§ Mr. BILLING (by Private Notice)asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to a resolution passed at a, mass demonstration of the City and Metropolitan Police at Trafalgar Square yesterday, and what action, if any, he proposes to take?
§ Mr. SHORTTI have had no notice at all of any question of this kind.
§ Mr. BILLINGIs the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that a telegram containing the question was sent to him at nine o'clock this morning? If he has not received it, is it not a direct reflection upon the Post Office authorities; and, in any event, is it not a fact that the right hon. Gentleman was present at the meeting yesterday and was an interested spectator, and, having regard—
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Gentleman is getting out of order.
§ Mr. BILLINGThen, may I, Mr. Speaker, ask whether the right hon. Gentleman is prepared to put down the Home Office Vote at an early date, to enable this House to debate the crisis which has arisen in the Police Force of the City and Metropolis?
§ Mr. SHORTTThere is no such thing as a crisis at the present time in the police force.
§ Mr. BILLINGIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that a unanimous resolution wag passed yesterday demanding the dismissal of General Sir Nevil Macready, and does he propose to take any official cognisance of that?
§ Mr. SHORTTNo, certainly not!
§ Mr. SPEAKERThat is a question of which the hon. Gentleman should give notice.
§ Mr. BILLINGI beg, Sir, to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, to call attention to a matter of urgent public importance—that is, the administration of General Sir Nevil Macready, the Chief Commissioner of Police.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI am afraid that statement of the hon. Gentleman is not sufficiently definite. Any hon. Member desiring to move the Adjournment of the House can only do so by calling attention to a definite matter. The administration of Sir Nevil Macready is carried over a considerable number of subjects. The hon. Member must make his proposal more definite.
§ Mr. BILLINGIs it not the fact, Sir, that in the Motion which I handed to you, and which reads, "to call attention to the demonstration of the police yesterday afternoon," which is a matter of urgent public importance, that, on your own suggestion, I omitted that part from my paper, because, as you said, it had no bearing on the question? Now it would appear that if I had left these words in I would have been in order.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI beg the hon. Member's pardon. He would still have been out of order. The paper he handed to me is not in the terms he has just read. What it said was, "to call attention to the resolution passed at a mass meeting of the City and Metropolitan Police at Trafalgar Square," for which, of course, the Govern- 597 ment is not in any way responsible. It is not open for an hon. Member of this House to call attention to that fact. It does not concern either the House or the Government. But the hon. Gentleman went on to say further in his Notice, "to call attention to the administration of General Sir Nevil Macready, the Chief Commissioner of Police." I took exception to that on the ground that it was indefinite, and that in order to ask leave to move Adjournment of the House the matter must be in relation to some definite subject.
§ Mr. BILLINGMight I ask you, Sir, having regard to the critical position of the police, whether I would be in order, on your ruling, to ask leave to-morrow to move the Adjournment of the House? By then I might be able to take Parliamentary advice so that no technicality will stand between myself and a matter of urgent public importance?
§ Mr. SPEAKERIt is always open to an hon. Member to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House as long as the matter is one urgently important. The hon. Member can move it to-morrow, or the next day, or indeed any day; but I hope when he brings the matter up again he will define more closely the exact matter he wishes to raise.
Colonel THORNEI understood the Home Secretary to say that there was no crisis of any sort in the Metropolitan Police Force. Surely he knows there is a great deal of discontent—
§ Mr. SPEAKERWe cannot deal with this matter now in debate. We are still in Question Time.
§ Mr. DEVLINMay I ask if the Post master-General can give any explanation as to whether or not the statement is true that a telegram which was sent at 9 o'clock in the morning—
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Member must give notice of that question too.