grofs fum undergoes a different divifion, confifting of, the fubfiftence, the poundage, the hofpital, the allowance to widows, the nett offreckonings, the clearings, and fometimes refpits.

It is in confequence of thefe deductions from, and divifions of, the grofs fums allotted to different corps, and of diftinct fums being provided by parliament for certain fervices, that the application by the paymafter general to the treasury, for money, is made under diftinct heads of fervice. These fervices may, for the purpose of our inquiry, be diftinguished under three heads:

Firft. Thofe fervices for which the whole fum received by the paymafter general, at the exchequer, is iffued by him foon after he ceives it.

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Secondly. Thofe, for which the fum he receives, belonging to particular perfons, remains in his poffeffion, upon account of the perfons entitled, until they, or their agents, apply to him for payment.

Thirdly. Thofe, for which a part only of the fum he receives is iffued by him foon after he receives it, and the remainder continues in his hands for any indefinite time.

Of the firft clafs, where he foon iffues all he receives, are, the returned poundage; Chelsea hofpital, and the out-penfioners; the fubfiftence of the forces in Jamaica and the Eaft Indies, and of the non-commiffioned officers and private men in Africa; the fubfiftence and cloathing of the militia and invalids; the fubfiftence iffued upon account; the ftoppages of the officers; fubfiftence in the West Indies, North America, and garrifons of Gibraltar and Mimorca; the general and staff officers

and garrisons in Great Britain; the nett off-reckonings; the allowances to the colonel, captain, and agent; the clearings; foreign fubfidies; arrears of the foreign troops; levy money; and all the extraordinaries. Under the head of fubfiftence of the forces at home, fo much of the fum received, as the fubfiftence actually amounts to, is iffued to the agents as foon as he receives it.

Of the fecond clafs, are, the reduced officers, and, under the feveral heads of the garrisons abroad, the general and ftaff officers, and hofpital abroad: fo much of the fums voted for these fervices, as is contained in each warrant for the pay of the officers named in the certificate, remains in his hands until thofe officers or their agents apply for it.

Of the third clafs, where he iffues a part only of the fums he receives, are, the fubfiftence of the forces at home; the fubfiftence of the non-commiffioned officers and private men of the British forces in the West Indies and North America, and of the foreign troops; the garrifons abroad; and, the general and ftaff officers and hofpital abroad. Befides thefe, there are some other heads of fervice, to fatisfy which, he does not exprefsly apply to the treafury for money, but pays the demands for them out of what he has received under other heads of fervice: thefe are, the allowance to widows; fome fervices to which the poundage is made fubject by the king's warrant; and, contingencies.

Having thus procured the knowledge of the fervices, and of the mode of receiving from the exche[T] 2

quer,

quer, and of iffuing money for each fervice; it remained, in order to find out the component parts of this balance, to compare the fums received for thefe fervices, with the fums iffaed, and fee what remained in the hands of the paymafter general under each head: but the manner in which the accounts in this office are now, and have been kept from time immemorial, rendered fuch an inveftigation hardly practicable.

When the paymafter general paffes an account before the auditor of the imprett, he charges himfelf therein with the money he has received out of the exchequer, during the period of that account, in one grofs fum; he verifies the charge by the impreft roll, which specifies the fums he has received in each memorial, and the terms in which he received them, but not for what fervices; all that is required of him is, to render an account for what fervices he has expended the fum imprefted to him: to do this confiftently with order and method, his payments must be arranged under diftinct heads of fervice; but there is no neceffity for making the like arrangements of his receipts, it would only occafion the entry of a variety of articles in his charge, inftead of one, which one answers full as well all the purposes of paffing his accounts. With a view to this, is formed the plan upon which his books are kept; the accounts of his payments are under feparate and diftin&t heads of fervice, but he has only one cash account; though in one memorial to the treasury, he often afks for feveral fums, under various diftin&t heads of service, yet he enters the receipt in his cath-book, as one en

tire fum received that day at the exchequer, and carries it as one fum to the king's account current in his ledger: to have found out, there fore, the favings in his hands, under any one head of fervice, he must have examined every memorial prefented by him to the treasury for the thirteen years he has been in office, and have extracted from thence, and collected together, all the fums he has received for that fervice, in order to compare them with the iffues. And here too arose another difficulty :-In this office, a payment for any fervice made in a fubfequent year, is entered in the account of that year in which the fum was voted for that fervice, unless fuch account is made up, and then it is entered in the next open year's account; hence thefe accounts are ufually kept open, until they are ready to be paffed by the auditors. of the impreft; which time not being yet come for the accounts of the paymafter general in office, not one of his ledgers are yet made up; he could not therefore have given us the iffues for any one fervice, without making up the account of that fervice, in every year's ledger, fince he has been in office.

