HC Deb 18 April 1864 vol 174 cc1271-2
MR. GREGORY

moved that there be laid before the House— Copy of the Report of Dr. Brodie, Poor Law Inspector in Ireland, dated the 21st day of November, 1861, on the condition of the Western Districts of Galway.

SIR ROBERT PEEL

said, he was sorry to oppose the Motion of the hon. Gentleman. The Report, however, contained reflections upon the management of certain property, and he believed its production, after the lapse of three years, would not be fair to the parties concerned. It would only have the effect of raking up old sores without producing any good result.

MR. GREGORY

maintained that, as a public document, written by a public officer, and addressed to a public department, he was entitled to the production of the Report. It described the manner in which a property of enormous extent had been managed in the west of Ireland, by a large public company, during a time of unparalleled distress. His hon. Friend the Member for Mallow (Mr. Longfield) had given notice of his intention to bring forward a Motion upon the same subject. When the Motion of the hon. Member for Mallow came before the House, he should state the contents of the document, and if there was any inaccuracy in his representations of it, the blame must fall not upon him, but upon the person who communicated to him its contents, and who, at the same time, expressed the utmost indignation at the manner in which this great corporation, while it insisted upon its rights, fulfilled its duties. The right hon. Baronet knew to what he referred, and he also knew that what was told to him was not told in a confidential manner. If the right hon. Baronet refused to give this document he did it at the instigation of a Secretary of State who sat near him, and who was one of the directors of the corporation, the conduct of which was about to be impugned. If he went out alone he would divide the House to obtain this paper.

SIR GEORGE GREY

said, that when his right hon. Friend consulted him as to the production of this Report, he said if any Parliamentary ground could be assigned by all means let it be produced, not alone but with all the correspondence connected with it. At the same time, he said that, as it related to events which occurred three years ago, and contained imputations upon the manager of the Law Life Institution, which were answered in a letter from that Society, he thought that unless some present ground could be shown, it would be unreasonsable to go back three years and produce that correspondence. He was not then aware that there was any Motion relating to the Company pending. [Mr. GREGORY: It was on the paper.] If the hon. Gentleman, instead of reserving his observations, had stated why he wanted the paper, he would have had no occasion to make the speech which he had just delivered. When the Report, the character of which his hon. Friend had, he thought, somewhat exaggerated, was sent to him, he wrote officially to the secretary of the Institution, and nothing would give him more satisfaction than that his letter and the reply should be laid before the House. He hoped that there would be no objection to the production of the Report together with the "Correspondence connected therewith."

Copy ordered, Of the Report of Dr. Brodie, Poor Law Inspector in Ireland, dated the 21st day of November, 1861, on the condition of the Western Districts of Galway, and the Correspondence connected therewith."—(Mr. Gregory.)