§ MR. OSBORNE MORGAN (Denbighshire, E.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is the fact that the 31 persons accused of taking part in the disturbances at Llangwm were summoned to the Petty Sessions at Ruthin (which is 18 miles distant from Llangwm, and not connected with it by any public conveyance) instead of Cerrig-y-Druidion (which is close to Llangwm), because the magistrates could not be forced to sit together at the latter place; whether the difficulty in making aquorum at Cerrig-y-Druidion arises from a personal quarrel between the four Justices of the Peace resident in that Petty Sessional Division, or some of them; and, whether (if the fact be so), he will draw the attention of the Lord Chancellor to the hardship inflicted upon these 31 defendants (most of whom are very poor men) and their witnesses by their having to proceed on foot over so great a distance to answer a charge 511 which might have been preferred against them close to their own homes?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)As already stated to the House on May 12, in answer to the hon. Member for Merionethshire (Mr. T. E. Ellis), whatever difficulty there may be in making a quorum of the Bench at Cerrig-y-Druidion arises not from a personal quarrel between the Justices, but from the paucity of their number. The issuing of summonses in the Llangwm case from Ruthin instead of Cerrig-y-Druidion was not due to any such difficulty in making a quorum at Cerrig-y-Druidion; but was determined upon by those in charge of the prosecution, principally on the ground that at Cerrig-y-Druidion there was no proper Court accommodation for the numerous defendants and witnesses.