§ MR. MITCHELL HENRYI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department a Question of which I gave him private Notice some time ago at the request of some of my friends in Manchester—Whether it is true, as stated in some of the Lancashire papers, that he has intimated to the Chief Constable of Lancashire that in the case of the Habrons he considered that the evidence of the police was given with fairness, impartiality, and absence of zeal and eagerness, and that the manner in which the 454 duties of the police had been performed throughout met with his approval; and, if this is not true, whether the right hon. Gentleman has expressed, or been asked to express, any opinion as to the conduct of the police in this matter?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSWhat I did say was this—that I thought it quite right, in justice to the police, that they should know that the learned Judge who tried the case in the first instance reported to me that, in his opinion, the evidence of the police was given with fairness and impartiality and an absence of zeal and eagerness. That was the opinion of the learned Judge, and I have his leave to make it public. That being so, I think it quite right, as the subject of the trial has been matter of much comment, to say that the police and the magistrates rendered every possible assistance in favour of the prisoner, and did not show the slightest desire in any form or shape to unduly press for his conviction.