HC Deb 09 July 1888 vol 328 cc733-4
MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)

asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it is the fact that Captain J. B. Chatterton (late Bengal Staff Corps) was compelled by the Medical Board to submit himself to the surgical operation of dividing the left tendon Achilles at the time and place specified by such Board; whether any, and what, delay occurred in the carrying out of the operation by the medical officers of the Board; whether, as a consequence of such delay, other, and how many, further operations were rendered necessary, which have resulted in the maiming of Captain Chatterton for life; whether the above facts are established by the evidence and certificates of Sir William Ferguson, Mr. Edwin Canton, Mr. Hancock, M. Nélaton, M. Anger, Signori Sivori, Jherini, and Mr. W. Adams; whether the Secretary of State for India in Council, in 1876, as a special case, advanced the sum of £250, for urgent surgical aid, and deducted the sum of £12 10s. each quarter for five years, in repayment of such advance; and, whether these are recorded in the India Office; and, if so, whether he will lay before the House the certificates of the above-mentioned medical authorities, together with the Orders, Proceedings, or Reports of the Medical Board, under the following dates:—September 5, 1868, January 5, 1869, and March 11, 1869?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)

I must refer the hon. Member generally to statements which have been made on Captain Chetterton's case in the House of Commons by the Secretary of State for India in 1881 and 1882, and by myself last week. The answers to the specific Questions put are as follows. To one and two, and, consequently, to four, in the negative. Three I answered in my statement last week. To five in the affirmative. To six there are no Papers which the Secretary of State considers it necessary to lay before Parliament; but if the hon. Member will specify in a Motion for a Return any Papers he requires the Secretary of State will consider how far his wishes can be complied with.