Controversy is still keen on the subject of the publication of tke Spion Kop} dispatches. Parlinnent reopened yes terday after the Easter Recess, and Mr. "Jim Lowther immediately gave notice of his intention to raise a debate on the subj Meanwhile Her Majesty's Ministers are alittle incon intent in their explanation of the publication. Mr. Long says the Mini sters are alone responsible for the publication of the dispatches, while they leave to Lord Roberts the responsibility for dealing with the Generals whose conduct he so severely criticised. Mr. Ritchie, on the other hand, declares that it was with the express consent, if not actual at the instance of, Lord Roberts thi the dispatches were published. But what everybody wants to know is, why nothing has, been said about "Lord Methuen and Magersfontein,—where the Highland Brigade suffered so terribly, and where there appears to have been' blundering which, to say the least of it, is quite comparable to that at Stormberg and Spion Kop. Yesterday it was elicited in the House that Lord Roberts had sent home Lord Methuen's dispatch on Magersfontein without a word of comment. It is true that: Magersfontei was fought before Lord Roberts wi appointed tothe command, but this is equally true of Stormberg, and - the Commander-in-Chief did not spare his criticisms of General Gatacre's mis takes. No one wants to be unduly hard on the Generals who have made mistakes. They doubtless did their best. But efforts will still be made to find out why one General was spared while others, apparently no more blameworthy, publicly censured.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.