§ COLONEL FRENCHsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether, with reference to the statement made by him on the 23rd instant—namely, that "he could not pledge himself generally" to refer the Reports of the Commission and the decisions of the Government of India on the cases of the several claimants against the State of Oude to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, he will allow the Reports on Mr. Frith's cases to be reviewed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council?
VISCOUNT CRANBOURNEreplied that the claims of Mr. Frith, which were of long standing, had been decided against him in the local Courts in India. The power of referring cases under such circumstances to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was one which was rarely exercised unless there were good grounds for believing that it was a tribunal by which an opinion could be pronounced upon them with advantage. In the present instance the decision would appear to have turned entirely on a question of fact, which could be better decided on the spot than before the Judicial Committee. He therefore did not feel that he ought to advise the reference of the case of Mr. Frith to that tribunal.