§ MR. LOCKEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the case of a man named Hopley, who having been summoned before the Magistrates at the instance of Mr. Wynne, the Inspector of Mines for the Staffordshire district, for having refused to bring up a gang of Colliers from the Madeley Court Colliery when required to do so, had dismissed the summons; and whether the reasons had been given which induced the Magistrates to dismiss the summons?
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDYsaid, in reply, that he was informed by the clerk to the magistrates in question that there was not sufficient evidence adduced before the Bench to justify a conviction. The circumstances appear to have been that the men down the mine disobeyed orders by not sending up the weight which should have been used to counterbalance the other shaft, and Hopley, therefore, would not send down the "doubles" to bring them up. The men below then procured "doubles" from another place, but Hopley gave them notice that he would not land them until they sent up the weight.