§ MR. DAVID THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)asked the Secretary for the Home Department whether he had reason to believe that Colonel Lindsay, the Chief Constable for Glamorganshire, was unable to discover among the police of the county any man qualified to discharge the duties of Superintendent of Police at Merthyr efficiently; whether, in the event of any dereliction of duty on the part of Superintendent Lindsay, there was any independent authority to whom appeal might be made, outside the Chief Constable, his father; and whether, he was now in a position to state the results of his inquiry as to the public feeling at Merthyr and Aberdare at the appointment of Captain Lindsay, a young man with no previous experience in English police duty, over the heads of those who had spent a lifetime in the force, and who might naturally have looked for promotion had not the hitherto invariable practice been in this case departed from?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS,) Birmingham, E.I have no doubt that there were other men in the Force qualified to fill the office of Superintendent. Any complaint against a Superintendent would be addressed in the first instance to the Chief Constable; but if there is any reason to suppose that proper cognizance is not taken of the complaint, an appeal lies from the Chief Constable to the Court of Quarter Sessions; I have made no inquiry as to the state of public feeling in the 699 locality; and do not conceive it to be a part of my duty to do so.
§ MR. T. ELLIS (Merionethshire)I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he did not promise my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea (Mr. Dillwyn) that he would make such an inquiry.
§ MR. MATTHEWSNo, Sir; I made no such promise.