§ MR. HENRY J. WILSON (York, W.R., Holmfirth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been 1774 directed to the circumstances disclosed at the inquest held at Castleford on the 15th of February, relative to the death of William Jennings, whose head was battered into a shapeless mass by the revolutions of the wheel of the conveyance in which he was being driven by a relative from the Junction Inn, Methley, where they had been drinking for a considerable time, and which they left in a state of intoxication; whether the keeper of the Junction Inn or any of his servants were called as witnesses at the inquest; whether any proceedings have been taken against the landlord, who appears to have supplied both men with drink until they were in a condition which led to the death of one of them; and whether any such steps will be taken?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS, Birmingham, E.)I have received a Report from the Chief Constable on the subject, from which I learn that the two men called at the Junction Inn on their way home in the evening, and remained there for three-quarters of an hour. The landlord denies that he supplied them with any intoxicating drink, and this is corroborated by a miner who was in the house a part of the time. The deceased man was the worse for drink when he arrived. The police, who made the fullest inquiries, were not able to obtain any evidence to show that the landlord supplied the deceased or his companion with intoxicating drink. Neither he nor his servants were called at the inquest, and there was no ground to justify proceedings against him. The police believe that the men got most of their drink at the houses of private friends whom they visited in the course of the day.