HC Deb 08 July 1908 vol 191 c1682
MR. HUNT

I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether it is to be the custom that Lords-Lieutenant shall be appointed solely for political reasons; and whether, seeing that by statute the Lords-Lieutenant of counties are the presidents of the Associations, it is under these circumstances possible that the formation of the Territorial Army can be conducted on non-party lines.

MR. ASQUITH

It has been for a long time the custom that Lords-Lieutenant should as a rule be selected from among supporters of the Government of the day. The new duties cast upon Lords-Lieutenant in regard to the Territorial Army ought to be, and I have no doubt will be now, kept in view in any such appointments, but it must not be forgotten that Lords-Lieutenant have other and equally important functions to discharge.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

Was it absolutely for political purposes that the Duke of Devonshire, a Member of the late Government, was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire? Is he to be considered a supporter of the present Government?

[No Answer was returned.]