§ MR. J. H. YOXALL (Nottingham, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he is aware that objection is widely taken to the 202 trial, at ordinary police courts, of cases not properly of a criminal nature, though involving penalties, such as summonses under the Education Acts for the non-attendance of children at school; if he is aware that, under the present system, the hearing of school-attendance cases frequently involves the presence of respectable women and young children at police courts; and, in view of the fact that the Royal Commission on the Amalgamation of the City and County of London recommended that the trial of such cases should take place elsewhere than at ordinary police courts, whether he proposes to take the necessary steps to remove the hearing of such cases to places other than police courts?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYI am not aware that any widespread objection exists to the present system. In connection with school-attendance cases, the presence of women and children may, no doubt, be required at the courts; but it is the general practice to hear these cases at a time of the day when there is little, if any, criminal business going on, and at the time appointed for them to take them before any other business. This practice works well, and I am not prepared to introduce the legislation which would be necessary for the removal of these casas to other than police courts.