§ LORD O'HAGANrose to call attention to the claims of Mr. W. W. Woods, who, having been in the public service for a long series of years was, as a reward for his services, transferred from the Treasury to the Colonial Office, as sub-Librarian, with a salary of £400 per annum, with a view to his obtaining the appointment of Librarian, which it was supposed would shortly become vacant, and which carried with it a salary of £600, increasing to £800 per annum. Shortly after he left the Treasury, the post he had occupied in it became of considerable value, while the office of Colonial Librarian was abolished; and thus, Mr. Woods, after having been a faithful and energetic public servant for 50 years, was now left with a salary of only £450, without hope of further promotion. Mr. Woods had, in this manner, lost the promotion he would otherwise have had if he had remained at the Treasury; and he now claimed to be put in such a position, as to remuneration, as lie would have been entitled to if he had remained at the Treasury. In these circumstances, he begged to move for Copies of all Correspondence between Mr. W. W. Woods, the Treasury, and the Secretaries of State for the Colonies, in the hope that justice would be done to this gentleman.
Moved that an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty for, Copies of or extracts from all correspondence between Mr. W. W. Woods, the Treasury, and Secretaries of State for the Colonies, on the subject of his claims.—(The Lord O'Hagan.)
THE EARL OF CARNARVONsaid, that this was a case of more than usual difficulty; and, in some of its features, he scarcely remembered a parallel since he had been in Parliament. The reply to the noble and learned Lord should perhaps rather have come from the Treasury than the Colonial Department. The facts were no doubt such as had been stated by the noble and learned Lord; but he could not assent to the production of the entire Correspondence for State reasons. The facts were briefly these, that in 1859 Mr. Woods—who had served for some years in the Treasury, was transferred to the place of sub-librarian at the Colonial Office, no doubt, with the distinct expectation that he should succeed in due course to the office of Librarian. He had accepted, though reluctantly, the decision at which the Treasury had arrived with reference to the claims of Mr. Woods; but while he said that, he must also state that he thought that gentleman had been singularly ill-advised in the course he had adopted. He held in his hand—and he observed that other noble Lords were in possession of a similar document—a publication with reference to the case which should never have emanated from any one who had been engaged in the Public Service. The document to which he referred was to all intents and purposes a pamphlet, though it had not been placed on the bookseller's counter, and it embodied the Correspondence which had passed between the Colonial Office and the Treasury on the subject. Not only so, but it contained certain Minutes which were never intended to see the light, and which no one who had experience of Public Offices should have thought of putting in print as had been done in the present instance. He could not express too strongly the censure which he desired to pass on conduct such as this—conduct which, if repeated, would necessitate the whole system of the Public Offices being re-organized, and re-organized not upon that basis of confidence which had hitherto obtained, but upon distrust and suspicion. Having thus expressed his conviction that Mr. Woods had violated the rules of official duty in the course he had taken, it only remained for him to say that he should raise no objection to produce copies of, or extracts from, the Correspondence to which the Motion of 1755 the noble and learned Lord referred, but that he could not include in that production any copy of the Minutes to the publication of which he had taken exception.
THE EARL OF KIMBERLEYsaid, that while he thought the case was one in which something might be done by the Treasury to alleviate the disappointment from which Mr. Woods had suffered, he entirely agreed with the noble Earl (the Earl of Carnarvon) in thinking that a grave breach of official discipline had been committed by the publication of the documents to which reference had just been made.
§ LORD O'HAGANsaid, that while he had thought it right to bring the case of Mr. Woods before the House, he concurred in thinking that that gentleman had acted very injudiciously in printing the documents, the publication of which the Secretary for the Colonies had justly condemned.
Motion agreed to.