§ MR. BIGGARasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Whether, in ordering that the portion of Treasury Minute of December 1882, referring to the promotion, regardless of seniority, of those officers said to be instrumental in detecting the recent frauds in the Sasine Office, Edinburgh, to be read to the entire staff of the office, my Lords meant to reflect upon the integrity of the staff, or what meanings did my Lords seek to convey by such proceedings; whether the Head Keeper of said office made any communication to my Lords which would warrant them in taking that step; whether the officer who informed the head of the department, or his depute, about the frauds did so anonymously, and acting not upon any- 1027 thing discovered in the discharge of his duties; and, whether the Treasury Minute in question was based on the Report made by Mr. Monat and the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer for Scotland of their investigation into the frauds?
§ MR. COURTNEY, in reply, said, the Treasury had no intention of reflecting upon the integrity of the Sasine clerks by its Minute of December, 1882. Their purpose was simply to notify the high value they attached to the zeal of the two officers who had been instrumental in detecting the recent frauds in that Office. The officers who gave the information did not do so anonymously. The Minute was written after the receipt of the Report of Mr. Mowatt and the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer.