§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the Board of Inland Revenue last year addressed to a Civil servant in their Department a letter containing the following sentence:—
You cannot be permitted by them (the Board) to lecture on, publicly speak on, or take 1848 any public part in the discussion of Home Rule;and, whether Sir Alfred Slade, Receiver General of Inland Revenue, was at that time a prominent member of the Primrose League?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)The words quoted by the hon. Member were addressed to an officer of the Inland Revenue Service, and only gave expression to a Rule which is general throughout the Civil Service, in regard to all shades of politics. Sir Alfred Slade, Receiver General of Inland Revenue, is a Trustee of a certain portion of the funds of the Primrose League; but, as such, I do not consider that he can be regarded as a prominent member of the League.