British taxpayers are now paying $2,500,000 more of money than they paid before.... In none of the speeches has any specific complaint been brought forward, or any point urged which suggests the necessity for further inquiry, but only the statement that there is a feeling of uneasiness, and a desire for further examination, and that when such a desire is expressed, the House should listen to it. We cannot keep the Civil Service in a sound and healthy condition if we are going to examine into it by a committee every five years. If the House of Commons were to yield to the very natural temptation of granting a committee such as had been asked for, though we might escape an inconvenient division, we should be unworthy, in my opinion, of bearing any longer the great responsibility of being the enormous employer of labor that we are. We should not be carrying out our duty to the public, and, worst of all, we should aim a blow at the Civil Service, which is the boast of this country and the envy of the civilized world, because we should become the parliamentary creatures of every organized body of public servants who chose to use the great power which the Constitution gives, for ends which I am sure they believe to be right, but which this House could not yield to in the manner now suggested without derogating from the high functions and spirit of pure impartiality which the House must maintain if Members are to do their duty by their constituents." Mr. Bayley's Motion was lost by a vote of 148 to 103; it being supported by ninety-one members of the Opposition and nine Government supporters.[197] * * * * * [Sidenote: _Captain Norton demands a Select Committee_] On April 18, 1902, while the House of Commons was in Committee of Supply, Captain Norton[198] moved the reduction by $500 of the item: Salaries and Working Expenses of the Post Office Telegraph Service: $12,056,250.[199] He said: "The case briefly was this, that the Government had been guilty of a distinct breach of faith in connection with a certain number of worthy Government officials. He knew that to make this statement of breach of faith was what must be called a strong order, but he was prepared to prove that he was not exaggerating in the smallest degree." He went on to state that the telegraphists who entered the service in London in 1881 to 1891, when the Civil Service Commissioners had advertised that entrants had "a prospect of obtaining $950," had a contract with the Government that the possession of "ordinary manipulative ability, with regular attendance and good conduct" would insure advancement to a position paying $950. The Government had broken that contract by prescribing, in 1892, that men "must be equal to supervising duties" in order to be promoted to the positions carrying $950.