§ MR. HOPWOODasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is the fact that three surgeons, acting under the Contagious Diseases Acts in the examination of prostitutes, have been appointed justices of the peace for the Boroughs of Portsmouth, Windsor, and Southampton, respectively; will he give the dates of appointment; do these persons act as magistrates to enforce the Acts which they administer as officers; do they so act in court, or by private order; if so, is the right of appeal to a justice of the peace, which is given by the Acts in question to unfortunate women, secured to them; and, will he intimate to these persons that they must make election between the duties of examining surgeons and justices?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, that he had inquired into the matter, and found that the three gentlemen in question were justices of the peace. But they had assured him in the most explicit way that they did not act in any case connected with the Contagious Diseases Acts, and that they would think it highly improper to do so.