§ MR. CROOKS (Woolwich)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the circumstances under which Percy Hopper, an employee in the cartridge factory at Woolwich Arsenal, was brought before the stipendiary magistrate at Woolwich on June 17th, and convicted of causing a street obstruction by betting, and fined £5; that, on Hopper's appealing to the South London Sessions against his conviction, the deputy-chairman declined to consider evidence of handwriting to show that the paper found on Hopper (which the police swore was a betting slip) was only a personal memorandum in Hopper's own handwriting, and dismissed the appeal; and whether, seeing that, in consequence of his conviction, Hopper has been dismissed from Woolwich Arsenal after having been employed over twenty-one years, and also lost his bonus, and in view of this man's character, and of the fact that 930 Hopper bore a striking likeness to a bookmaker whom the police were anxious to catch, he proposes to take any action in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) My attention had not been called to this case until the hon. Member put down his Question. I find, on inquiry, that Hopper was convicted, as stated in the Question, and appealed to quarter sessions, and that quarter sessions, after hearing the case, confirmed the conviction, but reduced the penalty to 40s. I have no further information as to the course of the proceedings at quarter sessions. The Commissioner of Police informs me that there is no bookmaker known to the police at Woolwich who bears any resemblance to Hopper, and that Hopper was not arrested in consequence of any supposed likeness to a bookmaker. The decision as to Hopper's dismissal from Woolwich Arsenal is a matter entirely for the Secretary of State for War. I am sorry that I can find no reason for any action on my part, either as regards the conviction, which has been confirmed after hearing on appeal, or as regards the dismissal, which is outside my jurisdiction.