An hon. MEMBER, in the absence of Sir John Gray, said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he will lay upon the Table of the House Copy of the Correspondence between Charles Pennell Measor, late sub-inspector of Factories and previously Deputy Governor in the Convict Service, and the Home Office, in reference to his claims for compensation for suggestions made by him for the improvement of the Convict system?
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDYsaid, in reply, that this was a Question which should be made perfectly clear to the House. The Question of the hon. Member was whether he would lay upon the table of the House a statement which a man made in his own favour in order to obtain compensation from the public? and, in reply, he (Mr. Gathorne Hardy) begged to state that he did not think it expedient that such a course should be adopted. This was a case where a gentleman who thought that he had done great service to the public had entered into a long correspondence with a particular Department of the Government for the purpose of obtaining a favourable consideration of his claims, which had been already rejected. The gentleman had other modes of bringing the correspondence before the 1715 public than that of having it laid upon the table of the House. Under these circumstances he could not consent to the request of the hon. Member.