§ MR. PERCY WYNDHAMsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he is aware that Publications, the sale of which has been condemned by a Court of Law, are now being openly offered for sale in the Streets of London, and such being the case, whether the Police have power to interfere?
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDYSir, I have made inquiries into the subject of my hon. Friend's Question, and I find that since the decision referred to that book has not been sold in the streets, though there is no doubt—for I hold one of the covers in my hand—that the cover is put on books in order to sell them, but within the cover the purchaser finds a book of a totally different character, and of a harmless nature. The attraction of the title appears to be great, as it is used for advertising and selling books of a very different kind. I am told that the Police keep a register of the books and pamphlets sold in the streets, and interfere when their interference is called for. As to the book referred to by my hon. Friend—for I presume his Question relates to The Confessional Unmasked—I find on inquiry at the depôt from which it was issued that all the remaining copies have been destroyed, and that there are none now for sale.