There have been two sharp skirmishes this week about the
salary of Mr. King-Harman, the Irish Parliamentary Under- Secretary by whom Sir George Trevelyan's political brain is so painfully haunted. On Monday night, Mr. Heneage, a Unionist, moved that the new Under-Secretary's salary should be carved out of the salaries of the Chief Secretary and the Lord-Lieutenant ; and after a warm debate, the Closure having been first carried by 190 to 145 votes, Mr. Heneage's amendment was rejected by only 8 votes (191 to 183), a division which evinced the distaste of the House for increasing the Irish expenditure for the purpose of so unpopular an appoint- ment as this. On Tuesday, again, the Liberals returned to the subject in discussing Mr. Smith's motion to give pre- cedence to the Committee on Imperial Defences, the Liberals protesting that there had been no obstruction, in the proper sense of the term, offered to the Irish Secretary's Salary Bill on the previous evening, and that Mr. Smith might have closed the discussion much earlier than it was actually closed, if he had not been aware that by pressing the Closure too soon he would have ensured a defeat in place of the minute majority which he actually obtained. To this - the Government replied that at least the debate was protracted not by themselves, but by the opponents of the Bill,—a very sufficient reply, considering that by the rules of the House any one may move the Closure. Eventually Mr. W. H. Smith carried his motion to give precedence to the Committee on Imperial Defence by the very substantial majority of 103 (290 to 187),—which did much to restore confidence to the Government, after the sharp warning of the previous evening.
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