PAPERS MOVED FOR. (Hansard, 28 June 1864)

§ MR. BAILLIE COCHRANE
said, he rose to move for an Address for a copy of any Correspondence which had passed between any Departments of the Government with respect to the granting pensions to Colonial Governors. Having on a former occasion had the honour of addressing the House on this question, which was of very great importance to a large class of public servants, he would not trouble the House at any length; but before the close of the Session, and after the answers which had been given by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, he believed the House would consider him justified in pressing the Government for a distinct understanding of their intentions on the subject. He would recal to the House one fact, and that was, that the only class of public servants who were precluded from receiving pensions or superannuation allowances for long services were the Colonial Governors. Their omission from the benefit of the Act of 1859 had been attributed to one of two causes. Either there were most important reasons for their exclusion, or else it had been an oversight, and, on the whole, he was inclined to believe in the latter solution. Three or four reasons had been given why those Governors should not be placed in the same position as other public servants. It was said they were not continuously in the service of the public; but he would ask the House if the service of our diplomatists and other 427 public offcers was continuous? Why, the very service of the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not a continuous service. He (Mr. Cochrane) did not know, indeed, how long it might continue, but it was not continuous. There were hon. and right hon. Gentlemen on the opposite Bench, and also on his own side of the House, who were entitled to pensions. It was also said there would be inducements to retain officers after they became unfitted for service merely with a view of securing their pensions; but he did not see that Colonial Governors were liable to such a charge in an exceptional manner, and did not believe any weight attached to the suggestion. The third objection was that it would open the door to the bestowal of pensions upon a new class of public servants. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer could point out any other class of public servants who were in the same position and who did not receive retiring pensions, he would concede to him the whole argument. When they considered the position of the Governors of colonies, the importance of the station they held in the colonies, and the fact that they were frequently very distinguished public servants, it must be admitted that it was unjust to bring them home from stations where they represented the dignity and honour of the Crown, and to leave them in this country without, it might be, the means of subsistence. It might be said that a Colonial Governor was not the servant of the Crown, but of the colony. He did not believe, however, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would maintain this assertion. The Governor was often the only direct servant of the Crown in a colony, except the officers in command of the troops. The Judges and other gentlemen holding situations in the colonies were, on the other hand, colonial servants, and in many of the colonies they were in the receipt of superannuation allowances. The Governor was, however, the direct servant of the Crown. He was appointed by the Crown, and could be recalled only at the will of the Crown, and he had no one to look to but the Crown for justice and support. The Governor was, indeed, so directly the servant of the Crown that he might occasionally he called upon to take a course opposed to the wishes or interests of the colony. If the colony desired to carry out a policy objectionable to the Home Government, the Governor was compelled to follow the in- 428 structions from home. A Correspondence had been laid on the table from which it appeared that the opinion of the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Labouchere, and all the other Colonial Secretaries, had been favourable to the granting of pensions to Colonial Governors. It also appeared that the only opposition proceeded from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was very hard, when the opinion of all those interested in the colonial service was one way, that the single opinion of the right hon. Gentleman should prevail against those of the Secretaries of the Colonies. It was not a matter of generosity, but of justice. The salaries of the Governors had been greatly reduced of late years. He believed the reduction was nearly one-half, and their salaries were not large enough to enable these gentlemen to insure their lives or to save money enough to live upon in their old age. Mr. Merivale, a great authority in that House, in his admirable work on Colonization, said that the functions of a Governor of a colony were particularly difficult and arduous. He often formed the only political link between the colony and the Home Government. To execute well the double functions that devolved upon his office demanded a man of no common ability. The occasion usually called forth those abilities, for England, Mr. Merivale added, was in no public department better served than by the higher class of her Colonial Governors. He contended that it was a monstrous thing that these gentlemen who discharged their high duties, according to Mr. Merivale, in this satisfactory manner, should, after thirty or forty years' public service, be declared undeserving of retiring pensions. Without troubling the House at greater length he would ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to give the subject a fair and impartial consideration. It was not a mere question of economy. No one would contend that, for the sake of saving a sum which would not exceed a few thousands a year, these gentlemen should give the best years of their lives to the service of the public without the prospect of a retiring pension. He would conclude by simply moving the Address.

