§ MR. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the case of the death at Southwark of a young man, through injuries received on 29th May in the Walworth Road, owing to assault by three roughs, and to the remarks of the coroner upon the amount of hooliganism in the district, and of the danger of walking about the Borough, even in broad daylight; and, if so, whether steps will be taken to increase the police protection in that district, especially owing to the small increase in the police force in the Metropolitan area during the last ten years.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) So far as I can ascertain by inquiry into the case to which the hon. Member refers, the young man was struck by two men with whom he was 935 walking; he was at work next day, and it was not till a day or two afterwards that he complained of being ill. The death may have been attributable to injuries received on the 29th May; but the coroner's jury found that the evidence was not sufficient to show the cause of it, and they returned an open verdict. No complaint was made to the police by the deceased, nor does the case appear to be one of hooliganism at all. No complaints have been received by the police from the coroner, and I have no reason to suppose that the number of police in the Borough is not adequate for the reasonable requirements of the district.