§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Secretary of State is acting on the recommendations, in respect to Foreign Service messengers, contained in paragraph 20 of the final Report of the Ridley Commission, other than the recommendations as to salary and age which he has accepted.
§ * MR. BRODRICKThe Secretary of State in filling up the appointment of Queen's Messenger is ready as a general rule to give the preference to gentlemen, who have served in the Army or Navy, 1281 though not necessarily on half-pay or in receipt of pension, but he does not hold that the recommendations of the Commission deprive him of the power of appointing suitable civilians. The Secretary of State will also take care that the candidates selected possess a colloquial knowledge of French, are able to ride, to keep simple accounts, and are pronounced medically fit. The office of Queen's Messenger is included in Schedule B of the Order in Council of June 4th, 1870, and is therefore not one for which an examination is obligatory.