The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-29 00:00:00

SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1886.
THE SECRET SERVICE FUND.

THAT special object of the economic wrath
of Joseph Hume, Secret Service Money, has
again been the subject of dis2ussion in the
House of Commons. The Fund has always
been regarded with suspicion by members
generally, who not unnaturally object to the
principle of any considerable expenditure
over which Parliament has no full or proper
control. At present a sum of ten thousand
pounds is annually set aside for Secret Ser-
vice, and the amount was much larger in
old days. Though at all times there has
been a sort of conviction that this same
Secret Service Money may be used. by tile
Government of the day for purposes of self-
preservation awl party sustenance, quite as
ranch as to forward the national interest in
the devious ways of statecraft abroad and at
home, it has been ostensibly granted in order
that therefrom Ministers might reward those
who furnish its diplomatic agents with valu-
able information, or render other aid of a
more or less delicate nature, the details of

which it would not be expedient to disclose
Happily, that corruption which often en-
vironed these high matters of State in the
bad old times has given place to a purer and
more principled diplomacy. British Am-
bassadors at foreign Courts do not stoop to
costly intrigue now-a-days ; their proceed-
ings are, as compared with earlier epochs,
open and above board. Still, golden per-
suasion is called in occasionally yet to sup-
plement astuteness in securing private and
confidential intelligence on highly import-
ant matters, and Parliament recognises the
necessity of continuing to make provision
for contingencies. At the same time mem-
bers grow more and more jealous of the
misappropriation of the fund, and more mis-
trustful of the unexplained methods of its
expenditure. The discussion concerning
the matter in Parliament the other day shows
that some members at least are of opinion
that no inconsiderable portion of the Secret
Service Fund is being employed for what
may be broadly described as electioneering
purposes by whichever party happens to Le
in power. Though it .is scarcely likely that
any admission to that effect would be made,
it is not easy to imagine, with any appear-
ance of probable accuracy, how the money
is spent; and it would be as well, in order
to tree Ministers from reproach in the mat-
ter, if instead of a fixed annual grant foi
: manipulation at will, Parliament provided
.' the Treasury with such sums as the occasion
might require. A small and impartially-
constituted Committee of members, say of
Privy Council rank, and unquestionable
probity, might with advantage also be al):
pointed to audit the Secret Service experni i-
ture in private, and be responsible to Parlii.
ment for its proper employment. TL:s
would lift the matter from its present suspi-
ciously low level. Anciently the fund w: s
;
attacked because it was regarded as a purse
drawn upon for objects hostile to political
freedom. Over a century back Parliament
was so dissatisfied with the irresponsible ex-
penditure of vast slims of public money ti.,,t
Burke was able to pass the bill limiting tlu
grant
for Secret Service to ten thousand e-
year, making it an annual charge on the
Consolidated Fund Anterior to this very
flagrant abuses of power had been notorious,
but the new measure brought the possibiliy
of corruption within comparatively narrow
limits. Still it is, to say the least, an anom-
alous and unsatisfactory arrangement which
places such a sum at the disposal of the
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, a
dispenser of patronage who is always first
and foremost a party man. It should be re-
membered, too, that the Financial Secretary
to the Treasury, who would certainly SUM
the proper official to control such a fund, is
entirely in the dark as to the objects to
which the money is applied by his celleague,
and that a further amount of five thousand
pounds is voted by the House for the use of
the beads of the varieus great State depart-
ments in a similarly unchecked manner. Mr.
Labouchere and others have suggested that
a portion of the monies have been used for
electioneering purposes, and it is to be re-
gretted that those who know did not place
the matter beyond doubt. It would be most
iniquitous, and opposed in every way to
independence and electoral purity, if parts
chiefs were induced to make such improper
use of convenient surpluses of this sort. Of
course, it is quite conceivable that ten
thousand pounds may any year he made
legitimate and important use of in a secret
manner. Five times that amount was em-
ployed, with Parliament's consent, awhile
back for two years. But this was excep-
tional, and resulted, as is hoped, in uprooting
the dynamitards who were threatening
society's foundation. Of course, the way
such monies were dispensed could not pos-
sibly with wisdom be disclosed in detail ; but
a confidential and reliable audit is desirable
and, we hold, necessary to re-assure Parlia-
ment and the country. Mr. Gladstone ; .'-
mitted that both the administration of the
Secret Service Fund and the purposes to
which it is devoted, may be capable of
amendment, and he has promised to give the
matter his attention. A committee of the
whole House should, we contend, be ap-
pointed to consider the subject, -with a view
to hedging about the fund with safeguards
on the basis suggested above. If the fund
is no longer really- necessary, except on
emergency, it would not survive investiga-
Ition of a searching character, and we should
be well rid of an anomaly which, now to say
the least, evokes much suspicion.