§ MR. J. F. OSWALD (Oldham)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the recent committal for a month of a man, who expressed contrition, for an alleged threatening of witnesses outside a Court, and in view of the law allowing no appeal by a person so committed, the Government will, at an early date, bring in a Bill to deal with the subject of Contempt of Court?
§ SIR MATTHEW WMITE RIDLEYI think my hon. friend is misinformed as to the position of the prisoner in question. In the case of a definite sentence of fine or imprisonment for Contempt of Court, the offender has the same right of petition, and the Crown the same jurisdiction, as exist in the case of any other sentence for a criminal offence. The question of my hon. Friend really resolves itself, therefore, into the much larger question whether or not there should be legislation for the establishment of an appeal in criminal cases generally.