§ MR. J. A. WILLOX (Liverpool, Everton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his attention has been drawn to a case recently heard before the Margate borough magistrates, when several boys were charged with hawking newspapers without holding licences; and, whether the Margate Extension and Improvement Act, 1887, under which the said proceedings were taken, contains any clause empowering the Corporation to prevent the sale of newspapers in the streets by unlicensed persons?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY,) Lancashire, BlackpoolMy attention had not previously been called to this matter. I am informed that the proceedings were taken under Section 43 of the Margate Extension and Improvement Act of 1877 (not 1887) which empowers the Corporation to prevent any persons from carrying on the business of a hawker in the borough without a licence. Whether a newspaper boy is a hawker within the meaning of this section is a question not for me but for a Court of Law to decide.