§ MR. HUMPHREYS-OWEN (Montgomeryshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the fact that in different parts of the country public meetings have been broken up and assaults committed on many of Her Majesty's subjects in consequence of their political opinions; and whether, if it should appear to him that the police force of any county or borough have been remiss in the performance of their duty of protecting the parsons and property of the people, he will regard such conduct as justifying him in withholding his certificate of the efficiency of such police force.
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. White Ridley,) Lancashire, BlackpoolI have received no complaints of such occurrences as are referred to in the first paragraph. It is impossible to answer categorically the hypothetical question in the second paragraph. Of course if habitual remissness on the part of the police in protecting persons and property were proved to have existed, it would be an element in considering whether or not the force could be certified as efficient.