Thinking ourselves by no means warranted to take up the time, and perhaps impede the current business of this office, at fo bufy and important a period, by employing them in fo laborious, and, unlefs for this particular purpose, so useless a task, we had recourfe to fuch other cir cumftances in evidence before us, as might lead us to a decifion upon the point we are pursuing.

From the arrangement we have made of the fums received by the paymafter general from the exche

quer,

quer, it appears, that the balance in his hands cannot confift of any fums comprehended in the first class, because of them he very foon iffues all he receives: Nor is it probable that fums in the fecond clafs can conftitute any very confiderable part of it; because it is not to be prefumed, that officers of any denomination will fuffer their pay to continue long without applying for it, either by themfelves or their agents.

A continual receipt and iffue, implies a balance continually in hand; there must be the like continual balance where there are intervals between the receipt and iffue, and a fresh fupply always comes in before the iffue, as in the cafe of every bank: but our enquiry is after a fum more permanent; a fum that remains long unapplied to any fervice, and which, if otherwife difpofed of, would occafion no interruption in the regular courfe of paying the army fervices; for fuch a balance, in the hands of the paymafter general, we must look amongst the fums for the fervices named in the third clafs, where he iffues lefs than he receives.

:

Under the denomination of fubfiftence for the forces at home, he receives more than that fubfiftence amounts to, with an intent of procuring thereby a fund for certain payments not specifically applied for by him, and therefore otherwife unprovided for he receives fubfiftence upon the full eftablishment of the non-commiffioned officers and private men of the British forces in North America and part of the Weft Indies, and of the foreign troops; but as thefe regiments must be incomplete, and the deputy paymafters there iffue fubfiftence according to the ftrength only of the

regiment, he does not remit to them the whole he receives, but so much only as, from the lait accounts they fend him of the ftate of the balances in their hands, he judges will be fufficient to enable them to carry on the public fervice. This uniffued fubfiftence of the British forces in the West Indies and North America continues in his hands till the accounts of the feveral regiments are made up, when it falls into the clearings, and is iflued to the agents; but this is not till fifteen or fixteen months after they become due. The uniffued fubfiftence of the foreign troops remains with him till their arrears are paid to the agents; which time feems, from the account of the iffues received from the treafury, generally to be about two years after they are due.

He receives the whole fums voted for garrifons, ftaff, and hospital abroad; but the officers in thefe departments, named in the certificates from the war-office, do not exhauft the whole fum voted.

Hence arifes a fund compofed of thefe favings, out of which he iffues for certain fervices, and defrays certain expences, without making any fpecific application for them to the treafury; thefe are, the allowance to widows; fome of the payments to which the poundage is made applicable by the king's warrants; and, the mifcellaneous head of contingencies.

To demands for thefe fervices, and to no other that we can difcover (except fuch claims for the pay of the general and staff officers, and officers of the garrifons and hofpitals abroad, and of the reduced officers, as remained unfatisfied) was this balance liable on the day of its date. What then was the amount of these [7]3 demands

demands at that time? Nothing had been iffued for the allowance to widows in the year 1780; for e. nough remained of former receipts, in the hands of the paymaster of the widows penfions, to carry on that fervice; and therefore this balance was not liable to be reduced by any iffue under the head of allowance to widows. We could not have the accounts of the payments out of poundage and hofpital, and for the contingencies in the year 1780, becaufe fome of the warrants had not been produced for payment, and therefore the accounts could not be made up; but finding, that where the establishments are nearly the fame, there is no confiderable difference between the payments made, upon these two heads, in one year and another; we applied to the pay-office for an account of the payments made by the paymafter general, out of the deductions of twelve pence in the pound, and one day's pay; and for an account of the payments made by him for the contingent expences of his majesty's forces, for the laft year in which thefe accounts were made up at the office. The accounts tranfmitted to us, pursuant to this requifition, are of the year 1778; and as they, probably, do not vary much from thofe of the year 1780, they will fhew us, with fufficient accuracy, the amount of the demands for thefe two heads of fervice upon the balance now before us. The payments out of the poundage and one day's pay, confift of falaries to officers, exchequer fees, returned poundage, and Chelsea hofpital; the whole a mount of which, for this one year, is one hundred fourteen thoufand two hundred fixty-five pounds ten fhillings and two pence, The ar

