There was a small fight over the Estimates on Thursday
night, in which Government were nearly beaten. In 1875, Lord Hampton (Sir J. Pakington) was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Civil Service Commission, the great examining Board, on /2,000 a year ; and as he knew nothing special about it, and was 76 years of age, another Commissioner was added—Mr. Walrond- who, the world will have it, is the soul of the Department, on £1,200 a year. The job was an outrageous one, but it passed, chiefly because all men feel, though they will not acknow- ledge, that our habit of leaving poor statesmen without pensions is morally indefensible. If Lord Beaconsfield has done for us half what his majority believe, they ought to vote him £10,000 a year. This year, Mr. O'Shaughnessy revived the sub- ject, proposing to cut down the estimate by the amount of Lord Hampton's salary. Payment was defended by Sir H. Selwin- Ibbetson, on the regular ground that Lord Hampton attended -to his business—which evades the point whether the business is thereby benefited—but somebody was asleep, and the vote was only carried by 70 to 60. On the whole, it is a little hard' to raise these questions annually. If Parliament has formally sanc- tioned the job, let the man have his pension in peace. Nobody would object, if it was honestly 'called one.
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