§ MR. BARTLEY (Islington, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to a leading article in the Times of the 3rd January last, on the subject of the official conduct of War Office officials of high standing in the public service, in which they are charged with a settled habit of furnishing misleading figures and garbled information, of attempting to hoodwink the Secretary of State for War, and of slippery double dealing; and whether, in justice to these public servants, he will cause an impartial inquiry to be made into the matter, and will publish the report of such inquiry as to the truth or otherwise of these serious charges?
§ MR. BRODRICKLord Lansdowne has seen the article to which my hon. Friend refers. He deeply regrets that charges, apparently imputing habitual bad faith, should have been levelled against public servants in whose integrity and devotion to the public service he has implicit confidence. These charges are, in the Secretary of State's belief, without foundation; and he has no intention of instituting an inquiry into them.