We sincerely hope that General Croft will• continue to press
his questions till an abominably bad practice is brought to an end. If the Government continue to wink at a violation of one of the best traditions of our public life, the appearance of cor- ruption will pass into actual corruption. There is no telling the amount of 'harm that may be done by the Government's carelessness. All suspicious and half-Instructed persons, not to mention all persons with a revolutionary disposition, are already being given ample excuse:when they say that men in high places are corrupt. The best exposition of the right practice in these matters which we have ever read was made in a speech by Mr. Lloyd George in the House of Commons some twenty years ago. He then laid it down that it was not enough to avoid corruption, which indeed in the particular instance before him he did not dream of imputing. He declared that to keep our public life pure we must go further than that and avoid every appearance of evil. We must give not the smallest handle to rumour, and must adopt what may be called the rule of " Cosec's wife." We advise anyone who wishes to read a faultless state- ment of principle on this subject to turn to that speech. But what is the author of it doing now to satisfy the remonstrances of General Croft ?
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