1 No passage at the public expense is to be given, either abroad or at home, without a special order of the Board of Admiralty, either on a signification of the Royal pleasure, or on the usual official application from some other department of the government.

2. The remuneration of naval officers for the expenses which they may incur in conveying persons under such orders, shall be made according to the length of time the passages may last, and the number of persons entertained, agreeably to the following rates and regulations.

3. The passages of royal personages will be considered on the circumstances of the individual cases.

4. For ambassadors and their suites, not exceeding in the whole five persons, and for any passage not exceeding three days, the sum of £40 ; for any passage not exceeding seven days, £80.

5. For ministers plenipotentiary, envoys, governors of colonies of the first class, or commanders-in-chief, when the latter are of higher rank than major-generals, and their suites respectively, not exceeding in the whole four persons, for a passage not exceeding three days, £30. ; for a passage not exceeding seven days, £60.

6. For governors and commanders-in-chief of lower rank than the foregoing military officers and diplomatists, not lower than brigadier-general or secretary of legation, and their suites, not exceeding in the whole three persons, for a passage not exceeding three days, £25 ; for a passage not exceeding seven days, £50.

7. Passages exceeding seven days, are to be paid for at the above rates for the first week, and afterwards at the rate of £1 10s. per diem for each person entertained at the commanding officer's table.

8. If a greater suite should be embarked than the supposed number, for a passage not exceeding seven days, an additional allowance is to he made of £1 10s. per diem for each person so exceeding.

9. When individuals shall be ordered passages at the table of an admiral or naval officer commanding a ship or vessel, £1 10s. shall be allowed for every day not exceeding fourteen, and £1 for every day after.

10. When individuals shall be ordered to be entertained at the lieutenants' mess in any of his Majesty's ships, 15s. shall be allowed for every day not exceeding fourteen, and 10s. for every subsequent day.

11. When a naval officer is directed to make preparation for any passengers, the Board of Admiralty will immediately recommend that half the estimated amount of the whole expense be immediately paid by the Treasury to the agent of the officer, of which he will be informed at the time ; and when the officer shall report to the Secretary at the Admiralty, the performance and length of the service, a recommendation will be forwarded to the Treasury, agreeably to the number of persons entertained, or the payment of the remainder of the sum ; but no officer is to draw any bill whatsoever for these allowances.

12. If it should happen that the passenger does not embark after the order for receiving him has been given, or having embarked, should be re-landed or transferred to another ship, the naval officer will nevertheless retain the half allowance already recommended, to cover the expenses he may have been at in making the necessary preparations.

13. Consuls and their families are to be paid for under the 9th section.

14. Commissioners of the navy and their families are to he paid for under the 9th section, and naval store-keepers under the 10th ; and in these two cases, and these alone, the commander-in-chief, or senior officer on a foreign station, is authorized to order passages without a previous order from the Admiralty.

15. The remuneration for persons under article 14, will he made according to the forms and rules prescribed in other cases, except that they will be paid for by the Navy Board instead of the Treasury.

16. Commissaries ordered passes with or without charge of public money, are to be entertained agreeably to their ranks in the military service, and paid for accordingly,

17. The sums specified in all the above cases includes a provision for a reasonable number of servants.

18. It being understood that regimental officers in the army, when embarked with their troops, whether in troop-ships or regular men of war, should all mess together, agreeably to the custom of the army, the naval officer commanding his Majesty's ship in which officers may be embarked under such circumstances, shall assign a proper place for holding the regimental mess, which the said regimental officers are to provide at their own expense, and no allowance whatsoever will be made on the part of the public to naval officers, for the entertainment of any regimental officers embarking with their troops, whatever be their rank. If it should be found convenient and agreeable to both parties to unite the regimental mess with the mess of the lieutenants of his Majesty's ship, the officers of the army are, in this case also, to provide for their share of the actual expense thereof.

19. Officers of the army below the rank of general, not embarked with their troops, are, when ordered passages, to be entertained at the captain's or lieutenant's table, according to their respective ranks, and paid for under sections 9 and 10.

20. No further allowances than those before specified, will, on any account whatsoever, be granted for any of the special services.

21. The above rules will be rigidly adhered to ; and if any officer shall act inconsistently with them, be must himself be liable for all the expenses incurred.

By command of their Lordships,

Admiralty-Office, March 1816. J. W. Croker.

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