Mr. Dodson, the head of the Local Government Board, in
order to make sure that his second election at Chester, which was uncon- tested, should be cancelled, if it were not ab ball.° void, has ae- cepthd one of the offices under Government which, like the- Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, vacates a seat, and is stand- ing for Scarborough, in the room of Sir Harcourt Johnstone, who. is to be made a Peer. Lord Randolph Churchill, on Tuesday,. asked Mr. Gladstone questions which implied that it was im- proper to relieve Mr. Dodson from the scrape in which his second election was supposed by some legal authorities to place him, since the Judges had decided that his first election was made void by widely prevalent corrupt practices. Mr. Glad- stone, however, pointed out that the Judges had most em- phatically exonerated Mr. Dodson from any responsibility for these practices, otherwise, he admitted, that it would not have been right for the Crown to assist him out of any difficulties consequent on these irregularities; and Mr. Gladstone further intimated that the printed form conferring a similar office would be at the disposal of Lord Randolph Churchill, if he desired it,—a suggestion which Lord Randolph fully appreciated, and ceremoniously acknowledged by lifting his hat. Sir H. D. Wolff, who joined in the attempt to " draw " Mr. Gladstone, did not do his part so well. His hand is heavier, and his charge more clumsy.
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