§ MR. HOLLAND (Tower Hamlets, Bow)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the action of the police at Kingston in detaining cyclists in the cells at the police-station; to the opinion expressed through their chairman by the Kingston County Bench that if the imprisonment 433 of cyclists in the cells could be avoided it would be very desirable; and to the statement by the police that they were acting under instructions from Scotland Yard; and whether, in view of the fact that the police could detain the cycles as security while verifying the addresses of their riders, he would direct that the police should not detain cyclists in the police cells?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. W. RIDLEY, Lancashire, Blackpool)My attention has been drawn to the facts mentioned in the Question. It would be illegal, I am afraid, for the police to detain the cycles and not the cyclists. Arrangements were made at first to detain the cyclists in the reserve room, but the behaviour of the cyclists made it impossible to continue the practice, except in the case of females. Cyclists who break the law are treated, and must expect to be treated, like any other persons.