§ MR. WHALLEYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to letters addressed to him soliciting the return to the senders of various original documents purporting to show that the convict Castro is Roger Tichborne, Whether he will be good enough to state why such letters are not acknowledged or replied to; and, what are the objections, if any, to return such documents to the senders, seeing that the Eight honourable gentleman has declared it to be his intention not to take any action thereon, or allow them to be published or inspected by members of this House?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSI am afraid. Sir, I have already given an answer to that Question more than once—namely, that it is the invariable practice of the Home Office that documents sent there have to be registered and then become public property, and are never returned to the persons sending them.
§ MR. WHALLEYsaid, he was not aware that the right hon. Gentleman had answered the Question before. What he would ask the right hon. Gentleman was, whether he still persisted in refusing permission to inspect those documents? ["Order."]
§ MR. SPEAKERI must point out to the hon. Member that the Question having been put and answered cannot be put a second time.