§ MR. R. N. FOWLERasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If, considering the great number of burglaries, the perpetrators of which escape arrest, and of violent assaults by gangs of roughs and armed criminals, especially in the Metropolis and its suburbs, the Government will take measures to materially increase the efficiency of the police and to enforce the Law against the carrying of arms by unauthorised persons?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURTSir, I cannot accept the view taken by the hon. Member that the Metropolitan Police are insufficient for the preservation of order and the protection of life and property. We all know that crime will exist, and that the police may from time to time make errors; and that there may be deficiencies may also be admitted. I am, however, bound to say that I believe there is no great town in the world in which order is better preserved or 1658 life and property better secured than in London, with the least amount of restraint on the liberty of the subject. I am not aware that there is a failure to enforce the law against the carrying of arms by unauthorized persons. I do not, however, know that I have any power to prevent the carrying of arms, except under the Licensing Act.