§ MR. FAWCETTasked the Under Secretary for India, Whether the Second Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the failure of the Bombay Bank refers to the past connection of the Government with the Bank, as well as to the future management of Government Banks; and, whether, if this should be the case, he will consent to lay upon the Table all that portion of the Report which relates to the former subject?
MR. GRANT DUFFThere are, Sir, undoubtedly some passages in the Reports to which the hon. Gentleman alludes which refer to the affairs of the old Bank of Bombay; but they are mixed up with other matters, and the whole of the documents are, as I said on Monday, of a strictly confidential character, in the nature of privileged communications made to the Secretary of State by certain persons who, having been employed as Commissioners, and having reported as Commissioners, were consulted in their private capacity as to future policy by the Secretary of State. Hon. Members will see that such documents are not of the kind which the House in its wisdom usually asks a Government to lay upon its Table. Four volumes on the subject of the old Bank of Bombay, including the Report on the affairs of the old Bank of Bombay by those very same persons in their capacity of Commissioners, are already in the hands of hon. Members.