§ SIR THOMAS DEWARTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, having regard to the wording of Section 3 (4) of the Motor-Car Act, 1903, will he state whether any persons holding a licence for driving a motor-car have been summoned for not producing such licence when demanded by the police; and, if so, will he state the number of prosecutions, and the number of convictions obtained; and, to meet the case of motor driver licence-holders who do not happen to have the licence in their personal possession at the time it is demanded, will he consider the expediency of instructing the police to enter prosecutions in those cases only in which the motor driver's assertion that he has taken out a licence has proved on inquiry to be false.
1705 (Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) My information extends to the Metropolitan Police District only. In that district, between the 1st January, 1904, and the 28th February, 1905, 230 summonses were taken out by the Metropolitan Police against drivers for failing to produce their licences, and these resulted in 216 convictions. The hon. Member will hardly expect me to issue instructions to the police which would be in contravention of the plain words of Section 3 of the Motor-Car Act, 1903, which makes it an offence to fail to produce the licence on the demand of a constable.