their observations until the esti- 

 mates for the Navy shall come be- 

 fore them, with which this office 

 is immediately connected. 



Upon the office of Paymaster of 

 Widows' Pensions, although no 

 strong objections occur to your 

 committee against uniting it with 

 the foregoing office, yet so long as 

 it continues at the low scale of 

 expense at which it is now fixed, 

 it does not seem expedient to re- 

 commend any alteration for the 

 purpose of effectingasaving, which 

 would, if any, be very inconsider- 

 able. The annual charge is no 

 more than 6801. and ample secu- 

 rity is taken, anunmting to20,000/. 

 for the money in charge, and for 

 the punctual payment of nearly 

 70,000/. in very small sums, to 

 2,'200 widows, scattered over 

 every part of the United King- 



dom, and many of them resident 

 abroad. It must be further ob- 

 served, that though the salary of 

 this office, having been formerly 

 paid out of the produce of old 

 stores, is now annually voted in 

 the naval estimates, yet the ap- 

 pointment is not vested in the 

 Crown, but in the governors of 

 this charity. 



Law Clerk in the Secretary of 

 State's Office. — It appearing that 

 no duties whatever are annexed to 

 this office, your committee recom- 

 mend that it should be altogether 

 abolished. 



Collector and Transmitter of 

 State Papers. — The same observa- 

 tion applies as to the last office. 



The inconsiderable offices of 

 Principal Housekeeper and Ware- 

 housekeeper in the Excise Office, 

 Established Messenger in tlie War 

 Office, and some others, included 

 in the table of the l.ill of 1812 and 

 1813, were at that time held as 

 sinecures : with regard to these, 

 it is sufficient to lay down as a 

 rule, that no pe'son in future 

 should be allowed to hold any in- 

 ferior office of this description, 

 without performing the dtity in 

 person ; and where no duty is 

 attached (as in the case of Car- 

 taker to his Majesty) all such 

 nominal offices should be sup- 

 pressed. 



The offices of Joint Postmaster- 

 General in England and Ireland 

 do not appear to your committee 

 to come under the general de- 

 scription of those which form the 

 subject of this report. They are, 

 tlierefore, not ))repared at jjre^ent 

 to suggest to the House any alte- 

 ration in tliis mode of conducting 

 this important department of the 

 public service. If, tn the one 



hand. 



