MOTION FOR A PAPER.

HL Deb 09 February 1882 vol 266 cc221-5

THE EARL OF LONGFORD moved for a— Copy of a Letter, dated 3rd February instant, from Denis Godley, Esquire, Secretary to the Irish Land Commission, to the Earl of Longford, on the subject of a pamphlet entitled 'How to become the owner of your farm,' printed at the Queen's Printing Office, Dublin, for Her Majesty's Stationery Office. The noble Earl said, that last week those of their Lordships who were resident in Ireland became aware of this pamphlet, which was put in circulation under the authority of the Land Commission. A copy came into his possession, and, observing it was of a peculiar character, he wrote to the Secretary of the Land Commission and the Queen's Printer for information on the subject. The Queen's Printer cut him rather short, and referred him to Her Majesty's Stationery Office. The Secretary of the Land Commission wrote a letter which was the subject of the Notice he had given, and which he proposed, if their Lordships agreed, should be laid upon the Table as an illustration of the mode in which business was done in the Land Commission Office. The letter needed very few words of explanation, and as there was nothing in the letter which was at all of a confidential character, with the permission of their Lordships, he would read it to the House. It was dated "Irish Land Commission, 3rd February, 1882," and it ran—

"My Lord,—I am directed by the Irish Land Commissioners to acknowledge the receipt of your communication dated the 2nd, and to state that the issue of the pamphlet in question was authorized by this office without the sanction or knowledge of the Commissioners, in the belief that there was nothing of a political character in it, but that it contained useful information relating to the Purchase Clauses of the Land Act. On the pamphlet being for the first time, on the 21st January, brought under the notice of the Commissioners, and for the first time, read by the Secretary, certain objectionable remarks were noticed in it. Directions were immediately given to withdraw the pamphlet as far as possible from circulation, and for the destruction of unsold copies.

"I am, my Lord, your obedient servant,

"DENIS GODLEY, Secretary."

There was no charge against the Government there. It was evident that what had happened was purely Departmental. He might remind the House that the action of the Land Commission in Dublin had been very jealously watched by those interested in the matter, and that the affair derived much of its importance from that fact. It must be remembered that the Commissioners had been ap- pointed not because they were impartial, but because they were partial, or, at any rate, because they were committed to the spirit as well as the letter of the Act. Still, he made no objection to their appointment, and was willing enough to submit to their decision any disputes in which he might be engaged; but he could not express the same confidence in their assistants the Sub-Commissioners. The pamphlet now brought to the notice of the House was not the first document issued by the Commission. Immediately on their appointment they gratuitously put in circulation a statement addressed to the tenant farmers—that was, to one of the parties on whose cases they were to adjudicate, showing the great advantages conferred on them by the Land Act. It must be borne in mind that that statement was not a code of procedure that was required in the fulfilment of the duties of the Land Commissioners; but was a statement which was gratuitously put in circulation. It seemed to him that if the Bankruptcy Court, when some Bankruptcy Law Amendment Act came into force, were to issue a handy book for debtors, it would have a very good precedent in the proceedings of the Land Commissioners. That pamphlet was followed by another, also addressed to tenant farmers, and reminding them to put in their notices in time to obtain the benefit of the Act from the earliest possible moment; the result had been to block the business in that division of the Court. There could, he thought, be no objection on the part of the Government to place before their Lordships and the public information with respect to the publication of this pamphlet. The noble Lord the Lord Privy Seal (Lord Carlingford) had an opportunity the other evening, when this subject was mentioned, of explaining; but the noble Lord seemed disposed to treat the matter as an office blunder, which need not be pursued further. He (the Earl of Longford) ventured to think differently. There were a large number of persons in Ireland who were particularly interested in the strict and exact performance of the office details connected with the Land Act. That scandal was clearly the work either of an incompetent official, or of an official who was under some reprehensible influence. In either case the further services of the individual to blame might be dispensed with, at least, in the Office. He moved for a— Copy of a Letter, dated 3rd February instant, from Denis Godley, Esquire, Secretary to the Irish Land Commission, to the Earl of Longford, on the subject of a pamphlet entitled 'How to become the owner of your farm,' printed at the Queen's Printing Office, Dublin, for Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

VISCOUNT MONCK

said, that before the Motion was agreed to he wished to make a few remarks. He did not in the slightest degree wonder at the tone of indignation in which his noble Friend opposite had spoken of this pamphlet; but his noble Friend adduced this as a proof of the manner in which the business was transacted in the Office of the Land Commission by Mr. Godley. Now, as that gentleman was Secretary to the Church Commissioners, of whom he was one, he might be allowed to say that Mr. Godley was a most efficient Secretary, and had always performed his duties to the satisfaction of the Commissioners. But the fact was Mr. Godley had been overpowered with business by the large mass of Correspondence which had been sent to the Office. He had had to work from early in the morning till late at night, and when another official came to him with the pamphlet and observed it contained valuable information which would be very useful, Mr. Godley said if that were so it would be well to get some copies printed for the public. That, he believed, was the true explanation of the whole transaction, as far as Mr. Godley was concerned, though, technically and strictly, Mr. Godley should not have sanctioned the circulation of a document without first acquainting himself with its contents. Having been for so long a time connected with Mr. Godley, he could not stand still without stating what he had done.

LORD ORANMORE AND BROWNE

wanted to know whether the Solicitor to the Commission was the same gentleman as acted on behalf of the Land League? It had been stated publicly, and it had not been denied. He thought the noble Viscount (Viscount Monck) had every right to be grateful to Mr. Godley, because that gentleman did a great part of the duty of the Church Commission for many years. He (Lord Oranmore and Browne) had found him a most disagreeable official. When he had asked to see the noble Viscount, whom he had always found most courteous, or Judge Lawson, he had always been told that he must obtain a special appointment, for what time the Commissioners would meet nobody could tell. Mr. Godley always exacted the highest possible price from the landlords for the lands he had to sell; and he (Lord Oranmore and Browne) supposed he now wished to infuse the same disagreeable mode of dealing with the landlords in his new sphere of action on the Land Commission.

LORD CARLINGFORD

said, that he would make no objection to the production of the Paper asked for, though the Correspondence for which he was about to move would throw much more light on the matter. The noble Earl had entirely misunderstood his remarks on Tuesday if he thought that he intended to underrate the gravity of the affair. On the contrary, he agreed that the publication of the pamphlet was not only a gross error, but an outrage on the Land Commission and the Government. What he had said the other evening was that neither the Government nor the Commissioners had any knowledge of the transaction.

Motion agreed to.