§ SIR WILFRID LAWSON (Cumberland, Cockermouth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has had any report from Worksop in connection with a statement which has appeared to the effect that a local Wesleyan schoolmaster who had been accused of holding pro-Boer opinions was assailed while presiding at a temperance meeting, and followed to his home by a crowd pelting him with stones, eggs, and earth; whether the same course was adopted towards him on the following evening when leaving his school; and whether, if this be so, he will satisfy himself that there is a sufficient force of police at Worksop for the preservation of the public peace and the defence of unpopular individuals.
§ *SIR M. WHITE RIDLEYI cannot but express my regret that a temperance 446 meeting was disturbed because the chairman is believed to hold unpopular views about the war; but having made inquiry I find no reason to doubt that the police performed their duty in affording adequate protection—more, in fact, than was asked for—and that sufficient precautions were and are being taken to prevent a renewal of the disturbance. I may add that Mr. Roberts, the schoolmaster, did not sustain any injury on either occasion.