MR. J. COWEN: I wish to ask, has Ayoub Khan possession of Candahar? MR. GLADSTONE: No, Sir. The words I read are these-" Sirdar Shamsuddin still in Candahar with 400 men of Kabuli regiments and some police." That is evidently the force of Abdurrahman. MR. ONSLOW: In what neighbourhood is the Anglo-Indian force? The Prime Minister says that the AngloIndian force is in the neighbourhood of Candahar, whereas we understood that it had been withdrawn. This battle was fought near the Helmund. What Anglo-Indian force is in that neighbourhood? MR. GLADSTONE: I was not speaking of the Helmund at all, but of the Candahar country. MR. ONSLOW: I would ask what forces are in the Candahar country at the present time? We always understood that the Anglo-Indian forces had been withdrawn from Candahar, and we want to know where the forces of which the Prime Minister speaks are. This action was fought, I think, on the West side of the Helmund; and I ask the Prime Minister what Anglo-Indian force is in the neighbourhood of that district? MR. GLADSTONE: None whatever, Sir. I never said there was any. tion or his authority. Indeed, he had nothing but congratulations to offer His Royal Highness upon the splendid success attending the Volunteer Review so recently held in the park, a success which was, in no small degree, due to the personal exertions of His Royal Highness. He thought, however, it most important that at Windsor, as at Buckingham Palace, the Ranger's authority should be considerable, and that the Princes who held those offices should represent the hereditary rights of the Sovereign in the domains of the Crown. The simple object of his Amendment was to obtain an approval of the policy which would place Windsor Park in the same position in reference to the Public Accounts as that in which all the other Royal Parks and Palaces now stood. The question at issue was, whether the policy of the Act of 1851 of regarding Windsor Park and woods as a sort of revenue could be justified? He desired to remove the Royal domain of Windsor from what he might call the commercial category of Crown Lands. That domain was 14,000 acres in extent. He would not diminish it by a rood; his only desire being to place all those Crown Lands which pertained to the Royal dignity in one Department. Windsor Park and woods should be reserved for Royal, not for revenue purposes. When the Act of 1851 was passed, and this portion of the Crown property was so strangely misplaced in a Revenue Department, there were two circumstances in consideration. In the first place, a lower estimate of the Royal dignity and of the interest of the people in maintaining that dignity prevailed at that period, and a Government of that period would have shrunk from placing 14,000 acres of the Crown Lands in perpetual reserve by the measure which he now recommended; and, in the second case, the supply of Navy timber for what were then called the wooden walls of England" was present to the minds of Ministers, and influenced them in classing Windsor Park and woods with the Crown forests. Now, it was chiefly as a matter of good administration, and also because he desired to place Windsor Park and woods as a Royal domain out of the reach of the commercial incidents affecting the remainder of the Crown Lands, that he wished the House to express an opinion in favour of the policy of placing Windsor | overflowing and almost bursting with Park and woods in the same category loyalty, and who would be making loyal as all the other Royal Parks, Palaces, proposals out of the exuberance of their and Gardens. Windsor woods were feelings. There were many matters to now classed with the Crown forests, be taken into consideration in connection which might not be permanent pos- with this question, affecting as it did the sessions of the Crown. By making of general group of questions relating to the 14,000 acres a Royal domain, and the allocation of Royal residences and by reclaiming it from a Revenue De- pleasure grounds for the Sovereign, and partment with which it had no proper to the relations between those possesconnection and placing it with other sions and the general estates of the Royal domains upon the Votes of Par- Crown, and, again, the questions relatliament, the House would show its dis- ing to the contingent interest of the position to remedy a glaring irregularity Heir Apparent in the estates of the in our system of Public Accounts, and it Crown, inasmuch as they became his would give an assurance of splendid absolute property on the demise of the loyalty to the Crown, and of its devotion Sovereign; all these formed a complito the vital interest of the vast and in-cated mass of subjects involving a great creasing population of the country. He begged to move the Resolution of which he had given Notice. MR. DILLWYN seconded the Amend ment. Amendment proposed, To leave out from the word "That" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words "in the opinion of this House, it is desirable that the charge of Windsor Park be transferred from the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Works and Public Buildings," (Mr. Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question." MR. GLADSTONE said, he could not help strongly advising, as far as he might presume to advise, the House not to proceed in this matter. He was very doubtful whether his hon. Friend the Member for Salford (Mr. Arnold) had taken into his view all the considerations which bore upon it. He wanted them to perform an act of splendid loyalty, and to make a magnificent gift to Her Majesty. He (Mr. Gladstone) would venture to remind his hon. Friend that the business of asking the Representatives of the people to lay any burden on the country for the purpose of any new endowment of the Crown was a function which that House jealously required to be reserved to the responsible Advisers of the Crown. The difficulty which might arise in the ordinary Business of that House would be the effect of the proposal on a large number of hon. Members whose minds and hearts were variety of delicate and difficult considerations, with regard to which it was almost an established practice that they should be handled mainly at the commencement of each reign, or, if otherwise, on the responsibility of the Government. He was quite aware that, in particular cases, where very small questions of interest of property were concerned, and where, on the other hand, very large matters of public interest were involved-that was to say, where the comfort and advantages of great populations were concerned-a different rule had been observed, and some infractions of the general rule had taken place. But it must be observed, with respect to the great part of Windsor Park, that this question of allocation was considered at the time to which the hon. Member had referred, and when the general settlement was made. The general settlement was made, with what view? With the view of securing, as far as Parliament was willing to grant it, the management of the Crown estates with some degree of independence, subject, undoubtedly, to the control of the Treasury, but still to a more remote and general control than that which was commonly used in oùr system of administration, and all this with a view to the good husbandry of the Crown property, because the Crown property was the equivalent which, at the commencement of each reign, the Sovereign offered to the nation in return for the Civil List. Now, that was a serious, grave, and complicated question; and he thought it was plain that there was no case before them to justify their action on the present occasion. Windsor Park was one of the greatest ornaments said, there was a large amount of money of the country. It was a property of stating the amount of fund in Court; with the considerable value, and to make the names and last known addresses of persons transfer which his hon. Friend suggested supposed to be entitled; together with the date of the last decree," would have a very important bearing upon the proprietary value of that property. It would place it under a different system of management, and subject to different rules, and it would involve important modifications of the arrangement made at the commencement of the reign. He was bound to recommend to the House that they should not initiate or entertain a subject of this kind, which obviously required some very strong evidence of public interest in order to make out even a prima facie justification. There was no such case here. There was no public grievance. There was no constant inconvenience. The small and momentary question as to the inconvenience threatened to Members of the Legislature, which arose on a recent occasion, was as much a matter of amusement as of convenience, and it afforded no occasion at all for the reopening of this serious question. He could not help hoping that his hon. Friend would not feel disposed to press this matter on the attention of the House. In any case, he (Mr. Gladstone) must press it strongly on the House from an opposite direction-that no step could be safely, or even becomingly or decorously, taken without the most careful preliminary investigation, which must always precede a serious modification of an arrangement having reference to the property of the Royal Family. MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD begged to withdraw his Amendment, after the statement of the Prime Minister. It was entirely on the ground of good administration that he had brought it forward. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Main Question, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair," again proposed. HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE - SUITORS' FUNDS IN CHANCERY. RESOLUTION. MR. S. LEIGHTON, in rising to call attention to the want of information with reference to the "suitors' funds" in Chancery; and to move "That the future lists of unclaimed money be issued with cross references triennially Mr. Gladstone Amendment proposed, To leave out from the word "That" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words with cross references triennially; stating the "the future lists of unclaimed money be issued amount of fund of the suitors' fund in Chancery; with the names and last known addresses of persons supposed to be entitled thereto; together with the date of the last decree,"―(Mr. Stanley Leighton,) -instead thereof. Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question." LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISH said, he would admit that there had been some delay in the publication of the lists; but as the staff of the Accountant General's Office had been increased, he hoped there would be no ground for complaint in that respect in the future. With regard to the form of the accounts, that was settled by Lord Cranworth, when Lord Chancellor, and the matter was in the hands of the Lord Chancellor for the time being. Those who were responsible for looking after these funds, in the interests of suitors | sury, declared that this gentleman had and of the public, were of opinion that it was not desirable to make some of the changes suggested, and for these reasons it was his duty to resist the Motion. Question put, and agreed to. Main Question, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair," put, and agreed to. SUPPLY - CIVIL SERVICE ESTIMATES. SUPPLY-considered in Committee. (In the Committee.) CLASS II.-SALARIES AND EXPENSES OF CIVIL DEPARTMENTS. (1.) £18,792, to complete the sum for the Colonial Office. MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR wished to ask one or two questions of the noble Lord the Financial Secretary to the Treasury before the Vote was put. Upon page 91 of the Estimates, there was an item of £308 for the salary of the Superintendent of the Library. A good many years ago Mr. Woods, who had been employed in Ireland during the Famine years of 1845, 1846 and 1847, and, having done good service in connection with the relief works there, was offered by the Colonial Office, at the instance of the Treasury, the post of Assistant Librarian to the Colonial Office. Mr. Woods, who was in charge of the relief branch of the Boards of Works in Ireland during the period of famine, received a handsome testimonial when he left. He had conducted the drainage and other operations, not only with satisfaction to his official superiors, but to the numerous country gentlemen and others with whom he was brought into communication. By his exertions he greatly contributed to the success of the relief measures; and, in consideration of the services which he rendered, the Treasury desirous of doing what they could for Mr. Woods, offered him the post of Assistant Librarian in the Colonial Office. Upon offering it to him, the Treasury wrote a letter to Mr. Woods, which concluded in these words "Your probable, though not the only possible, advancement will be to the post of Librarian, with a salary of £600, rising to £800 a-year. Such is the position we have to offer you." Some years afterwards, Sir Charles Trevelyan, the Secretary to the Trea been selected out of regard to his merits and qualifications with the intention that he should obtain better and earlier promotion in consequence of the transfer. Later on, in the year 1870, the Earl of Kimberley, in regard to this particular appointment, used these words "Mr. Woods was always told that the superior office of Librarian, rising from £600 to £800 a-year, would still remain open to him." The Librarian, in course of time, retired, and, instead of Mr. Woods being appointed to succeed, the office was abolished, together with that of Assistant Librarian, held by Mr. Woods, and Mr. Woods received a much less pension than he ought to have been entitled to. Mr. Woods, when he accepted the offer of the Treasury, and went to the Colonial Office as Assistant Librarian, did not obtain any immediate advantage; but it was the prospect of promotion, pointedly and repeatedly held out to him, that induced him to relinquish his post at the Treasury and go to the Colonial Office. At that time there was a Librarian at the Colonial Office as well as an Assistant, and the salary of the Librarian went up to £800 a-year. When the Librarian retired, Mr. Woods found that the Treasury would not keep faith with him; and he found that instead of being appointed to succeed, as he had been distinctly promised, the office was nominally abolished. Woods had been told over and over again that he might look for the promotion which was admittedly his due. To show that Mr. Woods was not alone in his view of the matter, the words of Lord Carnarvon might be quoted. In 1874 Lord Carnarvon was Secretary of State for the Colonies, and in a letter to the Treasury the noble Lord said that the decision of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, in the case of Mr. Woods, placed that gentleman in a different position from that which he had been led to expect, both in