§ MR. CARVELL WILLIAMS (Nottingham, Mansfield)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether there has been received at the Colonial Office a Memorial from the Baptist Union of Jamaica, stating that the Constabulary of Kingston, acting under the instructions of the Governor, refrain, during the Christmas holidays, from enforcing the laws against lotteries, and representing that encouragement is thereby afforded to the gambling which 647 is on the increase in the island, and that the administration of the law is likely to be brought into contempt; and whether the Governor will be instructed to adopt in future a different course?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. S. BUXTON,) Tower Hamlets, PoplarThe Memorial in question has been received, accompanied by a Report from the Governor of Jamaica. The Governor has been instructed to inform the memorialists, in reply, that a certain amount of discretion is necessarily given to the police as to instituting prosecutions for minor offences, and that, as the Secretary of State does not understand that the instructions of which they complain go beyond this, he sees no reason to interfere. The memorialists have been reminded that it is open to any member of the community to institute a prosecution against any person whom he may consider to have contravened the law against gambling. The statement that gambling is on the increase in Jamaica is not borne out by the Reports of the Police or the Statistics of Crime.