HC Deb 24 March 1868 vol 191 cc146-7
MR. SERJEANT GASELEE

said, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, What instructions were given to the Assistant Boundary Commissioners for the Borough of Portsmouth, and whether he has any objection to lay them upon the Table of the House, and also their Report to the Boundary Commissioners, recommending for Parliamentary Elections the annexation of the town of Gosport to the borough of Portsmouth, contrary to the wishes of both?

MR. DISRAELI

Sir, with respect to the instructions given to the Assistant Boundary Commissioners for the Borough of Portsmouth, it is unnecessary for me to produce them, because they are already lying on the table. With regard to the Reports of the Assistant Boundary Commissioners, they are essentially confidential documents, supplied for the information of the Boundary Commissioners, who form their opinion upon them, and who are responsible for the opinion they give to this House. It is, therefore, quite out of the question to produce these Reports.

Afterwards—

MR. DARBY GRIFFITH

Sir, I scarcely understood the Answer given by the right hon. Gentleman the First Lord of the Treasury with respect to the Assistant Boundary Commissioners' Reports. Does he mean it to be understood that there are secret Reports made by the Assistant Commissioners of Boundaries differing from those laid on the Table of the House, and that their Reports are not to be laid upon the Table?

MR. DISRAELI

Sir, I understood the Question addressed to me by the hon. and learned Member for Portsmouth (Mr. Serjeant Gaselee) to be, Whether the instructions to the Assistant Boundary Commissioners who visited the Borough of Portsmouth will be laid upon the table of the House: In answer to that, I said there was no difference between the instructions given to the Assistant Boundary Commissioners for the Borough of Portsmouth and those given to the other Assistant Commissioners, which are upon the table of the House. And I also said what is invariably the case, that the Reports of Assistant Boundary Commissioners are confidential documents, for the use of the Boundary Commissioners, whose Reports are laid on the table. The Reports of the Assistant Boundary Commissioners are not laid upon the table, but are made solely for the use of the Boundary Commissioners.