§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGE (Carnarvon Boroughs)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the proceedings of the Joint Police Committee for Carnarvon on Thursday last, when the members of the subcommittee appointed by that body to deal with the Bethesda difficulty repudiated the statement made by the Chief Constable that they had instructed that officer to requisition the aid of the military; whether he has also observed that the members of that sub-committee state that they had not even been called together before such a requisition was despatched by the Chief Constable to consider the necessity for such a step being taken; and whether he will request the Chief Constable to furnish him with an explanation of his statements to the Government.
§ *MR. RITCHIEsaid he had not had time to make inquiry, but of course he would do so. He would, however, point out to the hon. Member that it was not the sub-committee who requisitioned the military, but a magistrate, who, he understood, was chairman of the joint committee. That gentleman called the military in after a meeting of the sub-committee.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEIt was stated by the First Lord of the Treasury that the sub-committee authorised and sanctioned it.
§ *MR. RITCHIEOf course it is very often possible to use a phrase which may be misunderstood.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEI looked it up in The Times.
§ *MR. RITCHIEI am responsible for the statement made by the first Lord, as the right hon. Gentleman got his information from me. It is quite clear that the sub-committee had no power whatever to call in the military, nor had the chief constable power to do so. It was a magistrate who called them in, and that magistrate was chairman of the joint committee.