ticles of exchequer fees, returned poundage, and Chelsea hofpital, though placed to this account, are not demands upon this balance. The exchequer fees for every fum, are always paid at the exchequer out of the fum at the time it is received; the paymaster general debits his cafh with the whole fum he applies for, and credits it for the fees; and therefore the only alteration made in his cafh, is an increafe by the fum he afks, deducting the exchequer fees. The other two fervices being applied for under their fpecific heads, he receives a fum with one hand, and issues it with the other; and therefore these three articles, amounting to ninetyfeven thousand nine hundred and twelve pounds feven fhillings and fix pence, being deducted from the total, leaves the fum of fixteen thousand three hundred fifty-three pounds two fhillings and eight pence only, as a charge upon this balance; which fum, confifting chiefly of falaries, for the most part paid quarterly, foon after they "become due, leaves claims to a very fmall amount indeed to be fatisfied out of this balance.

The contingent expences confift of a variety of articles, amounting to twenty-four thoufand nine hundred and fourteen pounds nineteen fhillings and eight pence; this account never either much exceeds, or comes much under, twenty-four thoufand pounds, the fum voted for the contingencies upon the eftablifhment at home and abroad; for fo much of these payments as exceed the fum voted, are carried to the account of extraordinaries. These articles being paid fome quarterly, fome half-yearly, and fome yearly, no very confiderable part of them

can

can probably remain unpaid at the end of the eleventh month of that year, and cannot therefore be a charge upon this balance on the 28th of November 1780: from hence it follows, that, fuppofing the amount of the claims for thefe fervices in 1780 not to exceed their amount in 1778, the claims for thefe fervices upon this balance, upon the 28th of November 1780, was fo much only of the fums of fixteen thousand three hundred fif ty-three pounds two fhillings and eight pence, and twenty-four thoufand nine hundred fourteen pounds nineteen shillings and eight pence; making together forty-one thoufand two hundred fixty-eight pounds two fhillings and four pence; as had not been applied for, and fatisfied, during the first eleven months of that year; and therefore, we think ourselves well grounded in an opinion, that the fum of four hundred forty-feven thousand one hundred fifty-three pounds eleven fhillings and three pence three farthings, in the hands of the paymafter general of the forces, upon the 28th of November last, was greatly more than was neceffary to answer the claims upon him at that time for the fervice of the army.

But our inquiry did not reft here; it concerns the public to know what proportion the fum, continually in the hands of an officer to whom fo much is entrusted, bears to the fervices of his department; we required, therefore, from the payoffice, an account of the balance in the hands of the prefent paymafter general of the forces, on the 31ft of December 1768, and at the end of each fucceeding year, to the 31ft of December 1780, inclufive; and an account of the total fums received

and paid by the paymafter general for every month, from the 1ft of January 1780 to the 31st of May Iaft, with the total of the balance remaining in his hands at the end of each month. Thefe accounts fhew, that the average yearly balance in the hands of the prefent paymafter general, for twelve years, has been five hundred eighty-five thoufand eight hundred ninety-eight pounds; and his average monthly balance, for feventeen months, has been eight hundred fixty-nine thoufand one hundred forty-eight pounds.

The magnitude of these fums furnifhes a strong prefumption, that the paymafter general of the forces poffeffes, conftantly, a fum much larger than is requifite for the carrying on the army fervices; and we are confirmed in this opinion, by the state of the balances in the poffeffion of the paymafters general of the forces after their refignation, annexed to our laft report; by which it appears, that of four paymafters general, each, upon his quitting the office, took with him the fum then in his hands; the balances they returned to our precepts, above twelve years after their refignations, were even then very large. Lord Holland's balance, the Christmas after he quitted the office in 1765, was four hundred and fixty thousand pounds; in the year 1778, at the time his reprefentatives paid back into the exchequer two hundred thoufand pounds, it was four hundred and fifty thousand pounds; and, upon the 27th of September laft, the fum returned to our requi fition was two hundred and fiftyfix thousand pounds; fo that, during a period of fifteen years after he was out of office, it fuffered very [7] 4

little