§ SIR ROPER LETHBRIDGE (Kensington, N.)asked the Under Secretary 712 of State for India, Whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been directed to the statement of the case of Mr. William Taylor, formerly Commissioner of Patna, published in The Times of the 6th of April; whether it is true that Mr. Taylor's Petition "disappeared" from the India Office at some date between 1868 and 1878; whether any inquiry has been made as to the circumstances of such disappearance; and, if so, whether the results of that inquiry will be laid upon the Table of the House; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will take any steps to ensure that substantial justice be done in Mr. Tayler's case?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)(1.) The statements made in The Times of April 6th have, during the last 30 years, been repeatedly brought to the attention of successive Secretaries of State. (2.) The original Petition was lost between 1868 and 1878; but copies are extant, and have been laid before Parliament. (3.) There is no reason to suppose that the loss was anything but one of those accidents which sometimes occur in the best regulated Departments; and no further inquiry is, in the judgment of the Secretary of State, necessary. (4.) The Secretary of State is not willing to constitute himself a Court of Appeal against the uniform decision of his Predecessors during so long a period.
§ SIR ROPER LETHBRIDGEgave Notice that he would call attention to this case on the earliest opportunity.