When on other duty, three hundred and fifty dollars. Second clerk to a commandant of a navy yard, seven hundred and fifty dollars. To commanders of squadrons, captains of feets, and commanders of vessels, five bundred dollars. Boatswains, Gunners, Sailmakers, Carpenters. Of a ship of the line, for sea service, seven hundred and fifty dollars. Of a frigate for sea service, six hundred dollars. When on leave of absence, or waiting orders, three hundred and sixty dollars. Officers temporarily performing the duties belonging to those of a higher grade, shall receive the compensation allowed to such higher grade, while actually so employed. No officer shall be put on furlough but at his own request, and all officers so furloughed shall receive one-half only of the pay to which they would have been entitled if on leave of absence. If any assistant surgeon shall have been absent from the United States, on duty, at the time others of his date were examined, he shall if not rejected at a subsequent examination be entitled to the same rank with them ; and if from any cause, his relative rank cannot be assigned to him, he will retain his original position on the register. One ration per day, only shall be allowed to all officers whew attached to vessels for sea service. SEC. 2. And be il fur!her enacled, That no allowance shall hereafter be made to any officer, in the naval service of the United States, for drawing bills, for receiving or disbursing money, or transacting any business for the Goverument of the United States, nor shall he be allowed servants, or pay for servants, or clothing or rations for them or pay for the same, nor shall any allowance be made to him for rent of quarters or to pay rent for furniture, or for lights or fuel, or transportiog baggage. It is hereby expressly declared that the yearly allowance provided in this act is all the pay, compensation, and allowance that shall be received under any circumstances whatever, hy any such officer or person, except for travelling expenses when under orders for which ten cents per mile shall be allowed. [ Approved, March 3d, 1835.] An ACT authorizing the construction of a Dry Dock for the naval service. Be it enacted by the Senale and House of Representalires of the United Stales of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Navy, under the direction of the President of the United States, be, and he is herehy, authorized to purchase a site, should it be deemed most advisable, and to cause a dry dock for the naval service to be con structed, upon the most approved plan, in the harbor of New York or its adjacent waters ; and that toward defraying the expense thereof, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. [Approved, March 3d, 1835.] REPORT OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL. Post OFFICE DEPARTMENT, December 1, 1835. To the President of the United States : SIR : During the year ending 30th June, 1835, the post routes of the United States covered about one hundred and twelve thousand seven hundred aud seventy four miles. In daily and less frequent trips, the mails were carried on these routes about 25,869,486 miles, viz : 16,874,050 miles in four-horse post-coaches and two-horse stages. 7,817,973 miles on horses and in sulkies, 906,959 miles in steanboats. 270,504 miles in railroad cars. The number of post ofices on the 30th June last was 10,770, being an increase of fifty-four within the preceding year. The system upon which the books of the Department have always been kept preclurles an exact statement of the revenue and expenditure which have accrued within any given period. The following is believed to approximate nearly to the actual income and accruing responsibilities for the two last fiscal years, viz : Gross revenue for the year ending 30th June, 1834, $2,823,749 34 Compensation to postmasters, $897,317 29 Incidental expenses, 87,744 27 Transportation of the mails, 1,925,543 52 Total expenditure, 2,910,605 08 Balance against the Departnient, 886,855 74 Gross sevenue for the year ending 30th June, 1835, 82,993,556 66 Compensation to postmasters, $945,417 84 Incidental expenses, 92,924 92 Transportation of the mails, 1,719,007 32 Total expenditure, 2,757,350 03 Balance in favor of the Department, $236,206 58 In the first part of the year, 1835, additional allowances were authorized, as is alleged, amounting on the 1st of May last, to about $157,000, which have since been suspended, and do not enter into the foregoing statement. If finally admitted, they will reduce the balance in favor of the Department that year to about $79,000. The old books will be closed when all the pecuniary transactions of the Department prior to the 1st of July last are brought upon them. Statements made out from these books, and other data, show the condi. Liow of the Department on that day to have been about as follows, viz : Due to contractors and others, 8792,381 92 Due to banks, 