§ 44. Mr. M'CURDYasked the Home Secretary whether he can make any statement as to the reason why the police have raided the offices of a women's political organisation in London?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe police acted in pursuance of the warrants of a magistrate issued for reasons which will sufficiently appear in the course of the proceedings taken in the case.
§ 55. Mr. M'CURDYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can inform the House by whose authority counsel for the Crown, in proceeding in a London magistrate's Court, has threatened any printer or publisher of future issues of a political journal, known as the "Suffragette," with criminal proceedings, irrespective of the contents of such issues; and whether such threat was made with his approval or represents any policy of the Home Department?
§ Mr. McKENNAI do not think my hon. Friend can have seen a full report of what Mr. Bodkin said. His warning had reference solely to the consequences which might fall upon any printer or publisher who continued to print or publish matter which incited to the commission of crime.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODDid Mr. Bodkin not suggest that anyone who printed a paper called the "Suffragette," whatever it contained, would be liable to prosecution?
§ Mr. McKENNANo, Sir.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODWhy was it not sufficient ground for letting off the printer of the particular copy which was printed with the front page marked "Raided," that it had nothing whatever in it of a dangerous character?
§ Mr. McKENNAI understand that is my hon. Friend's view of that particular copy. I am not aware that he has studied the copy with any care. If he had done so, he would have found there was certainly matter in it which ought not to have been printed.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODThat was ruled by the Court to be irrelevant.
§ Mr. PERCY ALDENMay I ask whether the police warning extended to the wholesale newsagents?
§ Mr. McKENNAYes, any newspaper, whatever its name, that publishes incitements to crime, is liable to prosecution. It does not matter what the paper is, or who sells or prints it. Any person who is concerned in the publication of a paper which advocates crime is liable to prosecution.
§ Sir WILLIAM BYLESIs there any precedent for preventing a newspaper from being printed in this country before the contents are known?
§ Mr. WEDGWOODMay I ask whether there is any precedent for saying that a newspaper shall not appear, and whether up till now it has not been the practice to prosecute a newspaper which publishes incendiary matter, but not to say that the paper shall not appears, whatever the contents?
§ Mr. McKENNAMy hon. Friend is not stating the circumstances accurately. It is impossible in answer to questions to explain what are the true legal aspects of the case. They will be fully opened up on the prosecution itself.
§ 57. Mr. WEDGWOODasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his attention has been called to the fact that there are now six or seven periodicals advocating or opposing Women Suffrage; and whether, in the interests of peaceful society, they will all be suppressed alike?
§ Mr. McKENNAI am not aware that advocacy of female suffrage or opposition to it affords any ground for taking proceedings against a periodical.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he does not think that some emotional female might be incited to violence by reading the "Anti-Suffrage Review."
§ Mr. McKENNAI cannot say.
§ 58. Mr. WEDGWOODasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the remarks of a Mr. Bodkin, made in the course of a Crown prosecution on Wednesday last, in which he laid it down, speaking as the mouthpiece apparently of the Director of Public Prosecutions, that in future people who printed a newspaper entitled the "Suffragette," people who subscribed to the funds of a political organisation called the W.S.P.U., and the people who made generally inflammatory speeches would be prosecuted; whether these statements have the sanction of His Majesty's Government; whether the Director of Public Prosecutions or Mr. Bodkin had any instructions to make a statement of this character; and, if so, will he lay these instructions upon the Table for inspection and publication?
§ Mr. McKENNAMy hon. Friend is inaccurate in his reference to Mr. Bodkin's remarks. What Mr. Bodkin said was that persons who published or printed a news- 1666 paper which incited to crime, persons who made speeches inciting to crime, and persons who subscribed to the funds of a society for the promotion of crime would be prosecuted. Mr. Bodkin said this on verbal instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the giving of a serious warning as to the consequences of criminal acts and incitements has my full sanction.