§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that Mr. Charles Panton, an official in the Probate Court at Lincoln, and in receipt of a salary from Somerset House, is the secretary of the Conservative Association of that town, and that he has been in the habit of attending the Revising Barrister's Court at Lincoln as the registration agent of the Tory Party; and whether Mr. Panton is justified, as a Civil servant, in acting as the secretary and as the registration agent of the Tory Party?
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHI am not aware what post Mr. Charles Panton holds in the Probate Court at Lincoln, or whether he is or is not a Civil servant; but I have no hesitation in saying that no permanent member of the Civil Service, who is required to give his whole time to the country, should act as secretary or registration agent to any political Party.