HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS, Birmingham, E.)I have received a Report from the Chief Constable, who informs me that, in consequence of" rumours that gaming was being carried on in several of the public houses in. Buckinghamshire, he directed a constable in plain clothes to be detailed for the purpose of keeping a watch on, certain premises, in consequence of' which three publicans were summoned and convicted. The two named in the. question—namely, John William Rock and James Stone — had not been previously convicted. The principal witness was the constable who had been detailed as stated. He was not in disguise, but in plain clothes. I believe it is by no means unusual that officers detailed for such duty should be in plain clothes. In the Metropolis a preliminary warning would, as a rule, be given, but not necessarily, where it was known that the law was being wilfully broken, In Bucks this appears not to be the prac- 127 tice. These are matters for the discretion of the Chief Constable, and it is not for me to interfere.