§ Mr. OUTHWAITEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the inquest held in Yorkshire on Second-lieutenant Jesson Victor, Royal Flying Corps, and to the action of the military witnesses who stated that a special Accidents Committee was coming from London to investigate the cause of the accident, and who informed the father of the deceased that he could not be present at this inquiry as it would be a purely military one; and, in view of the fact that a juryman stated that the jury were quite in the dark as to the cause of the accident, will he state why action was taken to prevent public inquiry into the death of an airman who had been flying two years in France and whose machine was stated in evidence to have broken in the air?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONThe object of the Accidents Committee is to inquire into accidents, both fatal and otherwise, of which the cause is technically obscure. The inquiry is purely technical and not an inquest, and the presence of relatives therefore would serve no purpose.