§ THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND rose to ask whether the Government had within the past six months authorised any person to make a direct offer of an honour in exchange for a money payment. The noble Duke said: My Lords, I am asking the Question which stands in my name on the Paper because it has come to my knowledge that there are in this country a considerable number of persons who have recently been writing letters to other persons possessed of means to say that they are authorised to approach them with a view to obtaining an honour in exchange for a contribution to the Party funds. I have seen several of these letters; they are in my possession and, if necessary, I am in a position to read them to the House. But I hardly think it is worth while doing that. It seems to me quite incredible that these persons can be acting on the authority of the Government.
§ This is not the general question of whether the system of the bestowal of honours is open to objection or not; that is another matter which we are going to debate, as I understand it, next Monday. This is a wholly different question, the question of the direct buying and selling of honours, of a direct traffic, in honours carried on in a more or less open and utterly shameless way. I do not for one moment believe that these persons can be acting on the authority of the Government, but it would be extremely valuable if we could have a direct repudiation of these people on the part of the Government. We should achieve two objects: In the first place, we should clear the way for the consideration of the larger question, the whole question, of the general bestowal of honours and the system under which those honours are bestowed. In the second place, the public would learn that these people are not in any way authorised by the Government, that they are merely swindlers, that the whole business is fraudulent, and that they would lay themselves open to a prosecution for trying to obtain money by false pretences. I beg to ask the Question.
THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (THE EARL OF CRAWFORD)My 311 Lords, so far as the Government is concerned no such authorisation has been given.