Tu
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to a seat in the Executive Council. I would explain that no officer, whether Civil, Naval, or Military, has by right of office a claim to a seat in Executive Council, and that in Colonel Dunlop's case I did not think it advisable to make the appointment, principally for three reasons;
1. Because Colonel Graham, late Commandant, now at Home on leave, holds a regular Warrant of appointment to the Executive Council, and would be entitled, I conceive, to readmission to the Council on his return by virtue of that Warrant - Hence I cannot consider a vacancy exists:-
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2. Recent correspondence with the Officers of the late Ordnance, now War Department, of which Colonel Dunlop was, and I believe still is, the Head, has made me doubt considerably whether the Public Interest would be benefited by the temporary appointment of the present Commandant of the Shropshire;
and 3, the whole question of reconstruction of both Councils is at present under reference to Her Majesty's government, and until a decision be announced