§ MR. W. J. CORBETasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If his attention has been called to the following statement in a leading London journal, "The World":— 782
There was never, certainly within the recollection of any person now living, such an amount of anarchy and theft, of open and unpunished defiance of the Law, as now exists in England. Every alternate paragraph in the morning newspapers is the record of some murder or attempt to murder, or suspected murder, some cases of outrageous wife-beating, some gross instance of abduction, some audacious and cleverly-contrived burglary, arson, or highway theft.….Crime and brutality are organising themselves on all sides, and the defensive, detective, and precautionary powers which Society has at its disposal are ineffectual to meet or ward off the danger;with much more to the like effect; and, whether, in view of the existence of so much crime and outrage, he will introduce a Bill for the better Protection of Person and Property in England?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURTSir, I am not quite sure whether the hon. Member has obtained the information on this important subject from the most authentic source. I think if he would consult the judicial statistics to be found in the Library, he would agree with me that there is no case at present for taking the extraordinary measures which he suggests.