§ SIR WALTER FOSTER (Derby, Ilkeston)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the case of the assistant overseer of Horbling, Folkingham, who was fined by the Revising Barrister at the Revision Court held at Billingborough, in the county of Lincoln, in September last; whether a political agent has any right to ask the overseer for information 1192 as to the politics of persons on the overseers' lists; and whether in this case there was any justification for the action of the Revising Barrister in fining the assistant overseer on the statement of a political agent, unsupported by evidence, and without calling on the overseer and assistant overseer for their testimony?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI gather from the newspaper report that in the case of the assistant overseer of Horbling the Revising Barrister deducted 5s. 6d. from the overseer's expenses for neglect in forwarding the lists upon application being made to him for them. The same report states that the assistant overseer was heard by the Barrister in Court in answer to the complaint before the disallowance was made. There is no obligation on the part of an overseer to answer inquiries as to the politics of persons on the overseers' lists.