BOARD OF ADMIRALTY, a government department which has the management of all matters concerning the British navy. In the article ADMIRAL, the steps arc noticed by which the duties of the lord high admiral, in former days, were transferred to a board of commissioners. The constitution and functions of this body will now be described.
The B. of A. comprises five lords commissioners, who decide collectively on all impor tant qnestions. Besides this collective or corporate action, each has special duties assigned to him. There are two civil or political lords, and three naval or sea lords. The first lord. who is always a cabinet minister, besides a general control, has the netnagetnent of naval estimates. finance, political affairs, slave-trade prevention. appoint ments. and promotions. The first naval lord manages the composition and distribution of the fleet, naval discipline, appointment of inferior officers, commissioning ships, general instructions, sailing orders, and the naval reserve. The second naval lord attends to armaments, manning the navy, the coast-guard, the marines, marine artillery.
t(I apprentices. The third naval lord has control over the purchase and disposal of stores, victualing-ships, navy medical affairs. transports, convicts, and pensioners. The junior civil lord attends to accounts, mail-packets, Greenwich hospital, naval chap lairs, and schools. Naval architecture, the building and repairing of ships. steam machinery, and new inventions are superintended by the controller of the navy, who is not a member of the board, hut is directly responsible to the first lord. Under the lords
are the first secretary (parliamentary), the second secretary (permanent), and the naval secretary (professional), who manage the daily office work. The lords all resign when the prime minister resigns, and those who have seats in parliament are replaced by others This change gives rise to many evils. There is likely to be a change of views and of system: the new board is not bound to act on the plans of its predecessors; and many of the costly novelties in the navy within the last ten years are directly traceable to this The system is defended on the plea that these changes infuse new blood into the admiralty, and give fair-play to increased knowledge and new plans. Some statesmen advocate a modified plan: proposing to render a few naval officers of rank permanent Jo^(1•4 of the admiralty, and only changing the others on a change of ministry. A con between the old and new boards is the controller of the navy, who is a per• rnanent officer. The secretaries and the lords determine which letters might to be sub witted to the board collectively; and that portion of the correspondence is treated as in most boards and committees. All delicate or doubtful matters are specially reserved for the first lord; but in the board meetings he has only one vote. like the rest, though, from his general parliamentary responsibility, he has practically at once an absolute veto and an absolute power of giving action to his views. The admiralty olllees are at Whitehall and Spring Gardens, close adjoining.