§ MR. BYRON REED (Bradford, E.)asked the Chairman of the Committee on Public Petitions, Whether the attention of the Committee has been called to a Petition, lately presented to the House by the hon. Member for the Scotland Division of Liverpool (Mr. T. P. O'Connor), purporting to be signed by inhabitants of the Eastern Division of the Borough of Bradford; whether he is aware that very many of the names appearing upon the Petition are those of children of tender years; that some of the persons whose names appear thereupon repudiate the signatures attributed to them, and declare their disagreement with the opinions expressed by the Petition; that, in some instances, children have been persuaded to write the names of their parents upon the Petition without the knowledge or consent of the parents; and, whether, under these circumstances, the Committee proposes to institute a searching inquiry into this and similar Petitions?
§ THE CHAIRMAN (Sir CHARLES FORSTER) (Walsall), in reply, said, that some of the signatures to the Petition referred to by the hon. Member were those of children of tender years; but it was not proposed to institute an inquiry.