certain qualifications, which is a just and reasonable view.
2. Admiralty Organization.--Under the organization which now
exists, the Board of Admiralty consists of the first lord, the
first and second naval lords, the additional naval lord and
controller, the junior naval lord and the civil lord, who are
commissioners for executing the office of lord high admiral,
and with them are the parliamentary and financial secretary
and the permanent secretary. As has been explained, the first
lord is responsible under the orders in council to the crown
and to parliament for all admiralty business. In the hands
of the other lords and secretaries rest duties very carefully
defined, and they direct the civil departments which are the
machinery of naval administration. The first naval lord, the
second naval lord and the junior naval lord are responsible
to the first lord in relation to so much of the business
concerning the personnel of the navy and the movements and
condition of the fleet as is confided to them, and the additional
naval lord or controller is responsible in the same way for
the material of the navy; while the parliamentary secretary
has charge of finance and some other business, and the civil
lord of all shore works--i.e. docks, buildings, &c.--and
the permanent secretary of special duties. The first lord of
the admiralty is the cabinet minister through whom the navy
receives its political direction in accordance with imperial
policy. He is the representative of the navy in parliament,
which looks to him for everything concerned with naval
affairs. The members of the Board are his advisers; but if their
advice is not accepted, they have no remedy except protest or
resignation. It cannot be denied that the responsibility
of the members of the Board, if their advice should be
disregarded, must cease, and it is sufficiently obvious that the
remedy of resignation will not always commend itself to those
whose position and advancement depend upon the favour of the
government. Something will be said a little later concerning
the working of the system and the relation of the first lord
to the Board in regard to the navy estimates. In addition
to general direction and supervision, the first lord has
special charge of promotions and removals from the service,
and of matters relating to honours and rewards, as well as
the appointments of flag officers, captains and other officers
of the higher ranks. With him rests also the nomination for
the major part to naval cadetships and assistant clerkships.
Apart from the first lord, the first naval lord is the most
important officer of the Board of Admiralty. It seems to be
unquestionable that Sir James Graham was right in describing
the senior naval lord as his ``first naval adviser.''
Theoretically, the first naval lord is responsible for the
personnel of the fleet; but in practice he is necessarily
concerned with the material also as soon as it is put into
commission, and with the actual commissioning of it. It
is correct to say that he is chiefly concerned with the
employment of the fleet, though his advice has weight in
regard to its character and sufficiency, and is always sought
in relation to the shipbuilding programme. Broadly speaking,
the first naval lord's duties and authority cover the fighting
efficiency and employment of the fleet, and upon him and
upon the controller the naval business of the country largely
falls. He directs the operations of the admiral superintendent
of naval reserves in regard to ships, the hydrographer, the
director of naval ordnance, so far as the gunnery and torpedo
training establishments are concerned, and the naval intelligence
department, and he has charge of all matters relating to
discipline. The mobilization of the fleet, both in regard
to personnel and material, also falls to him, and among
a mass of other business in his department are necessary
preparations for the protection of trade and the fisheries.
It will thus be seen that the first naval lord is the chief
officer of the Board of Admiralty, and that the operations of
the other members of the Board all have relation to his work,
which is no other than preparation for war. It may here be
remarked that it appears most necessary to change the naval
lords frequently, so that there may always be in the Board
some one who possesses recent touch with the service afloat.
The second naval lord may be regarded as the coadjutor of
the first naval lord, with whose operations his duties are
very closely related, though, like every other member of the
Board, he is subordinate only to the first lord. The duties of
the second naval lord are wholly concerned with the personnel
of the fleet, the manning of the navy and mobilization. In
his hands rests the direction of naval education, training
and the affairs of the royal marine forces. The training
establishments and colleges are in his hands. He appoints
navigating officers and lieutenants to ships (unless they be
to command), sub-lieutenants, midshipmen and cadets, engineer
officers, gunners and boatswains, and supervises the management
of the reserve. In his province is the mobilization of the
personnel, including the coastguard and the royal naval
reserve. Necessarily, the first and second naval lords
work together, and upon occasion can replace each other.3
Most important are the duties that fall to the additional
naval lord and controller. He has charge of everything that
concerns the material of the fleet, and his operations are the
complement of the work of the first naval lord. A great number
of civil departments are directed by the controller, and his
survey and supervision extend to the dockyards and building
establishments of the fleet. He submits plans to the Board
for new ships, and is responsible for carrying into effect
its decisions in regard to all matters of construction and
equipment. The building operations both in the dockyards and
in private yards are therefore under his supervision. In regard
to all these matters the director of naval construction and
the engineer-in-chief are the heads of the civil departments
that carry on the work. Again, the controller is responsible
in regard to armament--both gunnery and torpedo--and it
is the work of his department to see to all gunnery and
torpedo fittings, and to magazines, shell-rooms and electric
apparatus. The officer in immediate charge of this branch of
the controller's work, under his direction, is the director of
naval ordnance. In regard to work at the dockyards (q.v.)