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, he was unable to accede to the Motion of the hon. Member for the correspondence with regard to granting pensions to Colonial Governors, and for reasons which the hon. Member would admit were to a certain extent satisfactory. It was not necessary nor desirable that he should follow his hon. Friend in the argument he had used in favour of granting these pensions; but he might state that he agreed with him that the subject should not be considered simply as a question of money, because it involved very grave considerations of a public character. The reason for not producing the Correspondence was this:—It was the desire of the Government to give the subject that full and impartial consideration for which his hon. Friend had asked. Of course it would be understood that he spoke without prejudice to the judgment at which they might arrive, but he could readily give the assurance for which his hon. Friend seemed most anxious, namely, that this subject would not be looked at as a simple question between the Colonial Office and the Treasury, in which the Colonial Office had a natural leaning towards the interests of its own servants, and the Treasury had a natural leaning towards the interests of the Exchequer. The Government would consider the case as a whole, and with all the matters bearing upon it. His hon. Friend would, therefore, see why they could not produce the Correspondence, which he might add was incomplete. He could not say that he regarded the question from exactly the same point of view as the hon. Gentleman. The Duke of Newcastle had submitted his views to the Treasury, but the state of the Duke's health had been the cause of some little delay. His right hon. Friend (Mr. Card-well) had taken the matter into consideration, and had addressed two communications to the Treasury, the latter of which he had not yet seen. When his hon. Friend said that the Colonial Governors were the only public servants who were not in the enjoyment of pensions, it should be observed how very broad was the distinction between the two cases. The Colonial Governors were not for the most part paid out of the British revenues, but out of the revenues of the colonies, and, indeed, many of those who were disposed to advocate the system of pensions for those Governors considered it as part of a larger measure— namely, that of paying their salaries in all 430 cases out of the Imperial revenues. He did not deny that there was much to be said in favour of that view, but it was not the view of Parliament, for the tendency of late years had been to reduce as rapidly as they could all payments connected with the Colonial Governments. However, he would give the assurance which his hon. Friend had asked, that during the recess every effort should be employed on the part of the Government to prosecute an inquiry into the matter to a satisfactory conclusion, and that whatever decision might be arrived at should be arrived at when they were in possession of all the facts of the case. He trusted, therefore, his hon. Friend would not press his Motion.

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
said, he entirely agreed with the right hon. Gentleman that there were political considerations of very grave importance involved in the question, but he thought that those considerations pointed very decidedly to the policy of holding out fair inducements to men of ability to enter the service of the Crown as Governors of the colonies. Those considerations pointed to the reasonableness of the conclusion, that when the best years of a man's life had been devoted to the performance of duties of so important a character he should not find himself on his return to the country without that compensation which the other servants of the Crown obtained. Entertaining those opinions, he thought that, after the speech of the right hon. Gentleman, his hon. Friend would do well not to press his Motion to a division. Though he could wish that the language of the Chancellor of the Exchequer had been more encouraging, still he understood him to have given a pledge that during the recess the question should receive ample consideration. They had some reason to complain that it had not received consideration earlier. He had hoped that a decision upon it would have been come to during the present Session. But now that they had a distinct promise that that interesting subject should receive the serious attention of the Government, he earnestly hoped it would meet with a favourable consideration at their hands.

§ MR. MALINS
said, he was happy to hear that the question should receive the careful consideration of the Government, which in this case, he presumed, meant the careful consideration of his right hon. Friend himself, for, as he understood, there was no other Member of the Government who had any doubt upon the propriety of 431 making the allowances. The speech made by the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary for the Colonies on the last occasion was most encouraging to the hopes of the Governors, When it was admitted that they were the only class of public servants who had no retiring allowances, when it was considered that they were at once the direct representatives of Her Majesty in our colonies, and exercised the most important functions, and that many of them, after long years of service, were reduced to live in obscurity and penury, as he knew well, the question arose upon what grounds this anomaly could be sustained. None could be alleged except in regard to the public purse. But on the highest grounds of policy it was essential that men who had filled such important positions should be provided for on their retirement. It had been stated that Colonial Governors were frequently paid out of the colonial revenues. The very utmost that would be required for the purpose would be £10,000 or £12,000 a year. Civil and military officers and Ministers of the Crown all received pensions, and why should the Governors of our colonies be the only exception?

§ MR. CARDWELL
said, he only wished to repeat now the pledge which he had given before, and which had been redeemed as far as time had allowed. Her Majesty's Government had carefully considered the subject, it was still being considered, and, he would add, would receive their best consideration.