§ MR. BOTTOMLEY (Hackney, S)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the sentence of a fine of £50 or three months imprisonment recently passed by the Brentford bench of magistrates upon a man named Swallow for supplying a bottle of beer to a customer whose name had not been entered in his employer's books; whether the man is now undergoing such term of imprisonment; and, if so, whether having regard to the technical character of the offence and to the fact that no previous charge had been made against the man, he will consider the justice of advising a reduction of the sentence.
§ MR. GLADSTONEThis was a case of illicit hawking of beer, which cannot be regarded as a merely technical offence. On the contrary, it is in my opinion a serious offence, which is difficult to detect, and when detected, calls for an exemplary penalty. On the information before me, I see no grounds for advising 1758 interference with the sentence which the Court in its discretion imposed.