§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State 1305 for the Home Department whether members of the Metropolitan Police Force learn foreign languages at their own expense, or whether they receive any allowance in money, time, or advantages in the matter of promotion for so doing.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. GLADSTONE, Leeds, W.)The Home Office has granted a small sum to be given in prizes to men who have made themselves proficient in Yiddish; and it is hardly necessary to say that where an officer's usefulness is increased by his proficiency in a foreign language, this qualification is taken into account along with other considerations when the question arises of his selection for promotion.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the number of the members of the Metropolitan Police Force who are now learning or have learnt Jüdish-Deutsch or other foreign tongues in order to qualify them for the effective discharge of their duties among the alien population in this Kingdom.
§ MR. GLADSTONEEighty-one police officers have acquired some knowledge of Yiddish and other foreign languages, and about 130 officers are engaged in learning them.