CONSULAR SERVICE.

A saving of 29,100/. in an expenditure of 79,625/. has been effected by the present Ministry in the Consular service. Without attaching much weight to a gossiping report that many of the salaries are so reduced as to be insufficient to procure competent officers, it appears, from close investigation of the circumstances, that the reduction has not been made in the most judicious or most effective manner. It seems also to have been made on the usual principle of cutting down the salary of the hard-working officer, and leaving the rich and well- connected idler untouched.

There was, for instance, a Consul-General at Naples, who probably did something for his salary of 1,2001. a year. He is superseded by a Consul with a salary of 300/. ; but the expense of an Ambassador, who did nothing and has nothing to do, is nearly 5,000/. Had the Consul- General been retained, and the "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary" got rid of, the saving would have been four times its present amount. Again, the Consul-General at Paris received 1,6001. a year. A Begistrary supersedes him at 1001. If there be any duties involving a residence at Paris, this seems too little ; if there be none,

an i y sum is too much : if what is to be done is merely occasional routine business, why could it not have been performed by one of the hangers- on of the.Embassy ?

Where no interest intervenes, no saving seems "too paltry." Tbus, in the Consular establishment of all Germany, it was thought worth while to effect a saving of-501. by reducing the stipend of the Vice- Consul at Blre1".ien from 2001. to 15a The allovrance was not surely' too large if ->;e bad duties to perftini,-perhaps not more than sufficient to defray riie additional expenses consequent upon the office. It may be said. that some respectable and competent merchant at Bremen was IV. a'r.g to undertake the office at this scanty remuneration, for the 1.stinction and so forth which the situation conferred. Be it so ; but apply the rule universally. Let it be enforced against the great officers of the Household, against the quasi sinecursts at home and in the Colonies, and against the noble and right honourable members of the Diplomatic body, as well as against the humble Vice- Consul at Bremen.

Well-grounded objections, however, exist to the employment of re- sident merchants as Consuls, from the probability of their interests clashing with their duties. Perhaps the most eligible persons for such situations would be intelligent half-pay officers. Their professional training has given them habits of exactness, and a disposition to require a " high degree of efficiency " in any service in which they are en- gaged ; whilst, cceteris paribus, they have mote chivalrous feelings, and are perhaps less likely to sully their hands with any petty " indirection," than most other classes of men. There is also another advantage in these economical times-they would be cheaper : their half-pay might merge in the (competent) salary of a Consul. It will be seen, that part of the Consuls are under the Foreign, part under the Colonial Department. For what reason, we cannot divine. There is not even the plea of classification, for we have not yet got any .Colonies in Barbary.

SALARIES OF CONSULS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA.

(Under the Foreign Department.) Voted for 1832-I. Decrease

Consuls-GeneraL Consuls. Vire-Consuls. Total. in loin-3.

Chaploins, Phy- sicians, Voted for Consuls-General. Consuls. Vice-Consuls. Dragomans, Ac. 1035-3.

LEVANT, &C. No £ No £ No. £ £ X

Turkey 1 1,600 ... 1 e00 0 .... 9 2,650 .... 1,250 .... 6300 Stria 1 SOO ... 1 400 .... 3 130 .... ... .... 1,330

Greece . 1 700 .... 2 450 .... ... .... 1,150

Egypt 1 1,000 ... ... .... 2 140 .... 1,080 .... 2,220 - - - - - - - 3 3,400 3 1,900 15 3,370 2,330 - - - - - - - Total for Consular Service in the "Levant" £11,000 SALARIES OF CONSULS IN BARBARY.

(Under the Colonial Department.) Agent= and Consuls-Gcueral. Vice-Consuls.

BARBARY. No. £ No. £ £ Morocco 1 2,000 3 500 2,500 Algiers 1 2.000 3 1,200 3,200 Tunis 1 1,800 1 500 2,300 Tripoli 1 1,800 2 900 2,700 -- - - - 4 7,600 9 3,100 - - - - Total for Consular Service in Barbary £10,700 CONVEYANCE OF CONSULS, AND CONSULAR CONTINGENCIES. For the Conveyance of the Russian and American Consuls for the Island of Cuba, in II. M. ship Skipjaelc,from Nassau to the Havanna Ditto ofSir R. K. Porter, H. M. Consul in Venezuela, on board II. M ship North Star, to the West Indies

Ditto of Consul Parkinson, on board 11. M. ship Druid, from Pernam-

buco to Bahia

Ditto of Mr. Farren, Consul-General in Syria, and Mrs. Farren, in

H. M. ship Belvidera, to the Mediterranean . Ditto of Mr. Consul Pousett, his wife and family, in H. M. ship Mersey, . r from Jamaica to Port-au-Prince, St. Domingo Ditto of Mr. Tulin, Vice-Consul at Algiers, from that place to Dellis ? and back to Algiers, in H. M. sloop Philomel

OUNTINOENCIES, Ste.

