§ Mr. BOTTOMLEYasked the Secretary for War whether his attention has recently been called to instances of bribery and corruption of War Office officials by contractors having business relations with the Department; whether he has seen an original letter from a member of a firm of such contractors threatening to resign if the dishonest practices of his firm were continued; whether an inquiry was instituted into the allegations contained in such letter; whether all available evidence was examined in the course of such inquiry; and whether he will state the result of the investigation?
§ Mr. HALDANEThe hon. Member has drawn my attention to the letter to which he refers in the question, and he has also, 2309W been good enough to place at my disposal certain information in his possession bearing on the contents of that letter and the alleged irregular practices. The material has been diligently sifted by a barrister chosen for the purpose by the Director of Public Prosecutions, and after the most careful examination of all the available evidence that gentleman has reported to me that the evidence is not sufficient to support even an adequately grounded suspicion against the persons involved in the allegations. Those to whom the hon. Member refers as War Office officials should be more properly described as persons in Army employment.