§ MR. SEXTONasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Whether his attention has been drawn to the Report of the trial and conviction, on the 9th instant, of two clerks in the Sasine Office, Edinburgh, for fraud; whether the clerks so convicted were, along with the clerk, Bryce, whose name occurs repeatedly in the Report of the trial, the only clerks in the office implicated in the frauds; whether he can state what steps, if any, have been taken for the apprehension of Bryce; and, whether the loss arising from the fraud will fall upon the Exchequer, or who is responsible for it?
§ MR. COURTNEYThis painful matter has been for some time under my notice; and I consider it so serious that I have directed a special inquiry to be made into it on the spot. Pending the result of that inquiry, it would not be for the public advantage that I should express any opinion on the conduct of anyone besides the two persons convicted, and the man Bryce who has absconded. A warrant has been more than two months out for the arrest of Bryce. I am afraid that the burden of the sums 206 improperly paid will fall upon the Exchequer.