HC Deb 04 February 1852 vol 119 cc158-9
VISCOUNT DUNCAN

wished to put a question to the noble Lord the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests (Lord Seymour). In explanation, he should observe that the annual Report of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to Parliament had generally received the signatures of all the three Commissioners; but the last report of July 30, 1851, had received only the signatures of two out of the three Commissioners. He asked, therefore, if all the three Commissioners concurred in sanctioning all the statements made in the last annual Report, and placed in the hands of Members of Parliament in December of that year; and if so, why that Report had been signed only by two instead of three Commissioners. He wished, in fact, to know if the Report had been submitted to Mr. Kennedy, and bad his concurrence?

LORD SEYMOUR

wished first to correct his noble Friend as to the title he had given him (Lord Seymour), namely, the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests. In consequence of the separation of offices by the Act of last Session, he was no longer Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, though he still continued Chief Commissioner of Works and Buildings. With respect to the signature of the Report by two Commissioners only, his noble Friend might have been aware that it was not necessary for all three Commissioners to sign any Report to the Treasury. Two signatures had always been sufficient, though he would readily admit that it was usual for all three to sign the Reports before they were presented to Parliament. In this case, however, Mr. Kennedy had not signed the Report, and for this reason, that he was not a member of the Commission until nearly six months of the year to which it referred had elapsed, and therefore, of course, it was not reasonable to make him, further than need be, responsible for the Report, with which he had very little to do, having just resigned the former office he held in Ireland. He had, however, as the noble Lord would see, signed the account of income and expenditure at the end of the Report; and this was, in fact, the essential part of the Report. With respect to the other point, whether or not the Report was submitted to Mr. Kennedy, he believed there were some passages in the Report in which Mr. Kennedy did not perfectly coincide; and on that account, and as he had very little to do with the arrangements, it was thought unnecessary to call upon him to sign the Report.

VISCOUNT DUNCAN

would then give notice, that on Thursday week he should move for any minutes of papers which would explain the reason why Mr. Kennedy had abstained from submitting his signature to the annual Report of the 30th of July, 1851.