Greantaly
special guardians of the public purse, and there being, moreover, a strong body of evidence, tending to prove that the views of those on the spot were based on fact, Lord Knutsford could not well have taken any other course than that of accepting in principle what was being urged upon him. But he should not have gone so far as to adopt the hazardous proposal of fixing the salaries in sterling, and adopted what has proved the more cautious alternative of a fixed addition in dollars not exceeding 35 per cent on the salaries attached to offices in 1876.
His Lordship's views were embodied in great detail in his despatch No.110 of the 19th of June 1890, and the conditions and exceptions therein laid down were, I would point out, almost entirely in the direction of restricting the operation of what the local Government proposed, and afford strong evidence of a desire to protect the public purse.
The despatch of the 19th of June, together with the revised scheme of salaries which it authorized, came before the Legislature in connection with the Estimates for 1891, at a time when, I may observe, the members were fully aware of the demand made by the Imperial Government for a larger Military Contribution
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