In the House of Lords on Monday Lord Salisbury moved
that Select Committee of both Houses should be appointed to inquire into the Honours scandal. The fact, he said, that " the swindlers who offered peerages and baronetcies" were sometimes listened to was in itself a condemnation of the prevailing system. The case for an inquiry and a change of practice was over- whelming. He was not satisfied that the undertakings of the Government in 1917 had been carried out. In the case of the " Robinson peerage " it appeared that " nobody was responsible." How, then, could the Prime Minister have satisfied himself that there had been no pecuniary consideration ? For his own part, he doubted whether the Prime Minister knew that Sir Joseph Robinson had been recommended at all. It was right for every one who could to subscribe to his party, but it was utterly wrong that such subscriptions should confer an Honour.
