HC Deb 29 October 1906 vol 163 cc711-2
MR. CLAUDE HAY

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has received the Report of the proceedings in the case of Rex v. Blackler, what action he proposes to take to recompense the defendant for the loss he has suffered in consequence of these proceedings; and whether he will lay † See (4) Debates, clxii, 408. upon the Table the correspondence which has passed between the Solicitor to the Treasury and the parties concerned in this case.

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Sir JOHN WALTON, Leeds, S.)

I may call the attention of the hon. Member to the answer I gave in July last.‡ This defendant was acquitted after being tried by a jury, although he had been committed to take his trial by the unanimous order of a bench of nine magistrates. A claim for compensation has been received by the Treasury, who have come to the conclusion that it cannot be entertained. With regard to the production of the correspondence to the Director of Public Prosecutions, such correspondence has always been held to be strictly privileged, and in my opinion it is exceedingly important in the public interest that it should retain that character. I am not therefore prepared to advise that it be laid.