§ MR. BELL (Derby)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been called to the action of the London and North Western Railway Company in dismissing a number of men from their employment for giving evidence in one of His Majesty's High Courts of Justice, and to a report of a coroner's inquest held at Willesden Vestry Hall on the 6th instant, to inquire into the cause of a fatal accident to a fireman named George Hearsum, employed by the same company, at which the foreman of the jury complained of the difficulty of getting evidence when railway employees came there, and to the remarks of the coroner in reference to evidence given by an official of the company; and whether he will take steps by legislation or otherwise to protect witnesses from being interfered with by their employers.
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. JESSE COLLINGS,) Birmingham, BordesleyThe Secretary of State's attention has not been specially called to the circumstances referred to in the first part of the question. It is, of course, of the utmost importance that witnesses should not be deterred from telling the truth in courts of justice by fear of the consequences, and if the hon. Member will furnish the Secretary of State with particulars of any cases in which this is believed to have happened, he will consider the question further; but he does 255 not think that a mere general statement by the foreman of a coroner's jury, such as that referred to in the question, is of itself sufficient ground for proposing any amendment of the law.