§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If it is true that during the examination in the London Bankruptcy Court of James Morton, the largest debtor to the City of Glasgow Bank, reporters were excluded; and, if he can explain why that portion of the investigation of a great public scandal, being conducted in England, is withheld from the public?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir JOHN HOLKER)Sir, during the examination of Mr. James Morton, reporters can hardly be said to have been excluded, for no reporters applied for admission. If representatives of the Press had, however, asked to be allowed to be present at the proceedings, their request would not have been granted. Mr. Morton was before the Bankruptcy Court as a bankrupt, and not in his character of debtor to the Glasgow Bank. The examination was not the public examination which takes place after the bankrupt's statement of affairs has been filed, but a private examination, appointed by the Court upon the application of the trustee, and resorted to for the purpose of interrogating the bankrupt as to the disposal of his estate and effects. At such an examination no reporters are allowed to be present, except the authorized shorthand writer, who takes notes for use in the bankruptcy proceedings and not for publication. I may point out to the hon. Gentleman that if the evidence taken at such private examinations were allowed to be published, the whole object of the examination would frequently be frustrated.