§ MR. P. STANHOPE (Wednesbury)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department a Question of which I have given him private Notice —namely, Whether at a Liberal meeting at Earth, in North Hunts, the Liberal candidate was brutally interrupted by the parish constable, who loudly announced his intention of preventing the candidate from being heard, and who effected his object by the persistent use of ail enormous rattle throughout the whole duration of his speech? I wish to know whether this suppression of the right of free speech by a public functionary meets with the approval of the Home Secretary; and, whether it is merely a development of the recently announced policy of the Government with respect to the political organizations of their opponents; or whether he will give immediate instructions to prevent this apparently gross abuse of his official position by a parish constable?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)I know nothing of the facts stated in the Ques- 1373 tion, which has only just been put into my hands. The parish constable of; Earth is not in any way dependent upon Her Majesty's Government, nor does he receive any orders from Her Majesty's Government.