§ MR. SUMMERS (Huddersfield)I wish to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland a Question of which I have given him private Notice. It is this—Whether he is correctly reported, in his speech at Battersea last night, as having described the in- 565 quest at Mitchelstown as corrupt; and, if so, whether he will state to the House the ground on which the charge of corruption was based?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)I am not sure that I used that word. If I did, I am glad that the hon. Member has given me the opportunity of saying that I never intended what the word "corrupt" naturally means when applied to a tribunal—namely, being bribed or influenced by corrupt pecuniary considerations. What I ought to have said—and I beg everybody concerned to take the correction—is that the tribunal was incompetent and worthless.
§ Subsequently,
§ SIR WILFRID LAWSON (Cumberland, Cockermouth)I have to ask the Chief Secretary a Question arising out of the answer he has given just now. In answer to my hon. Friend he said that the inquiry into the cause of death at Mitchelstown had been made before a tribunal which was incompetent and worthless; and I wish to know whether he will take steps to have an inquiry into the cause of death by some tribunal which is competent and worthy?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI have already answered several Questions on this subject, and I do not know that I have anything to add. I have followed exactly the precedent set by my Predecessors.