§ MR. H. B. SHERIDANasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the following case reported in the "Brierly Hill Advertiser" of February 20th 1875, from which it appears that John Radford, landlord of the "Queen's Head" public-house, Quarry Bank, was charged with having on Sunday afternoon opened his house at prohibited hours. The police constable found fourteen men in the club room upstairs drinking ale. It was stated that they were all members of a club, and had just returned after carrying thebody of a deceased member to the churchyard, and were having refreshment, and that the house was closed to every one else. The magistrate, Mr. Spooner, said if the men had come three miles from where they had slept the previous night they were entitled to refreshments, but not otherwise. They belonged to the neighbourhood, and the defendant was fined £5 and costs, but the licence was not to be endorsed. And, whether it is in contemplation to recommend an alteration in the Law in this respect?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSI am not aware that it is a part of my duty to 881 read all the country newspapers of the 20th of February last. Still less is it my duty to remember all the paragraphs which appeared in the newspapers of that date. But, assuming that the paragraph referred to in the Question did appear, and that the facts referred to were true, it is not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to make any alteration of the law in that respect.