§ MR. JAMES STUART (Shoreditch, Hoxton)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Metropolitan Board of Works made a bye-law on the 23rd of December, 1887, prohibiting under penalty
The soliciting or gathering money in or on the parks, commons, heaths, open spaces, embankments, and recreation grounds under the control of the Board from persons frequenting the same;whether he approved of this bye-law on the 25th of February, 1888; whether, in so approving, he understood that the bye-law would be applied to the case of the chairman of a public meeting asking for contributions to defray the costs of that meeting; and, whether he is aware that for a number of years public meetings have been held in Southwark Park on local and general questions, at which it has been the custom to make a collection to defray the expenses of the meeting, the balance, if any, being paid to some Charitable Institution.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)The answer to the first two paragraphs is in the affirmative. I understood that the bye-law would be applied in the case of persons who, after addressing a meeting, 1622 solicited money from the audience and bystanders, a practice which, in the opinion of the Board, was not desirable at public meetings. I was told that on some occasions money had been so collected at meetings held in Southwark Park; but I was not informed of the purposes to which the collections were devoted. The bye-laws were duly advertised before being sanctioned, and no objections were received.