§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg, to ask the First Lord of the Treasury by which of the other four principal Secretaries of State are the duties 679 appertaining to the headship of the Colonial Office Department, in the absence from the kingdom of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, discharged; whether there has been any departure from the position whereby in the absence of a Secretary of State the duties of the Department of State allotted to him are discharged by one of the other principal Secretaries of State; and if, during the absence of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, there has been any departure from this practice, what are the reasons on which such departure is based; and what precedents, if any, are there for the departure from such practice.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.The hon. Member asks this question under the impression, apparently, that the Colonial Secretary has entirely severed connection with the office of which he is the head. That is not the case. The absence of the Colonial Secretary throws on the Under Secretary—a most competent person—a great deal of work and a certain amount of responsibility which would naturally devolve on the Secretary of State; but, of course, the Secretary of State can be communicated with by cablegram. As to the signing of documents which require to be signed by another Secretary of State, the ordinary practice is being followed.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLThey are signed by another Secretary of State?