§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Lord Chief Justice has intimated to him that Mrs. Maybrick ought to be released; and, if so, whether he will appoint a Commission of Inquiry similar to the one appointed in the case of the convict Jessie M'Lachlan?
§ *SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYI received a communication from the Lord Chief Justice with regard to the case of Florence Maybrick, to which I gave the most anxious consideration before determining upon the course which it was my duty to adopt. The responsibility for that decision is mine; and I have no intention of appointing a 1137 Commission of Inquiry, nor indeed the power to appoint one, if I wished to do so. The hon. Member in mistaken in supposing that any such Commission was appointed in the case of Jessie M'Lachlan. The Inquiry made in that case did not differ in character from the confidential inquiries which are frequently instituted by the Home Office.