§ MR. CONINGHAMsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, whether it be true that Sergeant Brodie has within the last eighteen months repeatedly remonstrated with the officials at Pall Mall, and with the late Secretary for War against the maladministration of the Clothing Department at Weedon. Whether Sergeant Brodie has received any remuneration for the loss he consented to sustain, thinking that he held a life appointment, by the sale of £800 worth of goods at a quarter of their value; also whether it be true that his services were dispensed with only, and that he rejected the gratuity then offered to him, stating that he had committed no offence. Whether the alterations in saddlery suggested by Sergeant Brodie had ever had a fair trial, and whether he has received any remuneration for his trouble in getting up the said appointments for the Secretary of State for War. Also, whether it be true that Captain Smith, Inspector of Saddlery at Weedon, receives 10s. per day on the Superannuated List in addition to his salary.
GENERAL PEELreplied, that it was impossible to say what private or verbal communications might have passed between his noble Predecessor or the Officials of the War Department and Sergeant Brodie, but there was no official record of any paper whatever relating to any remonstrance 2304 made by Sergeant Brodie with respect to the Clothing Department at Weedon. Sergeant Brodie was appointed foreman of saddlery at Weedon upon the same terms, and subject to the same conditions, as other foremen in the service of the War Department. He was dismissed on the 18th of September last, and signed a receipt for the gratuity referred to in the question on the following day. The alterations in saddlery suggested by Sergeant Brodie were examined by the proper authorities, and the Inspector General of Cavalry reported against them. It was not the custom of the War Department to give any remuneration for such alterations, except in cases where they were approved and actually adopted by the service. It was true that Captain Smith received 10s. a day, to which he was fully entitled as half-pay, in addition to his salary. There was no intention to reappoint Sergeant Brodie to his place under the War Department.