By this arrangement it will be the interest of all the parties concerned, to render the sale as productive as possible; and as the stores in question will constantly be exposed to sale, where the demand for such articles is most extensive, the probability is, that higher prices will be obtained than at present; and that upon the whole, after paying all expences, a larger aggregate sum will be received annually by Government, since, as the sales are only to be made to the actual Containers, the Dealer's profit will make a part of the Sale Price, and will be thereby secured to the Public. As men of the first character and respectability may be expected to solicit for such Commissions, no doubt can be entertained, either of the purity of their conduct, or their exertions to sell to the best advantage. Their credit and interest, and also the emulation between one Agent and another, as to who shall make the best sales, will prove a powerful stimulus and a strong ground of security.—Above all, the plan is easy and practicable:—It imposes no trouble upon the superior or inferior officers in the different Naval Departments, and no doubt can be entertained, that while it shuts up all the avenues to fraud and peculation, which at present operate so powerfully in facilitating the stealing and embezzling of Naval and Victualing Stores, in the result it will prove highly beneficial to Government.
V. The Perquisite of Chips.
The extensive evils arising from the permission granted to Artificers in the Dock-yards, to convert chips to their own use, and to remove them in bundles from the Dock-yards, having already been noticed, it may only be necessary to add, that on the abolition of this perquisite, which the Author has reason to believe is now in contemplation, a liberal increase of wages should be made to the Artificers in lieu thereof; and that hereafter Chips should not be sold in the Yards by Public Auction, but removed to a place of deposit at some small distance, and disposed of, not to the highest bidder, but at such price as should be offered above the estimated value, and by no means by contract.
By adopting this mode, the saving of useful Timber, Time, and Property, which, through the medium of the existing practice, is purloined, lost and stolen, would probably exceed any estimate that has been formed from a view of the present abuses.
This measure, while it forms an important Link in the preventive Chain, would appear to be easy and practicable.
If necessary the superintending Agent for unserviceable stores, whose functions have already been explained, could take upon him the sole management of the disposal of the chips at the different Yards, by which a handsome sum might be obtained annually in aid of the resources of the State, perhaps more than would be sufficient to pay the additional wages of the Artificers, while no existing arrangement in the Yards would be disturbed, nor any trouble given to the Officers, who at present fill the respective Departments in those Arsenals.
VI. The Abolition of Fees and Perquisites,
and an Increase of Salaries.
The total Abolition of Fees guarded by the severest penalties, is an important object in the preventive System: Until this is effected, it will be in vain to expect purity of conduct. Under this pretext, men of loose principles, in transactions with Government, seldom fail to seduce from the strict line of their duty, avaricious, extravagant, or indigent Officers, whose business it is to check and control the receipt and delivery of property, and to arrange, settle, and adjust Accounts, or to form Public Documents. The delusion and seduction of these Officers is not seldom effected by the supposed liberality of those whose business must pass through their hands; and they are not at all times perfectly aware of the injury that is done to the Public.
It has already been observed, and it is a circumstance much to be lamented, that in too many instances, where individuals have pecuniary transactions with any of the Departments of Government, a dereliction of principle is apparent which does not extend to the general intercourse of society, and hence arises the necessity of stronger guards, where the Public interest is concerned; and nothing appears to be better calculated to counteract this baneful propensity in the human mind than the total abolition of fees and perquisites.
It is said to be no uncommon thing to pay 300l. for a Clerk's situation in the Dock-yards, where the salary does not exceed 30l. or 40l. a year; and it is known that some who hold such situations live very expensively. It may be fairly asked, in what manner a person so situated is to reimburse himself? the conclusion is obvious, and the result has been already explained, which may perhaps be still farther elucidated by stating the following fact:—