§ MR. J. M. ROBERTSON (Northumberland, Tyneside)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the case of Hyam Goldstein, a master, charged (with two others) at the Thames Police Court, on 2nd March, with committing an assault in a strike; whether his attention has been called to the remarks of the officiating magistrate, Mr. Dickinson, in refusing bail, and to the fact that, after Goldstein had been kept in custody for a week, he was discharged by the same magistrate, on 9th March, with the admission that there was a doubt whether he committed the assault; and whether he proposes to take any action in the matter.
§ MR. GLADSTONEI have no authority to interfere with the discretion used by a magistrate in deciding when bail may be allowed. When the hearing of a charge is adjourned under Section 16 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1848, the statute expressly gives the Court a discretion in this matter, and having made careful inquiry into the facts of this particular case, I see no reason to doubt that the discretion was wisely exercised.