MEASURES OF ECONOMY.
On the 7th of February a communication was made by Lord Castlereagh from the prince regent, stating that out of sympathy to a suffering people he had determined upon a cession of £50,000 per annum of that part of his income which related to his personal expenses, during the continuance of the existing distress. At the same time his lordship communicated the intention of ministers to dispense with one-tenth of their official incomes, while the necessities of the state should require such a sacrifice. Lord Camden, also, one of the tellers of the exchequer, relinquished, pro tempore, the whole of his large profits with the exception of £2,500, the regulated income of the other tellers. On the reduced scale the expenditure of the year was estimated at £6,500,000 less than that of the preceding year, and a further saving of upwards of £1,000,000 was calculated upon for the year 1818. On the same day that Lord Castlereagh made the above communication to the house, he moved for the appointment of a committee of inquiry respecting the income and expenditure of the state. The first report of this committee was made on the 5th of May, when Mr. Davies Gilbert stated that, in recommending the suppression of certain offices, it was at the same time necessary that his majesty should be enabled to reward meritorious persons, by the power of granting pensions according to merit and length of service. A bill, entitled “the Civil Services Compensation Bill,” was accordingly introduced, with another for abolishing the offices of wardens and justices in Eyre, both of which passed the houses with very little opposition. About the time this bill passed Mr. Abbott resigned the speakership, and was created Lord Colchester, with a pension of £4000 to himself and his immediate successor. He was succeeded by Mr. Charles Manners Sutton, eldest son of the Archbishop of Canterbury.