Mr. Munro-Ferguson, the Liberal member for Leith Burghs, has explained
in a letter to a constituent why he voted for Mr. Cave's amendment in the Marconi debate :-
"Public servants should have nothing to do, directly or indirectly, with persons or undertakings with whom or with which they may in their public capacity be called upon to deal, and as I consider this rule had been infringed, it seemed to me essential that the House itself should express regret in order to reaffirm this accepted principle. We cannot have one standard for Civil servants and another for politicians. It follows that for the House to give an uncertain judgment upon any departure from that standard must in the long run have a demoralizing effect upon the public service. In such a matter no party or personal considerations should prevail, for nothing would be so prejudicial to democracy as a want of correctness in the financial dealings of public servants. It was on this ground that I voted against the Unionist Government on the Kynoeh resolution affecting the investments of the Chamberlain family. The whole matter has been dealt with too much from the personal, too little from the public, standpoint. I gave my vote with regret because of my regard for the Ministers concerned, my friendship with two of them, and my sympathy with them in the unwarranted attacks for which their initial error gave an opportunity."
The case could not be better put. The explanation does credit alike to Mr. Munro-Ferguson's perception and his zealous care for an irreproachable standard of public conduct.
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