§ MR. BURT (Morpeth)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Mayor of Okehampton, sitting along with two other magistrates, declined to grant an extension of hours to the "White Hart" Hotel on Jubilee night; whether, when Jubilee night arrived, the Mayor, dining at the said hotel, being requested to do so by his associates of the- dinner, there and then granted an extension of time; whether the police interfered with the festivities, and took out summonses against the landlady of the hotel and a few of the guests on the occasion; whether the police have hitherto got the summonses signed by any magistrate in the district; and, whether he proposes to take any steps to prevent a failure of justice in this matter?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)I am informed by the Mayor of Okehampton that the facts are correctly stated in the first and second paragraphs of the Question. The police, upon being shown the order for the extension of time, took no action on the occasion; but subsequently applied for summonses against the land lady and others, which a magistrate, to whom the application was made, refused to sign. In view of the exceptional circumstances of the occasion, and the fact that the entertainment was principally for the committee who had been engaged up to a late hour in the arrangements for the Jubilee festivities, I do not think that the matter is one in which I ought to question the discretion of the magistrate.