ARMY—THE GRENADIER GUARDS—CASE OF LIEUTENANT FARRER. (Hansard, 18 August 1882)

§ MR. BIGGAR

asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether Lieutenant Farrer, of the Grenadier Guards, did, on the 25th day of July last, send a 2052 letter to his battalion commanding officer, with a request that it should be forwarded to the Secretary of State for War, and praying that he might be allowed to withdraw his resignation, or that his application to retire might not be acted upon for thirty days, in order to carry through proceedings for the annulment of his bankruptcy, which took place during his leave of absence abroad, and that no notice of the fact had been given to him; whether in that letter he set forth that his bankruptcy was entirely due to the fact that his rents on his Irish property were some years in arrear; whether this letter was approved of, and forwarded to the officer commanding the regiment by his battalion commanding officer; whether, at a subsequent date, on 1st August, he wrote a letter to his battalion commanding officer, and enclosed two documents (a statement of how the bankruptcy occurred, and a petition to be allowed to remain in the Army, on the ground that his bankruptcy did not arise from any fault of his own, and for leave to exchange into another regiment); whether his battalion commanding officer forwarded these documents to the officer commanding the regiment; whether the commanding officer of the regiment refused to forward these documents to the Commander in Chief and Secretary of State for War; whether it is the duty of any commanding officer to forward any petitions to the authorities from his subordinate officers; and, whether, under the circumstances, his case may be brought under reconsideration, and, as a sufficient opportunity has not been given him to clear himself with the Secretary of State for War, that his claim for reinstatement may be considered?