§ THE EARL OF CARLISLEMy Lords, I rise to ask His Majesty's Government whether they will maintain in future the custom which has been in force for nearly thirty years, of appointing meritorious 1053 old soldiers to the staff of the National Galleries. This Question relates to the posts in the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery, which number about fifty. These appointments are under the Patronage Secretary of the Treasury. Formerly it was the custom to appoint to these positions butlers and footmen of Cabinet Ministers. But so much insubordination and chaos resulted that in the year 1882, at the request of the National Gallery Board, the Government sent a competent non-commissioned officer to establish discipline there. This appointment was so satisfactory that the Board requested the Government to continue in future to give the appointments to meritorious old soldiers; but this principle has not been followed in every case. The Patronage Secretary has occasionally reverted to the old system, and I find that in the last ten years, out of twenty-six appointments, twenty-two have been given to old soldiers. When the principle of appointing old soldiers was for the time departed from I interviewed the Patronage Secretary, at the request of the National Gallery Board, and he promised that in future the principle should be strictly adhered to. I understood that that promise applied to the office and not merely to the individual, but the last appointment that has been made is so contrary to that practice that I should like to ask the future intentions of the Government regarding it. I find that the qualifications of the candidate who was given the last appointment by the Patronage Secretary are that he is the son of the late Prime Minister's coachman, that he was for some time a helper in the stables, and that he had since been employed in a brewery. I do not think that those qualifications should have outweighed the claims of a number of old soldiers with excellent characters who were applying for the post, and therefore I wish to ask the Government whether they will maintain the principle of giving these appointment to these men.
LORD DENMANMy Lords, I can assure the noble Earl that the claims of ex-soldiers and sailors are being carefully considered in connection with these appointments. A large proportion of the vacancies have been filled by them in the past and are likely in the future to be so filled. Since the present Govern- 1054 ment came into office I understand there have been eight vacancies. Three of them have been filled by Army men; one by a man who had formerly served in the Metropolitan Police, another in the Military Police, two by clerks, and one by a civilian. I am not aware that in the case of the last appointment it was a son of the coachman of the late Prime Minister who filled the vacancy, but if further information is desired on this point, I shall be happy to obtain it for the noble Earl.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEI am very glad that my noble friend on the cross benches has asked this Question, and I feel quite sure the Secretary of State for War will be grateful to him for having asked it. It is within my knowledge that one Secretary of State after another has had to fight this battle. We have always felt that one of the few things we could do to help recruiting was to have an understanding that every minor Government appointment which an old soldier was fitted to fill should be earmarked for an old soldier. I have often experienced the difficulty which I am afraid the present Secretary of State for War has had with his colleagues. My colleagues always in principle professed the utmost readiness to meet my wishes; but I am bound to say I had the greatest difficulty in preventing them occasionally from smuggling in those faithful retainers, one of whom on this occasion appears to have insinuated himself into the National Gallery. But I do hope it will be laid down for the future, not that as Lord Denman said, a large proportion of these appointments should be given to well qualified old soldiers, but that the whole of them shall be so given. They are appointments for which old soldiers are perfectly fitted; they have been filled up by old soldiers to the satisfaction of the trustees, and there is no sort of reason why they should not all be given to men of that description.