HC Deb 17 November 1884 vol 293 cc1834-5
MR. ONSLOW

asked Mr. Attorney General, If he will cause inquiries to be made as to the allegation that certain persons, stated to have signed statutory declarations regarding the recent riot at Aston, cannot now be found; and, whether he would advise the Public Prosecutor, in the interests of justice, to use his best endeavours to discover the whereabouts of these individuals, inasmuch as the documents in question are now the property of the House, having been communicated on the responsibility of a Minister of the Crown?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)

, in reply, said, he had already given the opinion that it was very objectionable for the Government to interfere in any proceedings arising out of electioneering contests. If that rule were a good one to apply, he knew of no place where an exception to it was less required than at Birmingham. He might mention that the two persons who could not be discovered had now been found, and he understood that process had not only been issued but executed.