the controller is aided by the director of dockyards. He
supervises this officer in preparing the programme of work done
in the dockyards, the provision of the material required and
its appropriation to particular work in accordance with the
programme. Other officers who conduct great operations under
the authority and responsibility of the controller are the
director of stores, who maintains all necessary supplies of
coal and stores at home and abroad, and examines the store
accounts of ships, and the inspector of dockyard expense
accounts, who has charge of the accounts of dockyard expenditure
and seeing that outlay is charged as directed. In regard to
the navy estimates, the controller, through his subordinates,
is responsible for the preparation and administration of the
votes for shipbuilding and naval armaments, except in regard
to some sub-headings of the former, and thus in recent years
for the expenditure of something like L. 15,000,000 or over.
The junior naval lord has in his hands the very important
duties that are concerned with the transport, medical and
victualling services, as well as the regulation of hospitals,
the charge of coaling arrangements for the fleet and other
duties that conduce to the practical efficiency of the
navy. He also appoints chaplains, naval instructors,
medical officers (except in special cases) and officers
of the accountant branch. A vast business in regard to
the internal economy of ships greatly occupies the junior
lord. He has charge, for example, of uniforms, prize-money,
bounties, naval savings banks, and pensions to seamen and
marines and the widows of naval and marine officers. The
work of the junior naval lord places under his direction the
director of transports, the director-general of the medical
department, the director of victualling, and, in regard to
particular matters, the director of stores, the accountant-
general, the chaplain of the fleet, and the Intelligence
Department, so far as the junior lord's department is concerned.
The civil lord supervises, through the director of works,
the Department of Works, dealing with admiralty buildings and
works, construction and labour, contracts and purchases of
building stores and land. He is also responsible for the
civil staff of the naval establishments, except in regard to
certain officials, and for duties connected with Greenwich
Hospital, compassionate allowances, charitable funds,
and business of like character. The accountant-general,
in regard to these matters, is directed by him, and the
director of Greenwich Hospital is under his authority.
The parliamentary and financial secretary is responsible
for the finance of the department, the navy estimates and
matters of expenditure generally, and is consulted in regard
to all matters involving reference to the treasury. His
position in regard to estimates and expenditure is very
important, and the accountant- general is his officer, while
he has financial control over the director of contracts. The
financial secretary also examines proposals for new expenditure.
A most important official of the Board is the permanent secretary,
whose office has been described as the ``nerve-centre'' of the
admiralty, since it is the channel through which papers for
the lords of the admiralty pass for the intercommunication
of departments and for the correspondence of the Board.
The tradition of admiralty procedure largely rests with the
permanent secretary, and it is most important that he should
be chosen from one of the branches, and should have served in
as many of them at possible, in order that he may possess a
thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of the admiralty
system. In addition to the secretarial duties of the
permanent secretary's department, the permanent secretary
has charge of the military, naval and legal branches, each
under a principal clerk, the civil branch and the record
office. The various branches deal with matters concerning the
commissioning of ships and the distribution of the fleet, and
the manning and discipline of the navy, with other associated
matters, being the channels for the operations of the naval
lords. It is a highly important function of the department
of the permanent secretary to preserve the inter-related
working of the various departments, and to keep unbroken the
thread of administration when a new Board is constituted.
3. Business and Responsibility.--The manner in which the
Admiralty Board conducts the great operations under its
charge has been indicated. It would be impossible here to
describe it in detail, though something concerning the civil
departments, which are the machinery of naval administration,
will be found below. It will, however, indicate the character
of admiralty administration if we explain to some extent the
conditions which surround the preparation of the estimates and
the shipbuilding programme, the more so because this matter
has been the battle-ground of critics and supporters of the
