CAPTAIN HEATHCOTE (Staffordshire, N. W.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the prohibition of a prize drawing at Stoke-on-Trent; and, whether, when such prohibition was issued, he was aware that this prize drawing was for a charitable object, that the prizes are all voluntary contributions, and that the whole of the proceeds were to be devoted to the benefit of Mrs. J. B. Evans, a widow, who is now in straitened circumstances?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)My attention was called to the fact that such a lottery was about to take place. Under the circumstances, I was obliged to take notice of an act illegal and forbidden by statute, however deserving of sympathy the objects of the lottery might be. I accordingly communicated with the Director of Public Prosecutions, who issued his usual letter of warning to the persons whose names appeared on the printed prospectus.