27 JULY 1889, Page 3

A correspondence has been published between Mr. Arch and Sir

H. Selwin-Ibbetson, M.P., in which the latter, who is retiring from Parliament, offers to pay the expense of sub- mitting the accounts of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union to an independent audit, in order that the uneasy feeling which has prevailed on the subject of the management of the Union's sick fund may be removed. Mr. Arch, who is the President of the -Union, treats Sir H. Selwin-Ibbetson's offer very curtly, regarding it EIS a proposal to take the manage- ment of the affairs of the Union out of the hands of the Council now responsible for its administration,—which it certainly

was not,—and asking for the names of the labourers who had expressed uneasiness and distrust, which, of course, Sir H. Selwin-Ibbetson had no right to give. Mr. Arch's letters are not wisely written, and betray an irritation for which we can see no just cause.