§ MR. FLOWER (Bradford, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that 14 months ago a man named Timothy Murphy delivered to the police 1116 authorities, some diamonds which he had found in Ebury Street; whether the diamonds having remained unclaimed have since been sold; and why the finder has been refused any compensation?
§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)also had the following Question on the Paper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that Timothy Murphy, a cab runner, found 14 diamonds more than a year ago, and delivered them up to the police; that the police have failed to find an owner for the property, sold it without giving any notice to Murphy, or any compensation for his honesty in the transaction; and that, when Murphy applied at Bow Street for the property, he was told he ought to have applied two months earlier; and whether, considering the poverty of the man who acted so honestly, he will see that the amount realised by the sale of the diamonds is given to Timothy Murphy?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. W. RIDLEY, Lancashire, Blackpool)It is not the case that Murphy delivered up the diamonds to the police; they were found on him when arrested on a charge of drunkenness. The magistrate directed the police to retain the diamonds, and Murphy was informed that he must apply to the magistrate if he wished to obtain possession of them. No application having been made, and no owner discovered, the police retained the diamonds for a year and then sold them under the provisions of the Police Property Act, 1897, and the regulations made thereunder. Afterwards an application was made to the magistrate, and refused by him. Under the circumstances I do not think there is any ground for compensation, although if the diamonds had been, as suggested in the Question, voluntarily delivered up to the police by Murphy he would, according to the ordinary practice, either have received them back, if no owner had been discovered, or have been compensated.