regard to employment and salary. Lord Carnarvon further requested the particular attention of their Lordships to the distinct expectation of promotion held out to Mr. Woods when he relinquished a good position at the Treasury in order to enter the Colonial Office as sub-Librarian. Mr. Woods was over and over again led to expect that whenever the post of Librarian became vacant he would suc Mr. ceed to it. The end of the matter was that the case of Mr. Woods, at the suggestion of that gentleman, was submitted to arbitration. But the arbitration was of a purely illusory character, because when he was prepared to go to arbitration, and submit his case to Earl Cairns, the arbitrator chosen, the Treasury did not allow him to make the statement he desired to make, and it was they only who submitted a case for the adjudication of the arbitrator. Mr. Woods naturally objected to such a one-sided submission, and desired to withdraw from the arbitration; but the Treasury obtained a decision from Earl Cairns. The reference to arbitration did not, he (Mr. O'Connor) was informed, admit of the examination of witnesses in support of Mr. Woods' case. The consequence was that this gentleman, after having faithfully served the public for a great many years, and having, even according to the testimony of the Treasury itself, served it well, found himself debarred from obtaining the post of Librarian at the Colonial Office, which he had naturally thought, from the statements made to him, was his right. Instead of obtaining the advantage he had been taught to expect, he found himself peusioned on a much smaller scale of salary than he had a fair claim to be allowed to go up to; and, at the present moment, the position of Mr. Woods was this—he had lost, in the shape of salary, more than £1,000, and about £120 a-year in pension. He (Mr. O'Connor) wished to add that he had no personal knowledge of Mr. Woods. He had never seen him; but having given to the case all the examination and attention he could, from the materials supplied to him, he was bound to confess that, in his opinion, a very great hardship had been arbitrarily inflicted upon Mr. Woods, and that the Treasury ought to reconsider their position in the matter, if not with regard to the status of Mr. Woods, at any rate with regard to the amount of pension. He (Mr. O'Connor) did not propose to move the reduction of the Vote; but he would ask the Treasury whether they would consent to the printing of the Papers relating to Mr. Woods' case. If the Government side of the matter was such as would bear investigation, he did not see why they should object to the printing of the Papers. He wished further to point out that the abolition of the Mr. Arthur O'Connor post of Librarian was, after all, not a genuine abolition; because, in the present Estimates, he found the post revived under the title of "Superintendent of the Library." He did not remember that the item appeared in last year's Estimates; but it was given now, and a sum of £308 attached to it. He trusted that he had stated the case sufficiently to allow the noble Lord the Secretary to the Treasury to answer it. SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF said, he happened to be in the Colonial Office at the time Mr. Woods was appointed. Some Papers had been missed from the Colonial Office, and they had appeared in one of the morning papers. They were documents of great importance, and in consequence of what had occurred, it was considered desirable to remove the Assistant Librarian from his post, but not to dismiss him. Mr. Woods succeeded as Assistant Librarian, having been transferred to the Colonial Office from the Treasury. Certainly, one of the inducements held out to Mr. Woods to make the change was that he would be entitled to promotion to the office of Librarian whenever it became vacant. He, therefore, trusted that the noble Lord opposite (Lord Frederick Cavendish) would look into the case, and endeavour, if possible, to do Mr. Woods justice. LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISH: I was not aware that the case was coming on to-night, or otherwise I would have refreshed my memory. But I think I can say enough to satisfy the Committee that the claims of Mr. Woods is not one that the Government can entertain. I would venture to say that Mr. Woods has been treated with every consideration, and that he has been granted as large a pension as his services, under the circumstances, entitle him to. His claim to succeed to the post of Librarian could not be entertained, because, if acceded to, it would establish the doctrine that the office was one which Her Majesty's Government were bound to retain permanently. Mr. Woods, no doubt, considered that he had a grievance, and he commenced legal proceedings; but, at the last moment, he came to the conclusion that it was desirable to abandon the legal proceedings. At the request of Mr. Woods the whole case was referred to Lord Cairns-not only as to his legal rights, |