§ MR. A GRIFFITH-BOSCAWEN (Kent, Tunbridge)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he would lay upon the Table of the House a copy of the Correspondence which has passed between the Home Office and the French Government with reference to the case of Dr. Herz; and also a copy of the Report of Dr. Russell Reynolds on the prisoner's state of health in 1893, and his subsequent Report?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. W. RIDLEY,) Lancashire, BlackpoolI cannot see that any good purpose would be served by laying upon the Table of the House the correspondence referred to. Speaking generally, that correspondence has been limited to a representation as to the serious condition of Herz's health and the impossibility of removing him to London, and an inquiry whether the French Government persisted in their requisition for his surrender, to which a reply in the affirmative was returned. Sir Russell Reynolds has three times visited Herz and reported on his health; 369 his reports are confidential in their details, and it would be contrary to practice to publish such documents. Her Majesty's Government are now in communication with the French Government with a view to a fresh convention being come to which would enable the Act of last Session to be put in force.