(/* Europe, America, andthe Levant) Contingent Expenses, Moiety of Expenses for Chaplains, Chapels, Hospitals, Burial-Grounds, 8:c., for Consular Service under the Foreign Department .. 6,500 (In Barbary.) Morocco. Algiers. Tripoli. Tunis. FriEn ESTABLISHMENT. £ X £ £ 'Chaplain .. 110 Interpreter Consular Agent

Janissaries 60 e60 :15 30 FIXED CON'TINGENCIES. Allowance for Presents.. 45 20 .35 25 Ditto for"House-rent...... 100 ErZHIEERD,CORTINGENCLES ... 102 •,....,,. 83 -.-.• • • • '37 8

- - -. -

207 . NA - 117 - -198 • -

£ No. £ No. £ £ £

. ..11 3,600 .... 1 50 .... 3,650

2,000

600 ... 5 1,650 .... 1 200 .... 2,450 1,150 1,000 ... 1 200 .... 3 250 .... 1,450 300 1,500 .. , 4 700 .... 2,200 50 3,350 .... 5 350 .... 3,700 2,600 400 ... 2 1,400 5 700 .... 2,500 2,150 . . 1 500 5 200 .... 700 1,050 750 450 ......2 800 400 700 400 500 100 700 1 100 .... 800 50 1,050 4 475 .... 2,325 2,750 . ...10 4,600 . .... 4,600 4,700 3 .100 .... 2,700 1,500 ... 800 .1,200 .. • ... 1,200 300 5 5,1150 1 800 .... WO 2,500 . . 4 1,900 2 450 .... 2,150 2,800 ... • • • 800 • • . .... 1,000 1,000 ... " ' 250 1,600 ... 2 1,900 1 -700 . I: . 4,'''21t.i}°0 2,400 1,250 X29,350 2,000 ... 1 1.000 .... 1 700 .... :3.700 250 . 1 1,200 .... 2 900 2,100 (Increase) - - - - 9,600 69 33,650 33 7,275 £29,100 - -

EUROPE. No France 1.1.11SSil 1 Austrian States 1 Germany 1 Spain Portugal and its De- pendent Isles 1 Prussia .

Holland Belgium Sweden Norway Denmark Italy AMERICA.

United States Mexico 1 Guatemala Columbia Brazil Monte Video 1 Buenos Ayres ..... •

Chili Ayres 1

- - - - Total for Consuls in "Europe and America" £50,525 Peru 1 Hayti - 8 SALARIES OF CONSULS IN TILE LEVANT, (Maintained by the late Levant Company, and provisionally Sanctioned by his Majesty's Government.) 31 42

117

152 60 3 £ 405

--- -

Algiers. Tripoli. Tunis.

41 37 39 313 80 159 683 -

Total of Conveyance of Consuls and Consular Contingencies £7588

The following Table exhibits the Retired Allowances in the Con_ sular Department, with the salary now paid for the actual discharge of the office. Small as the sums in question may appear, nothing can more clearly show the general impropriety of Superannuations than many of the items in this account, where sometimes the sum paid as a quasi pension is equal to the amount which provides for the actual ser_ vice, whilst it is frequently much beyond it.

retired Allowance. FreFent Salary, Netherlands £1,200 £800 or abolished. Gottenburg 500 500 United States 800 abolished. St. Petersburg 500 300 Spain 660 150

France 1 000 100 Naples 500: 300

500 700 1,800 2,000 2 000 300 100 £8,712 £9,550

In closing the Diplomatic Expenditure, it should be observed that the accounts are in the same state of confusion as the generality of Government accounts. The Salaries of the Ambassadors are now charged upon the Consolidated Fund. The statement of (most pro- bably) the gross expenditure will appear in the Finance _Accounts. The expenses of Outfit, Special Missions, and Conveyances, together with the extraordinary disbursements, are managed by several depart. ments, and the accounts and estimates published by the Treasury amongst the Civil Contingencies. Part of the Consular Expenditure is under the Foreign Office, and part under the Colonial Office. With. out any reference to reduction in the expense or improvement in the efficiency of the service, these anomalies as a mere matter of account should be rectified, and the whole Diplomatic expenditure placed ender the Foreign Office, which should publish an annual statement of the expenditure and liabilities of the current year, and of the estimated expense of the ensuing year. By this means, both Parliament and the public will have the whole cost placed distinctly before them, imtead of being liable, as at present, to suppose it one third less than it really is.

Deduct Morocco.

Consular Fees .676

Total of Consular Contingencies in--__ Barbary £131

Massachusetts 350 Pernambuco 300 Levant • 800 Elsinore 350 Tunis 616 Morocco 436 Algiers 300 Tangier 200 Mogadore 200