§ 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 an official of the Ebbw Vale Coal and Iron Company in writing letters to some of the magistrates and the magistrates' clerk at the Tredegar Police Court, and asking the latter to constitute a certain bench to try a case in which the Company were prosecuting 571 workmen for breach of contract; and whether he proposes to take any steps to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.
§ * MR. AKERS DOUGLASBoth from the account of the incident which the hon. Member was good enough to send me and from inquiries I have made of the magistrates, I think the magistrates and their clerk dealt with the case in a way that showed clearly their sense of the impropriety of the communication which had been addressed to them, and which should effectively prevent the recurrence of any such incident. I certainly agree with them, though there are no steps which it lies in my power to take. I may add that I understand that the Manager of the Company has now stated that the communication was entirely unauthorised, expressed his regret that an official of the Company should have made it, and offered an unqualified apology.