§ MR. HAZELL (Leicester)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the public inquiry at the Bankruptcy Court on the 16th and 17th inst., in connection with the promotion and failure of the Klondyke and Columbia Goldfields, Limited, with disclosed liabilities £5,737, and no available assets, and with a total deficiency to the creditors and contributaries of £45,855; whether he has observed that Mr. J. Morris Catton stated, on examination on that occasion, that he was the promoter of the company, and was a clerk in the War Office, and had promoted no less than eighteen companies before and after office hours, and that some of these companies were not now in existence, and that he was at the time of the promotion of this particular company on leave through ill-health; whether he is aware that Mr. Catton also carries on the business of advertising agent, under the name of J. Morris and Co., and received payments amounting in all to £1,283 in connection with advertising for this company; what action has been, or will be, taken by the War Office in relation to Mr. Catton's proceedings; what was the certified cause of ill-health under which he obtained sick leave, and was his action as a company promoter in accordance with the rules of the War Office; and is it proposed to retain him in the public service.
§ *MR. WYNDHAMMr. Catton's services in the War Office ceased in December, 1897.