We have been frequently accused of taking a pedantic and
" impossible " line on the question of directorships and public office, but we think those who take the trouble to read Mr. Justice Buckley's judgment in the Telescriptor Syndicate case, reported in Wednesday's papers, will agree that we have been right in insisting that members of Governments and politicians anxious to hold office cannot be too careful in regard to the acceptance of directorships in public companies. We do not want to divorce politics and commerce, but we want to see the most anxious care exercised in their union. In the case in question, in which Mr. Hayes Fisher, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, was a director, it was admitted by the Judge that Mr. Hayes Fisher's personal integrity could in no way be called in question, and that the Judge had good grounds for this view we have no doubt whatever. 'Yet criticisms were at the same time made by the Judge which it is impossible to deny that one does not like to see passed on so important a member of the Government as the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. We do not suggest that Mr. Hayes Fisher did anything which is not done by plenty of business men, nor do we doubt in any way his complete rectitude of intention, but the case shows how essential it is to maintain the highest standard for men engaged in public life.
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