SECRETARIES OF STATE. (Hansard, 18 April 1856)

§ MR. MURROUGH
moved— An Address for return of the Letters Patent now existing and unrevoked (April 14, 1856), which have been issued to persons who have held, and who are now holding, the office of Principal Secretary of State.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, the hon. Member had not stated his reasons for moving for this return. Perhaps he would do so now.

§ MR. MURROUGH
said, his object was twofold—first, to secure that the public documents of the country should be properly kept; and, secondly, to ascertain the names of those Secretaries of State who had neglected to take out Letters Patent. The duty upon patents for the great offices of State was £200. All the Members of Lord Derby's Government took out their patents and paid the duty. The noble Lord the Member for the City of London was the first person who evaded the payment of the £200, and his example had been followed by several Members of the present Government. Now, when persons in a humble condition of life were taxed to make up the deficiencies of the revenue, it was, to say the least, rather shabby that Gentlemen holding the high offices of Secretaries of State should set the example of evading duties imposed by Parliament. He wished to see the names of those who had been guilty of such conduct. At the present moment, according to the documents in the Record Office, Lord Malmesbury was the only person legally authorised to act as Her Majesty's Secretary of State 1248 for Foreign Affairs. Such a state of things should not be allowed to continue, and it was with a view to stop it that he had ventured to submit his Motion to the House.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, that the Motion of the hon. Gentleman extended beyond the objects he had stated. One of those objects was to ascertain the names of the Secretaries of State who had not token out their patents, but the Motion called for the production of the patent of every person who had formerly served the Crown in the capacity of a Secretary of State.

§ MR. MURROUGH
explained, that what he wanted was the names of those who had last taken out their patents, in order to discover who had evaded the duty.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
was still of opinion that the names of persons who had taken out their patents would not enable the hon. Gentleman to ascertain the names of those who had not done so. But he would offer no further opposition to the Motion.

§ MR. HENLEY
did not know whether the statements of the hon. Member were correct or not, but the point raised was worthy of investigation, although he did not think that the hon. Gentleman would obtain his object by the Motion as it stood at present. Address for "Return of the Letters Patent now existing and unrevoked (April 14th, 1856), which have been issued to persons who have held or who are now holding the office of Principal Secretary of State.