§ MR. NORMANI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the fact that, on the 4th instant, Mr. G. G Ashton Jonson, driving a light motor car of small horse power, was stopped by a policeman upon the Ripley Road, and was charged before the Guildford magistrates on the 10th instant with exceeding the legal limit of speed; that the policeman admitted that he had measured the distance over which he had timed the defendant with a bicycle wheel; that he had taken the time with the seconds hand of an ordinary watch after looking to see the defendant pass a marked point 176 yards away; that there was no person in sight upon the road, and no traffic whatever, and that the car was under perfect control; that Mr. Ashton Jonson declared upon oath that he had timed his previous two miles with a stop-watch, and they had been covered at the rate of eleven miles an hour; that he also swore, and his evidence was corroborated on oath by Mr. Arthur Blomfield, Architect to the Bank of England, who was a passenger upon the ear, that it was impossible he could have been proceeding at the speed charged by the policeman; and that, nevertheless, the Chairman of the Guildford Magistrates fined the defendant, though it was the first charge of the kind against him, five pounds; and whether he will consider the propriety of taking any action in the matter.
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. RITCHIE, Croydon)The case as stated by the hon. Member appears to have been fully put before the magistrates; they heard the evidence, and I do not think I should be justified in attempting to review the decision of a competent Court in a case of conflicting evidence such as this.