§ MR. AUBERON HERBERTasked the Secretary of State for the Home 975 Department, If his attention has been called to the conduct of the chief constable of the Nottinghamshire Constabulary, in destroying a posting bill in which a meeting of persons holding Republican opinions was announced; and, what power the Secretary of State possesses of censuring the conduct of a chief constable of County Constabulary?
MR. BRUCESir, I believe the facts of the case are these—A gentleman who is chief constable of the county of Nottingham, being in the town of Nottingham, where he has no jurisdiction, put his stick through a placard which purported to call a meeting of those who held Republican opinions. He was summoned for malicious trespass; but the case was dismissed, on the ground that the wall on which the placard had been posted belonged to the Corporation, and that the Corporation had not given their permission for the posting of the placard. At the same time, I am bound to say I cannot approve the conduct of the chief constable in acting as he did. Either such a placard was legal or illegal; and if it were illegal means ought to have been taken to indict the persons who had committed an offence against the law. On the other hand, if it were legal, however offensive the contents of the placard might be to the feelings of this gentleman, he, as a representative of the law, ought not to have allowed himself to be carried away by his feelings. With regard to the latter part of the question, I have to remark that the Secretary of State has no direct means of censuring a chief constable of county constabulary.