272,000 00 Whole debt of the Department, $1,064,381 92 Amount due to the Department, $1,128,319 29 Deduct for bad and doubtful debts, 131,327 36 Debt esteemed to be gooil, $996,991 93 Cash on hand, 43,689 40 Whole available means, 1,040,681 33 Balance of debt over available means on 1st July last, 23,700 59 If the suspended allowances be added, 157,000 00 It will niake the debt exceed the available means oa 1st July last, $180,700 59 The accounts of the postmasters for the quarter ending 30th September last have been so far examined as to show, satisfactorily, that the increase of gross revenue over that of the corresponding quarter of last year is about twelve per cent. The annual saving in the recent letting of contracts was about $30,000. Predicated on an average increase of revenue throughout the current fiscal year of len per cent., and on a saving of $25,000 when the contracts recently let shall be executed with necessary alteratious, an estimate of the gross revenue and accruing responsibilities for the year ending 30ih June, 1836, indicates the following results, viz : Gross revenue for the year ending 30th June, 1836, $3,292,692 00 Compensation to postmasters, $1,039,958 00 Incidental expenses, 70,000 00 Transportation of the mails, 1,706,507 00 Total expenditures, 2,816, 165 00 Balance in favor of the Department, $476,227 00 Although the whole of this sum inay not be available, on account of the usual losses and defalcations, it is not doubted that aided by collec. tions of outstanding balances, it will be sufficieut to pay off the debts of the Department, and leave a considerable amount applicable to an extension of mail accommodations. When the undersigned took charge of this Department, his attention was immediately called to the condition of its finances ; but it was soon found that no satisfactory account of its debts or its means could, within any short period, be obtained from its books. It was only perceived, from current incidents and detached accounts, that the unsatisfied demands of contractors from every quarter of the country were daily accumulating ; that there was a debt of near $300,000 due to banks that the outstanding acceptances of the treasurer exceeded $390,000; that, a considerable portiou of the revenue of some of the large offices for the present calendar year had been anticipated hy drafts discounted in banks, which they had been instructed to pay at maturity; that addie tional allowances had been recently authorized to a considerable amount; that, to provide the means to meet the demands on the Department at Washington, created by the system of acceptances, upwards of two thousand of the most considerable post offices had been directed to deposite their income in banks ; and that these means proving insufficient, the Department was subjected to continual enbarrassnient in devising ways and means to meet its engagements. At the same time, it was believed, on all hands, that the current revenue of the Department considerably exceeded its current expenditure, and that the aggregate of debt was in progress of diminution. In this state of things it was deemed expedient to make an effort to extricate the Department from its embarrassments. The ineasures resorted to for that purpose were as follows, viz : 1. A suspension of all recent allowances from the credit of the contractors. 2. A refusal to accept or pay any drafts drawn on the Department, except by special arrangement. 3. The application of ihe income of the current quarter to the payment of that quarter's expenses, the surplus only to be applied to the payment of pre-existing claims. 4. The introduction of a system which should effect a more prompt collection and application of the current income of the Department. The allowances suspended amounted to about $157,000. Without reference to their nerits, it was believed that a preference ought to be given to other claims in making payments. The discontinuance of acceptances was essential to enable the De. partment to command its means. A revenue arises wherever the mails are carried ; aud it would seem obviously appropriate, as well as convenient, that the services of contractors should be paid for in the sections of country where they are rendered, anıl, as far as practicable, out of the income which they produce. But the practice of suffering the contractors to draw for their pay subjected the Department to the inconvenience of collecting ils funds from the post offices throughout the Union, and transferring them to Washington to meet the drafts. The slowness and uncertainty of this operation made it an insufficient reliance to meet its acceptances, produced the necessity of looking elsewhere for the means, and rendered it difficult to manage its finances with any convenience or regularity. By paying the expenses of the current quarter at its close, and anuouncing a determination to pay in like manner at the close of each succeeding