HC Deb 24 May 1878 vol 240 c626
MAJOR O'BEIRNE

asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is correct, as stated in a letter published in the "Times" newspaper of the 18th March, 1878, that although £7,000,000 have been expended on experiments and on the present system of rifled ordinance, the inventor of that system has not received any remuneration?

LORD EUSTACE CECIL,

in reply, said, that Mr. Padwick, the writer of the letter published in The Times on the 18th of March, had frequently set forth his claims to be considered the inventor of the present system of rifled ordnance; but, during the last quarter of a century, no Secretary of State had admitted those claims, and, consequently, he had received no reward.