§ MR. JOHN BURNS (Battersea)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the circumstances connected with a charge of felony brought by a firm of brewers against one of their tenants, the licensee of a beerhouse in the East End of London; whether he is aware that the licensee was prepared to plead guilty before the police magistrate but, at the request of the brewers, the case was adjourned to enable the licence to be transferred; that the licensing justices refused to transfer the licence until the charge of felony had been disposed of; that at the request of the brewers the charge of felony was reduced to a charge of unlawful receiving under the Police Acts; and that the licensee was convicted of and fined for that offence; and, if so, whether, seeing that the effect of the proceedings was to defeat the operation of the statutory provision which makes a licence void upon the licensee being convicted of felony, he proposes to take any, and, if any, what action in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) My attention was drawn to this case last year, and I duly considered it. It had been dealt with by the magistrate according to his discretion, with which I have no power to interfere, and there was no action for me to take in the matter.