CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES OF THIS HOUSE.—RESOLUTION. (Hansard, 10 May 1886)

§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Earl GRANVILLE)
, in rising to move— That the Earl of Morley be appointed to take the Chair in all Committees of this House for the remainder of this Session; that the Earl of Morley do take the Chair in all Committees of the Whole House unless where it shall have been otherwise directed by the House; that the Earl of Morley do also take the Chair in all Committees upon Private Bills and other matters, unless where it shall have been otherwise directed by the House, said, that the post of Chairman of Committees in its present conditions had only been held by three Peers, and that the Earl of Redesdale had succeeded the Earl of Shaftesbury, no opposition being offered to his appointment owing, probably, to the fact that he had for a considerable period performed the duties of Chairman in the absence of the Earl of Shaftesbury. The noble Marquess (the Marquess of Salisbury) had allowed him to communicate with him on the subject; but although they had agreed that this was not a Party question, they could not agree upon the Peer who combined, in the greatest degree, probable fitness for the Office and general acceptability by the House. It appeared to him (Earl Granville) that the Earl of Morley would meet these two conditions; and he had been encouraged in this by the favourable opinions held, not only by Peers on the Ministerial side of the House, but by some Peers on the Opposition 552 side. Their Lordships were aware how far the promise of the Earl of Morley's great distinction at Oxford had been fulfilled in that House during the 21 years he had had a seat. Their Lordships might have remarked the way in which he took part in the debates of the House; the authority with which he conducted the business of the Public Department which he represented, and the faculty he had of getting hold of the favourable attention of the House whenever he addressed it. Many of their Lordships were better acquainted than he was with the part which the Earl of Morley had taken in the Private Business of the House during the 18 years he had been a Member of Standing Committees of the House. Good service of a most useful character in that way brought very little credit to the person who did it, as he was very little known to the public, but gave a fair promise of success in the Office for which he was now nominated. In great Departments of State he (Earl Granville) was better acquainted than many of their Lordships, and he was sure he would be confirmed by his present and late Colleagues that the Earl of Morley had obtained an especially high character in various Departments of the State for industry. His ability, his judgment, his tact, and his celerity, combined with accuracy, was a thing in conducting business not altogether to be despised at the present day. The Earl of Morley was 43 years old, which was some eight years beyond the physical, but not much, some of them hoped, beyond the intellectual prime of a man's life. He had never been connected with any of the great Companies which came so often before their Lordships' House, and, in fact, he had never been connected with any Companies at all. He was perfectly well aware, though he regretted to say it, that he did not at this moment possess the Party influence in that House which he might have possessed last year; and he was also aware that late events had very much diminished any claim that the Earl of Morley might have had upon him when exercising that Party influence; but he (Earl Granville) could assure their Lordships that last year just as much as now he would have been anxious that this question should not be treated as a Party question. He was glad to see so large an attendance of Peers, because he believed that they 553 would vote according to their own personal views as to what Peer was the most likely to perform the Business of the House in a manner satisfactory to their Lordships, and likely to maintain the high reputation they enjoyed with the public as to the conduct of their Private Business.

