§ MR. MACFARLANEbrought forward the case of the inventor, Mr. Lynal Thomas, urging that, as he would have had a legal claim under the Patents for Inventions Bill now before Parliament, his case should be referred to some Member of the House—say the hon. Member for Pembroke (Sir Edward J. Reed)—to decide whether he had not an equitable claim on the Government. Mr. Thomas had gained the verdict of a jury, and to drive him to further litiga- 1373 tion was to refuse him redress. At the trial the evidence of agents was suppressed, and strong remarks were made by the Judge on the unsatisfactory character of the official evidence against the claim. Let it be referred as au equitable but not as a legal claim, and Mr. Thomas would abide by the result.
MR. BRANDdeclined to enter into a discussion of the circumstances of the case. The claim had been before the War Office many years, and complaint having been made that it had not been investigated by a Secretary of State personally, the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, when Secretary of State for War, went into it fully with a bias in favour of Mr. Thomas, but came to the conclusion that he had no claim against the War Office. There was no reason why the case should be re-opened, and it would be an inconvenient precedent to re-open it, because what was practically a charge of fraud was made against the War Office, and others might allege fraud for the purpose of having their cases needlessly re-opened.