§ SIR JOHN LENG (Dundee)To ask Mr. Attorney General whether his attention has been called to the holding of an inquest on a man aged seventy who died lately in his own home at Mapplewell, after being ill for more than three years of cancer; if he will explain why an inquest was held in this case; and whether he will promote legislation to prevent inquests being necessary in such cases.
(Answer.) I find, on inquiry, that an inquest was held in this case to explain the reason of the deceased man's having a dislocation of the hip, complicated by fracture of the thigh bone; and that it was only after very careful attention to the medical evidence at the inquest that the jury were enabled to return a verdict to the effect that the death was purely natural, and that the injuries to the; bones were the result of the cancerous growth, and were not due, as had appeared possible, to a fall or external violence of some kind. Under these circumstances, it seems impossible to say that the coroner did not properly exercise the discretion given him by the Act.—(Home Office.)