HC Deb 02 July 1908 vol 191 cc961-2
MR. BURDETT-COUTTS (Westminster)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received any report from the police, in the ordinary course, with regard to scenes of drunkenness on the occasion of a midnight march in a limited area of Westminster on the night of 4th April last; whether he ordered a special report to be made by the police present during the march; and, if so, whether he will state what number of men, if any, in a drunken condition the police reported to have been in the streets on that occasion.

MR. GLADSTONE

No report from the police was received by me on the occasion of the procession of members of the Church Army to which the hon. Member refers, but I have made inquiry, and am informed by the Commissioner of Police that the officers who accompanied the procession state that no case of drunkenness was observed by them in the streets through which the procession passed.

MR. BURDETT-COUTTS

May I ask if there is any confirmation at all in the report of the statement widely published that from 150 to 200 men in a drunken condition were met in the area during that march?

MR. GLADSTONE

I know nothing whatever of the statement to which my hon. friend refers, but I have given the facts of the case.

MR. LEIF JONES

Was a report deemed unnecessary because there was no unusual amount of drunkenness on that occasion?

MR. GLADSTONE

I can only repeat that no case of drunkenness was brought under the notice of the police.