MR. CATHCART WASONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been directed to the direction of the coroner to the jury at Blackpool, with reference to Clause 9 of The Motor Act, 1903, which enacts that a person shall not under any circumstances drive a motor 668 car on a public highway at a speed exceeding twenty mile per hour, in stating to the jury that if it were done early in the morning when few people are stirring, or in a place which might be unfrequented, the act would be excusable if. ordinary precaution were used, and that it did not matter the time of day, as that was only another way of saying when there was no traffic about; and what action he proposes to take with reference to this coroner.
§ *MR. GLADSTONEI am informed by the coroner that the words quoted had reference to Section 1 of the Act (which relates to driving recklessly or at a speed dangerous to the public) and not to Section 9 which fixes a maximum rate of speed. The coroner did not say any thing to imply that a car might be driven anywhere or under any circum stances at a speed exceeding twenty miles an hour. On the contrary, he expressly stated that the driver had no right to drive down the road where the accident occurred at a speed of twenty miles an hour.