§ MR. O'GRADY (Leeds, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that a man named Charles Endsor was taken from his residence, on May 11th, 1904, to the Bramley Union, Leeds, without the consent of his relatives, on the ground that he was of unsound mind, and that while in the act of escaping from the hospital ward he was caught, thrown over a wall in the grounds, and frogged across a field to the hospital, and put into the padded room, being removed two days after to the West Riding Asylum at Menston, ultimately dying there five weeks later; will he explain why there was no post mortem on the body; and, having regard to the seriousness of this and other cases of a similar character, whether he will consider the advisability of ordering a public inquiry into this matter.
§ MR. JOHN BURNSI am aware that allegations of the kind mentioned in the Question have been made as regards the case to which it refers. The matter was brought before the Local Government Board, who, after investigating it, came to the conclusion that there was no ground for further action on their part. It was subsequently again considered by them, but they saw no sufficient reason for altering their view. In these circumstances, and looking to the fact that the case occurred more than two years ago, I could not undertake now to reopen it.