§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir J. Simon)I beg to move, "That leave be given to introduce a Bill to amend the law with respect to clubs during the continuance of the present War."
Public attention has recently been prominently drawn to the lengths to which certain establishments calling themselves clubs have gone in availing themselves of the protection which the present law gives to all clubs. A great body of evidence has been collected by different authorities. The present condition of things is complained of both by the military and by the police. In, I think, more than one case police magistrates have called special attention to it, and the Chairman of the London Quarter Sessions particularly alluded to it. There is no intention to alter the law relating to clubs for any permanent purpose. The proposal is simply to make a temporary change for the period of the War. The condition of 1299 things which it is necessary to regulate may be briefly described in this way. A great number of establishments are springing up, in some cases registered as clubs, and in some cases posing as clubs without being registered, which do not really deserve the name of clubs at all, for those who resort to them are, for the most part, not permanent members of the institution at all. They are open at all hours of the night and all the early morning, and they are the resort on the one hand of every kind of swindler and harpy, and on the other hand they are resorted to by a number of young men, some of them serving in His Majesty's Forces, who, either from folly or inexperience, fail to recognise the real character of those with whom they are dealing there. I propose in this Bill that we should deal with the matter by making two main provisions. In the first place it appears to the Government that in time of war it is not unreasonable to require, in such areas as are scheduled for the purpose, that clubs shall close at a certain hour of the night. There is no intention that any club should be asked to close at an hour when a restaurant is open, and there is, of course, no intention of interfering with ordinary club life, or attempting to regulate by Statute the private conduct of anyone. But if restaurants are allowed, in London for example, to remain open until half-past twelve it is most desirable, and in the view both of the military and the police authorities it is necessary, to be able in such an area as London, and in areas which will be scheduled by Order, to require that clubs shall close at an hour specified in the Order, the hour not being earlier than the hour at which the restaurants themselves are required to close. I have caused to be made careful inquiries in connection with clubs of different kinds, of well-known reputation and respectability, but I am quite confident, from the replies I have received, that regulation on that head would not be generally resisted by those who in time of war are using clubs of the proper sort. But that is not enough. The real difficulty which faces both the military and the police is that under the general law that applies to clubs there is in no circumstances whatever the power of entry for the purpose of inspection, or, at any rate, as a rule, there is no power of entry for the purpose of inspection, unless a warrant from the magistrate has been first obtained. That may be a perfectly 1300 good rule in times of peace, and nothing that I propose is intended in any way to call it in question; but in endeavouring to stamp out the public mischief which is being done by these disreputable night clubs it is absurd to say that nobody can enter them until first he has proved his case before the magistrate. We, therefore, propose to provide that for the purpose of enforcing the law there shall be the power of entry, not exercised by an ordinary constable, but exercised under the supervision of the responsible authorities by a superior official of police, or in the case of clubs that are resorted to by those who serve His Majesty's Forces a similar right is to be exercised by persons authorised by the military authorities. It is not possible to make such regulations and confine them to the particular disreputable institutions which it is, I think, the general intention of the House to regulate. Obviously you cannot define that particular class of club in an Act of Parliament. Therefore, the proposal will be general in form, but there is no intention to use these powers of inspection except for the purpose of enforcing the Act, and except in cases where there is reasonable ground for saying that in the public interest this entry should be permitted.
The penalties are in two forms. In the first place, if the club was shown to be illegal within the meaning of this Bill, either because it kept open during prohibited hours or because it otherwise was breaking the law, either by selling liquor after hours or by allowing itself to be used as a gambling house, or as a resort such as a house of ill-fame, then the club itself could be struck off the register and prohibited from being a club for the rest of the War. In the second place, those who are shown to be responsible for that state of things, the manager or others responsible, will expose themselves not only to a fine but to imprisonment. There is one other provision to which I must draw the attention of the House. As things stand, the effect of striking the club off the register is very temporary and, indeed, trifling, for those who have established it, in order that they may cheat and deceive innocent people who go there, when they find the club has been struck off the register can go next day, pay five shillings, and start a new club in the same street—it may be next door.
§ Colonel LOCKWOODCannot that be refused?
§ Sir J. SIMONNot now, because it is as automatic as buying a postage stamp. We propose as far as new clubs are concerned, clubs not existing at present, but sought to be set up henceforward during the War, that before the registration of a new club is allowed an interval shall elapse during which police inquiries may be made, and the authority may refuse to register if the police show that the applicant is a person who, from his antecedents and record, ought not to be allowed to register the club. By these means the Government hope and believe that we shall be able to deal with a state of affairs which is not only a gross scandal, but is, in the present circumstances, a public danger. Without delaying the House further I can assure hon. Members that the evidence which has been put before me, and which the military authorities in London have also got, is such as to satisfy any reasonable person that in making these proposals we are not seeking to restrict by law the amusements and private life of anybody, but we are merely trying to protect this country from a danger at the very heart of the Empire.
§ Colonel LOCKWOODIs it the intention to include the great central clubs, like the National Liberal Club and the Carlton, in the early closing time?
§ Sir J. SIMONI think the provision, whatever it may be, must be applied generally, but we propose that the authority may, in a special case, give an extension of hours. You may have a case where a club on a particular occasion has a perfectly good reason for wishing to remain open late, and there will be no difficulty in the Commissioner of Police granting leave. You may have a case where a club, owing to the occupations of its members, or for other special reasons, may well desire the general privilege of remaining open late—an obvious example would be the Press Club—and the Bill, as I introduce it, contains provision which would allow this exception. I do not, however, wish my right hon. Friend (Colonel Lockwood) at the moment to suppose that either of the clubs to which he refers—I do not know which is the one in which he is most interested—the National Liberal Club or the Carlton Club, will necessarily have a special exemption.
Bill ordered to be brought in by Sir John Simon, Mr. Long, the Solicitor-General, and Mr. Brace. Presented accordingly, read the first time; to be read a second time To-morrow, and to be printed. [Bill 151.]