LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Scotland's Claims
SIR,—May I point out, in reply to Mr. Logan's letter in the Spectator of December 9th, that even if the present Cabinet only includes one Scotsman, the essential matter surely is that there can be no British Cabinet without a Secretary of State for Scotland, and that 0* Secretary of State for Scotland must be a Scottish Member ? On the other hand, England and Wales enjoy no such assurance, even in regard to the Ministries corresponding to those presided over in Scotland by the Scottish Secretary. The late Sir John Gilmour, for instance, was suc- zessively Minister of Agriculture and Home Secretary, and Mr. Walter Elliot, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Health.
But nothing could more clearly show the opportunities enjoyed by Scotsmen in the British Parliament, and their capacity to turn those
opportunities to good account, than the fact that, though Scotland's population is less than one-eighth that of England and Wales, out of fourteen Prime Ministers who have held office in the last seventy-five years, no fewer than six have been Scotsmen—Gladstone, Rosebery, Balfour. Campbell-Bannerman, Bonar Law and MacDonald. Such oppor- tunities will vanish if we have a Parliament akin, to that of Northern Ireland, as desired by " W. R. K." Since their Parliament was set up the Irish Members have been reduced in numbers, have been unable to discuss the affairs of Ministries corresponding to those controlled in Belfast, and have, so. far as I know, held no Ministerial posts—certainly none of Cabinet rank. Are we Scots folk going to be content to play so small a part in the debates of a Parliament in which, during anyhow the last three generations, Scotsmen have had so great and responsible a share ?
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