§ CAPTAIN GRICE-HUTCHINSONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the constables on duty at the Irish Office are forbidden to quit their post for any cause whatever unconnected with the office, and have no means of electric or other communication by which to summon aid for themselves, or for the protection of life and property in the neighbourhood; and, if so, whether he will give instructions that such necessary communication be afforded them?
§ MR. ASQUITHConstables on protection duty at the Irish Office, Houses of Parliament, and other public buildings are not allowed to quit their posts for any cause whatever. The necessity for this rule is obvious: if it was not enforced, a police constable might be called away on some excuse by any ill-disposed person. It is true that the officers on protection duty at the Irish Office have no means of electric or telephonic communication by which to summon aid, and as there is a police constable on fixed 169 point duty within 300 yards of the Irish Office, and the neigh bourhood is patrolled regularly by the police, I do not consider it necessary to establish communication as suggested by the hon. Member for the protection of life and property. The police station is within less than five minutes' walk.