§ MR. WEBSTER (St. Pancras, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to a case heard on the 5th instant at the Hampstead Petty Sessions, before Mr. B. W. Smith, in which a youth named John Bunny was sentenced to two months' imprisonment, without the option of a fine, for having speculated a penny in an illegal lottery which was being conducted on Hampstead Heath; and whether, having regard to the previous good character of the lad, he can see his way to recommending some mitigation of the sentence?
§ MR. ASQUITHYes; but I under stand that the sentence was imposed, not for the offence of having speculated a penny in an illegal lottery, but in the belief that Bunny belonged to, or was assisting, a gang of men who were conducting such a lottery, and cheating the bystanders. I have communicated with the Magistrates, who assent to some mitigation of punishment. I think the imprisonment he has already suffered is sufficient, and I have accordingly ordered his discharge.