§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSONasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to a Report in the public journals of a meeting held last Tuesday at the Shoreditch Town Hall, on the subject of an enclosure of a part of Epping Forest, at which some of the speakers advised the public (at a meeting to be held next Saturday on Wanstead Flats) to take the Law into their own hands, and destroy the enclosure; and, if so, whether he will give instructions for the maintenance of order and the protection of property on that occasion?
MR. BRUCEsaid, in reply, that the chairman of that meeting had informed him that the meeting was very large and orderly, that the suggestion referred to had been made by a single individual in a jocular spirit, and that what was said was that if the persons who should attend the proposed meeting on Wanstead Flats were to press their shoulders against the fences they might probably give way. That expression of opinion was not approved by the assembly, and 1224 the chairman warned them against any illegal conduct. Of course, the usual precautions would be taken for the maintenance of order and the protection of property.