HC Deb 19 February 1883 vol 276 cc308-10
MR. LABOUCHERE

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the report is correct that has appeared in the newspapers that Sir Augustus Paget is about to be relieved of his functions as Ambassador at Rome, and to be placed on the Retired List with a pension of £1,500 per annum; and, whether, if so, this is in consequence of ill-health or of advanced age?

LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE

The Select Committee of this House, in their Report of May 18, 1871, made several recommendations. One, which was unanimously agreed to, was to the following effect:— That the duration of the appointments of the Heads of Missions should not exceed five years, without conferring any claim for employment for the whole period; and that, while the Secretary of State should have it in his power to re-appoint any such Head to the same or another Mission, if he think fit, it should he his duty to consider, at the expiration of each period of five years, whether such re-appointment is, or is not, for the public service. The matter was carefully considered by the Foreign Office and the Treasury; and the following Regulation was accordingly adopted in 1872:— The duration of the appointments of Heads of Missions at Foreign Courts shall not exceed, though it may he less than, five years; and at the expiration of five years the question of reappointment, though in that case not involving fresh credentials, or of transfer to another Mission, shall be open for consideration. At the lapse of five years from that time the appointment of the majority of the Heads of Missions was renewed by the late Government. One Ambassador and one Minister were not re-appointed under this provision. In 1879 Lord Salisbury added a further provision—that members of the Diplomatic Service, on attaining the age of 70 years, should be retired on the pension for which their services may qualify them. In 1881 Sir Augustus Paget, who had then been for 14 years the Representative of Her Majesty in Italy, and for five years Her Majesty's Ambassador at Borne, was offered the Embassy at St. Petersburg, which he declined on the ground of ill-health. His appointment at Rome was continued; but he was informed that it could only be provisional. At the end of last year the term of appointment expired for several Heads of Missions. Some were re-appointed for a specified shorter term, and one was informed that his appointment would terminate. Sir Augustus Paget was privately informed that his appointment would terminate at the end of April; but, at his request, it was extended to the end of June next. His Excellency will be entitled to a pension while en disponibilité.

SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF

asked whether the five years' rule was intended to be enforced in the cases of Lord Lyons, who had been Minister at Paris since 1867; Lord Ampthill, who had been Minister at Berlin since 1871; Sir Henry Elliot, at Vienna since 1877; Sir John Lumley, at Brussels since 1868; and Sir John Stuart, at The Hague since October, 1877; or whether the application of the rule was to be limited to the case of Sir Augustus Paget?

LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE

said, he must have Notice of that Question.

MR. RYLANDS

asked whether the direct effect of the rule would not be to charge the Pension List with £1,700 a-year?

MR. LABOUCHERE

said, the noble Lord had not answered the latter portion of the Question.

LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE

said, that when the hon. Members had read his answer, they would see that the Questions they put were replied to therein.