§ EARL GRANVILLE,referring to the debate which had taken place on a previous evening, said, he desired to read to their Lordships a letter which had just been received by the Secretary of State for the Home Department—
Office of Reformatories and Certified Industrial Schools, 15, Parliament Street, S.W.Leeds, June 22, 1864—St. Bernard's Reformatory.My dear Sir George Grey,—I observe that Lord Berners asserted, on the authority of some parties at Ashby, that on my inquiry into the recent outbreak, I had not inquired of cither of the magistrates or the police upon the subject, and that my report, therefore, could not be depended on.I beg to mention for your satisfaction on the matter, that I had a full private conference with the superior of the Ashby divisional police, whose men were in charge of the delinquents, and that from him I had the full particulars which I have given.As to the magistrates, I found the report made in Mr. Ashby's letter to you substantially correct, and the managers of the reformatory fully admitted the circumstances detailed. There was, therefore, no reason for troubling them on the subject.The business in hand was not so much to settle the facts—for they were plain and undisputed—but to get at the cause of the disturbance, and to see whether that was a transient and incidental impulse that might be safely expected not to occur again, or a corrupt and inefficient style of discipline that would be sure to lead to a recurrence of the riot. I think I had fair grounds for concluding in favour of the first of these alternatives.I should be glad if the inaccuracy of the charge made by Lord Berners against my inquiry could be brought out. I have the honour to be yours very faithfully,Sydney Turner.The Right Hon. Sir G. Grey, Bart., M.P.