§ MR. MACDONAI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that in a case heard on the 11th of August, at the West Ham Borough Petty Sessions, the Borough Justices (contrary to their past practice of committing to the first Court having jurisdiction) committed a prisoner for trial at the Quarter Sessions to be held on the 19th of October, and refused to commit him for trial at the Central: Criminal Court on the 11th of September, thereby causing delay and (unless bail be obtained) inflicting a period of nearly six weeks' imprisonment on a possibly innocent person; and whether the Lord Chancellor will inquire into the matter?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH, Fife, E.)The solicitor for the prosecution asked that the case might be sent to the Central Criminal Court on the 11th of September, but the prisoner's solicitor said that if the prisoner was allowed bail he preferred a committal to the Borough Sessions on the 19th of October. Under these circumstances, the Justices made the committal referred to. They allowed bail, and the necessary recognisances having been entered into, the prisoner was immediately released from custody.