SIR F. MAPFLN (York, W.R., Hallamshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether lie is aware that in boroughs where the police are under the control of the Watch Committee, it is the usual practice not to issue warrants for offences such as misdemeanours in the first instance but to grant summonses to the police, as in the case of the 19 men and pit lads charged for being concerned in the Rockingham and Elsecar riots, and who were committed to take their trial at Leeds Assizes, 10 of them were acquitted after being taken out of their beds in the middle of the night by warrants granted by the Barnsley Magistrates; and whether he will represent to those Magistrates the desirability of granting only summonses in such cases, and that it is their duty to bind over witnesses for the defence to appear, as well as for the prosecution?
§ MR. ASQUITHThe law is the same in boroughs and in counties, and I believe the practice is also. Whether the process should be by summons or by warrant is a matter for the discretion of the Magistrates. There should be some special ground to justify the issue of a warrant in the first instance. I am not prepared to say that in determining in this case to proceed by warrant the Justices exercised their discretion wrongly. With regard to the second paragraph, I think that the answers which I have given on this and previous occasions to my hon. Friend are a sufficient expression of my opinion, and that it is not necessary to issue any instructions to the Justices on either point. It ought to be clearly understood that it is the duty of Magistrates to bind over witnesses for the accused, unless they are plainly of opinion that the evidence is immaterial or false.