§ DR. KENEALYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he has more fully investigated the case of Thomas Moran, and whether his alleged refusal to act had been caused by the one-sided statements of the magistrates?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSSir, I feel bound to say that I never judge any case by one-sided statements. The inquiries which I have been trying to make have been principally through those persons who are most active in seeking to obtain his release. I have the statement on the case before me; and, on behalf of the magistrates, I think it right to state that the evidence which was given before them has been confirmed and corroborated by all the statements which have been laid before me since. Those gentlemen who were most active in seeking to obtain his immediate release had come to the conclusion that the sums he was said to have received were actually received by him, and that he might have been in full work during the whole of the time. There is also no doubt that he applied for and obtained relief from the Charity Organization Society at a time when he was in full work; and I certainly do not think that the sympathy which has been spent on this man is really deserved. If a person obtains work and good wages, and is in good health, it is not creditable for him to leave his children in the workhouse without paying for them. He was, however, out of work at Christmas, and I am in communication with the magistrates as to the sentence which they passed upon him. They undoubtedly passed the heaviest sentence which the law allows, and I have already said that I think it was too severe.