§ MR. EYKYNsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, By what authority the Police have been instructed to take legal proceedings against certain Commission Agents who were brought before Sir Thomas Henry on Saturday last; whether these proceedings were based on the 1st or the 3rd section of the Act of 1853 for the Suppression of Betting Houses; and, further, if he will state how far the interpretation which has been now put upon these sections will affect other establishments where betting is carried on?
MR. BRUCEsaid, in reply, that the prosecutions against the persons to whom the hon. Gentleman's Question referred were instituted on the authority of the Chief Commissioner of Police, and with his own full consent and approval. Those prosecutions were based generally upon the Act for the Suppression of Betting Houses. He was not aware that it was necessary to lay information under any particular section. As no decision had yet been arrived at, it would be impossible for him to say how far other establishments might be affected, especially as he did not know the special circumstances under which betting was carried on in them, or whether they would come under the Betting House Act.