MR. V. SMITHinquired whether any alteration had been made in Mr. Gladstone's arrangement for the appointment of an Assistant Under Secretary to the Colonial Department? Mr. Gladstone had appointed Mr. Rogers to the situation of Assistant Under Secretary to the Colonial Department, and proposed to pay his salary by a reduction in the number of the clerks, thereby doing injustice to those gentlemen, and injury to the business of the office. If the appointment were to be maintained, a better mode of providing the salary would have been to have come down and to have asked Parliament for the money. He wished to know whether the present Government intended to continue such an arrangement?
§ MR. HAWESwas not prepared to go into the general merits of the question; but, in the opinion of his noble Friend at the head of the Colonial Department, the appointment of Mr. Rogers was an efficient and necessary one. With respect to the general efficiency of the clerks in the Colonial Department, he could cheerfully bear his testimony. More efficient or able gentlemen were not to be found in any department.
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, that having been for some time at the head of the department in question, he could agree only partially in the view which appeared to be taken of the matter by his right hon. Friend (Mr. Vernon Smith). It might be all very true that Mr. Stephen, as Under Secretary, had, until lately, required no assistance to enable him to perform the duties of the office, and Mr. Stephen had been for five years in the department; but the question was, in what manner the duties of the office could be best performed in years to come. Mr. Stephen's position was a peculiar one. Besides its general and miscellaneous duties, he was charged with the examination of all the colonial enactments passed in our various settlements. Now, he took it, that the mere statement of such onerous duties was quite 367 sufficient to make anybody understand that it was necessary, in their performance, to look over and examine a vast multitude of enactments—a task which could not be satisfactorily performed without previous knowledge of the Colonies, as well as some acquaintance with the principles and practice of law. Under these circumstances the appointment had taken place, Mr. Rogers being a gentleman of high legal character and standing. With respect to the manner of the appointment, however, he agreed with his right hon. Friend in deprecating it; and he shared his feelings with respect to the senior and junior clerks, who were not too many, and who numbered among them many men of distinguished talent. Considering the length of Mr. Stephen's services, he was inclined to approve of the assistance to be given to him, and he certainly did not think that the department would be benefited by any reduction of the number of clerks employed.
The EARL of LINCOLNsaid, that the appointment in question required a gentleman of the legal profession, and for that reason alone a strangor had been introduced into the office. The noble Lord had concurred in condemning the mode in which the arrangement was made; but his right hon. Friend, Mr. Gladstone, would have been glad to have adopted any other mode. He had had no wish to act harshly towards the clerks in the department, but had been anxious to carry out an efficient arrangement for the public service, without incurring any public additional public charge. As some severe comments had been made on his right hon. Friend out of the House in reference to this matter, he felt bound to say that his right hon. Friend introduced Mr. Rogers into the office, not because he was a friend of his own, but because it was absolutely necessary to have a lawyer in the situation, and the whole arrangement was made without additional charge to the public.