ove, applying only the surplus to the discharge of former debts, it was believed that the credit of the Department would immediately be elevated, and thenceforward sustained. Orders to deposite in banks, and irasts on postmasters in favor of contractors, constituted the system of collection found in operation. Upwards of two thousand post offices bail orders to deposite, and upwards of eight thousand were instructed to retain their postages until drawn upon. Many of the deposite offices were dilatory, and defaication among them Many of the other offices were not drawn upon for several quarters, on account of the smalloess of their income, or other circumstances. The necessities of the Deparlment compelled it to draw on the more productive offices at the end of each quarter, before their accouuts coukó be adjusted ; and its drafts, being predicated on estimates, could not be for the exact sum in hand. To avoid the danger of a protest, in consequence of drawing for too much, the treasurer generally rew for too little, thereby leaving sınall balances in all the draft offices also. There were, consequently, balances remaining in the hands of more than eight thousand postmasters, which, though generally small, amounted in the aggregate to a large sumn. For the purpose of pronipily bringing into action the means of the De. partment at the end of each quarter, ihe undersigned divided the offices into three classes. The first class, called “ Collection Offices," are upwards of nine thousand in number. The postmasters of this class have. been instructed to pay on demaud, at the close of each quarter, the whole was not uncominon. amount due to the Department ou account of the postages of that quarter, to the contractors who carry the mails along their respective routes, and forward their receipts to the Department. The contractors are instructed to forward acknowledgments, setting forth the whole amount received from each and all the postmasters, and to report forthwith every postmaster who fails to pay, and his reasons therefor, is known to them. To secure promptness and fidelity on the part of the contractors, they are permitted to collect only from so many postmasters as may pay them about seventy-five per cent of their quarterly compensation, and they are informed that the balance will not be paid them until they shall have collected from every office on their list, or showo, by reporting the delinquent postmasters, that they have used due diligence to do so, and are not in fault for the failure. The second class, called “ Depositing Offices," about five huudred and fifty in number, are instructed to deposite their income in bauks quarterly, monthly, or weekly, according to its a mount. This class einbraces all the large offices and most others which can as conveniently deposite as pay to contractors, together with the most considerable offices on interior routes, which yield a surplus revenue, and whose proceeds cannot be used in paying the contractors who supply them. The third class, called “ Draft Offices," about two hundred and fifty in number, embrace those not convevient to banks, whose proceeds cannot be paid over to contractors at the close of the quarter, without danger of their being overpaid, but may generally be drawn for in whole or in part, to pay the balances due, after giving the contractors credit for all their collections. The interest of the contractors induces them promptly, after the guarter ends, to push their collections, and report all delinquents. During the same time, the depositing offices are placing their funds in the banks. When the contractor's acknowledgment for moneys collected comes in, his account is examined. If the balance due, or any part of it, can be paid by draft on one or more of the diaft offices, it is done ; and that which cannot be so discharged is paid by check on some convenient bank. The results anticipated from these measures have been fully realized On the 1st July last, payments on claims accruing prior to the preceding quarter were suspended ; and all the energies of the pay clerks were de. voted to paying the debts of that quarter. These payments were completed on the 19th day of August, leaving a considerable amount of funds in bank. The payment of the old debis was then resumed. From that moment the Department was disembarrassed. In no instance since, has the payment of any claim been refused for the want of funds. On the 1st of October last, the new system of collection came in!o actico. Encouraged by its favorable operation, and finding the funds or the Department in bank to exceed $140,000, the undersigned, on the 18th of the last month, directed the payment of the bank debts in Baltimore and Boston, a mounting to 867,304 38. The entire debt on the 1st July, as above stated, was $1,064,381 92 of this debe there has been paid out of postages accruing before the 1st of July, about the sum of 8409,991 34 |