§ MR. PERKS () Lincolnshire, SouthI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his attention has been called to the case of Mr. Frederick Sharpley, a Wesleyan lay preacher, who has been committed to Maidstone Gaol for 14 days for singing a hymn at a religious service in the village of Leeds, Kent, on Sunday, 11th December last, conducted at a spot where similar outdoor services have been conducted for many years; whether he is aware that the Kent County Council is the only County Council which has adopted such a by-law as the one under which Mr. Sharpley has been convicted and imprisoned; and, whether, having regard to the fact that the judges to whom the validity of such by-law was referred were divided in opinion, he will advise Her Majesty to exercise her clemency in the case in question.
§ THE HOME SECRETARYMy attention was not drawn to this case till two days ago, and I am now making inquiries into the matter; but the honourable Member is in error in supposing that Kent is the only county where a similar by-law is in force. Several boroughs and counties have such by-laws.