§ MR. E. JENKINSasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether his attention has been called to a letter which had appeared in "The Times," of that day signed by Mr. Andrew Doyle, who was sent out as an Inspector to Canada to inquire into the condition of the children who had emigrated, in which the writer stated that—
He was not in a position at present to do more than to express an earnest hope that no Board of Guardians in the Kingdom would give ear to any proposal to send out another emigrant child till he should have had an opportunity of examining what appeared to him to be the partial and most unsatisfactory Report of the Canadian Government.The Report referred to was not that of the Canadian Government, but of a Select Committee of the Canadian House of Commons, and he wished to ask, whether this letter has been written with the sanction of the Local Government Board, and if not whether it is usual to issue and publish such notices without reference to the higher official authorities?
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTH, in reply, said, that Mr. Doyle's letter was written and sent to The Times on the writer's own responsibility, and carried with it no authority on the part of the Local Government Board. As a general rule, he certainly disapproved of Inspectors writing to newspapers; but this had been a very peculiar case, and several letters on the same subject, more or less of a personal and controversial character, had already been published.