§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)asked the Secretary of State for War, with reference to a statement made in the other House by the Under Secretary, Where the Committee to be appointed to consider the subject of defective weapons would hold its sittings; whether evidence would be taken in public; and, whether it was intended to place any Members of that House upon the Committee, in order to insure independent inquiry?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)If my hon. Friend will not accept my assurance twice publicly made 1241 in this House, which constitutes a pledge from the responsible Minister to the House, that I contemplate an inquiry absolutely independent of the War Office, I can give him no other. With respect to the expression used by my noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for War (Lord Harris) in "another place," I would say that I hope the Committee will conduct their inquiry in any place whatever calculated to assist their objects.