§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
, in moving, as an Amendment— To leave out the name of the Earl of Morley and to insert that of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, said, that in moving this Amendment he thought he would best perform his duty if he did not attempt to controvert any part of the eulogy passed upon the Earl of Morley by the noble Earl opposite. He had a high opinion of the Earl of Morley, and he hoped that nothing he should do would be held inconsistent with that opinion. This was to be looked upon as a friendly conflict; and if, in the end, they did not succeed in obtaining the verdict of the House, they should with the greatest heartiness support the Chairman whom the House should select. The noble Earl opposite had alluded to the fact that the Earl of Morley had never been connected with Public Companies; but if the fact of having at one period of his life been connected with a great Company like the London and North-Western Railway Company was to strike a man as permanently incapable of taking an impartial part in the proceedings of their Lordships' House, he admitted that he was out of court at once. He would not believe that. On the contrary, he thought a connection with the very difficult circumstances which constituted the railway business of this country was a preparation and a qualification for taking a judicial part in the discharge of the Private Business of this House, and was not to be held as a disqualification. On what principle were the Judges appointed in this country? Their principle had always been that the best advocates made the best Judges, and that the knowledge they acquired in the performance of their duties as advocates was an invaluable qualification for the performance of their duties on the Judicial 554 Bench. He himself had been a Railway Director; and he was bound to say that he was very much struck with the extent to which the experience obtained inside a Railway Company's offices enabled one to consider, and consider with knowledge of details, all the conflicting business which our railway legislation brought before Parliamentary Committees; and he should be sorry—not merely because it might disqualify himself, but on public grounds—if their Lordships did not recognize that the fact that a man had taken part in these great industrial enterprizes was a qualification for a Chairman of Committees in that House, the decisions of which so largely affected enterprizes of this character. The qualifications of the Duke of Buckingham were, however, not confined to his services in connection with any Railway Company. He had held subordinate Office on more than one occasion. Twenty years ago he was President of the Council, and shortly after that he was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies, and both these were Offices in which a large acquaintance was acquired with the commercial and industrial business of this country. After that he was for five years Governor of the Province of Madras; and any of their Lordships acquainted with Indian Business must know how largely the duties of any Indian Ruler were concerned with works of public improvement, which constituted a considerable portion of the Private Business brought before the Chairman of Committees of that House. The Duke of Buckingham had, in addition, exercised—and he believed with great general satisfaction—the duties of Chairman of Quarter Sessions in his own county. The great qualification that was wanted in a Chairman of Committees was that he should have been accustomed to preside and rule, so as to be able to deal with a class of persons who were very able, but not very easily brought under control. For this a man of strong, and he might say of stern, character was required. Parliamentary agents were probably the most difficult people to have one's way with that could possibly be found. They would give way to persons of authority and firmness and resolution, and who knew their business; but with a person who did not sufficiently know his business, who had not the authority attaching 555 to high employment, and whose amiability of character was in a preponderating degree a portion of his temperament, the Parliamentary agents would have their way, and by him they would not be properly governed. In appointing to this post, they should be considerate, not only for the fact that they wanted a man who had experience and resolution of character, but a man who was known by the public to have qualities which fitted him for the post, because his decisions would often be exposed to criticism and comment; and it was of great importance that sufficient authority should be attached to the decisions which he gave, and that he should be a person of that age and experience and past service which imposed his judgment and his opinion upon others. While paying all respect to the candidate of the noble Earl opposite, it appeared to him that the Duke of Buckingham would be the fittest person to succeed the great Chairman of Committees, whose loss they all deplored.

§ EARL GRANVILLE
said, he should certainly be prepared to loyally support the Chairman of Committees, whoever he might be; but he thought some of the noble Marquess's arguments were not quite conclusive. The noble Marquess was surprised at the assertion that non-connection with Companies coming before the House was an advantage in their Chairman of Committees. But, ceteris paribus, he certainly did not think it an advantage that the Chairman should be entirely independent of Companies. No one would for a moment believe that a man of high character, such as the Duke of Buckingham, would be too favourable to the London and North-Western Railway Company because of his connection with it—that connection would rather have the reverse effect; but still several of the best men of business in the House considered that their present or recent connection with railways was an absolute disqualification. The noble Marquess had referred to the fact that the Duke of Buckingham was Chairman of Quarter Sessions, but so was the Earl of Morley. The noble Marquess also detailed to the 556 House the high Offices that the Duke of Buckingham had held, and the great experience he had had in India. These were arguments which would have been more applicable in favour of including the noble Duke in the noble Marquess's late Cabinet than in support of a proposal to put him into an entirely new line of business, which, owing to his being occupied in another way, the noble Duke had entirely neglected in that House.