HC Deb 26 August 1907 vol 182 cc170-1
MR. BYLES (Salford, N.)

I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General whether he has been furnished with information showing that the newspaper competitions, known as Limericks, are often so administered as to be little better than fraudulent lotteries; and does he now see his way to take any steps for the protection of the large number of unsuspecting persons who are in good faith supplying the funds for these competitions.

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

The materials furnished to me tend to show that in some cases at least the prizes for Limericks are chosen haphazard. If so, the so-called competition is undoubtedly both a lottery within the statute and a fraud upon the competitors to whom it is represented that the discrimination will be exercised upon a basis of comparative merit. There is further the consideration whether the large sums subscribed are in fact distributed. The subject is under the consideration of the Commissioners of the Police, who are charged with the administration of the law and have full authority to obtain proper legal advice, and I would suggest that all further communications upon the subject should be addressed to them.

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