§ MR. J. CALDWELL (Lanark, Mid)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate, (1) whether his attention has been called to the eviction, on 29th ultimo, of a miner with five of his family from a house tenanted and occupied by him at Langmuir Rows, Kirkintilloch, the property of James Wood and Company (Limited), Maklehill Colliery, and which he had tenanted and occupied for the last six years; (2) whether he is aware that there were present at the time of the said eviction, and countenancing the same, Sergeant Marr and a police officer, both members of the police force of the burgh of Kirkintilloch, whilst the eviction took place outside of said burgh, and within the jurisdiction of the county; and, (3) whether the said police officers were shown any warrant for the eviction on said occasion, and what right they had to be on the scene at that particular time and countenancing the eviction?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. GRAHAM MURRAY, Buteshire)The facts in the first part of the Question are substantially correct. The evicted man, William MacDougall, had not been in the employment of the company, who owned the house, for about nine months, and had been duly served with notice to remove at the end of the term. In reply to the last two paragraphs, I have to inform the hon. Member that Kirkintilloch has no police force separate from the county, and that the two county constables who were present were sent there by their superior officer, not to countenance the eviction, to borrow the hon. Member's phrase, but in case there might be a disturbance. They were not shown any warrant for the eviction, and, so far as I am aware, there was no necessity for doing so.
§ MR. CALDWELLasked whether there was any legal warrant to evict?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATEsaid he was not aware, but he should think it very improbable.