SPIRITUALISM AND PSYCHICAL RESEARCH (EXEMPTION) BILL. (Hansard, 26 November 1930)

§ Mr. KELLY

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to relieve spiritualists and mediums from prosecution under the enactments relating to witchcraft and vagrancy whilst genuinely exercising their psychic powers whether in religious practice or scientific investigation. I wish that someone more qualified than myself was in charge of this Measure so that it might reach the Statute Book speedily. It is amazing that in this year of grace this country should still deny religious freedom to certain sections of the community. It is rather a blot upon the country to find prosecution and even persecution operating not only against those who profess the spiritualist faith but also against those who are connected with the scientific investigations which these particular bodies are undertaking. Very many eminent men and women are members of this particular faith. It is perhaps only fair to the House for me to say that I am not a member of this particular organisation, but when I realize the eminent people who are doing such splendid work and who are adherents to the spiritualist faith I wonder all the more why we allow Statutes under the Witchcraft and Vagrancy Act, which may be used still against people who are doing such splendid work, to continue to operate. I have tried to picture the feelings of the country if that great lovable soul, that great writer and doctor who recently died, Conan Doyle, and that great scientist Sir Oliver Lodge, had been hauled before the courts on the evidence of some informer and had to prove that they were not rogues and vagabonds. Yet that is the position at this moment. Any one of these fine gentle souls who 1321 are connected with this movement might at any moment be hauled before the courts.

It may be a surprise to some hon. Members to know that only one penalty can be imposed. There is no question of a fine. The only penalty under the Act of 1735 is one year's imprisonment, and once every quarter during that term of imprisonment to be placed in the pillory of the market town in the county where the information was laid. That is the law at the present time, and it may be operated against eminent people who are connected with this wonderful organisation. I admit that the penalty has not been imposed upon them, but there is prosecution and persecution going on at the moment. Many of those who desire to play their part in the faith in which they believe are in dreadful fear of prosecution, not for any offence or for injury to others, but because they may be professing that faith, and, what is even better, putting it into practice. But it is not only the medium who may be brought before the courts. Many hon. Members of this House are likely to be brought within the meshes of the law. [Hon. MEMBERS: "Name!"] It may be any hon. Member. They may be presiding at some gathering in connection with this organisation and it only requires the information to be laid; and we know how informers can prepare their evidence. There may be hon. Members who would not mind very much if some hon. Members were dealt with in this way, but is it to the credit of this country that we should deny religious freedom to these people, whose only object is to put into practice what their conscience has dictated.

It is the proud boast of this country that it gives freedom, but we can hark claim that we are a freedom-loving people if we still leave hanging over the head of this great organisation, composed of some of the gentlest in our nation, the possibility of these prosecutions and the penalties attaching to them. Because of that danger, I am asking for this Bill to be carried. It has but one operative Clause, which is that certificates may be given by the genuine organisations in this movement, under the approval of the Home Secretary, which would assure the community against any of that fraud which is operating under the title of 1322 Spiritualism and psychic research at the present time. [An HON. MEMBER: "A coupon!"] You may speak of it as a coupon if you like, but, as far as I am concerned, I would have preferred to have seen them in exactly the same position as every other religious body in the community. They have a right to that position; but, in order to meet the curious mind of some of our people, the spiritualists themselves are prepared to undergo an examination and to have certificates in order to prove that those engaged in their particular worship are genuine, and have also the approval of the Home Secretary.

Not only is there the difficulty in that direction, but we find that there is hardship in the courts. The courts refuse to recognise them as a body which may hold property, and have once or twice decided against them in the matter of bequests which have been made to them. Not only the courts, but the Charity Commissioners have refused to recognise them as a charitable body. In fact, at this moment they are in the uncertain position of not knowing whether the property which they are holding is quite safe against any information which might be laid as to their being a. body which is illegal. A body with 600 churches in this position is surely a position which we ought not to allow to continue. Even at the moment that is awful to everyone of us, when we lose one of our pals or friends by death, the right of interment with their own service is refused, because of the state of the law. I am asking that this Bill should be passed into law, so that these genuine spiritualists may not only profess but may worship according to what their conscience has dictated to them, and in the hope that, having been given that freedom, they may have the opportunity of developing in the same way that every other religious body in the country now has. I ask, and I am sure that I ask not in vain in this House, for that freedom for these people, so that they may have an opportunity of developing their faith.

§ Mr. MACQUISTEN

I have listened with great interest to the eloquent plea that has been made by the hon. Gentleman opposite. Some of his arguments seemed to me to be rather in favour of a continuance of the law as it at present stands. He suggested, for instance, that if the law stands as at present, many 1323 Members of this House might get a year's imprisonment and be put in the stocks. That seemd to me a substantial argument for continuing the law as it is. He also said that the people in these spiritualist bodies who own property were very anxious about the security of that property. In that position they are simply sharing the anxiety of everybody who owns anything at all since the advent of the present Government. We are all anxious with regard to our liberty or property about being able to carry on at all if the present Government continue much longer as they are doing.

The principal objection I have to the Bill is that, as I understand, all spiritualists are to be reduced to the state of the canine species. They are to get a licence each year from somebody. I do not know whether their names and addresses are to be attached to their collars, so that if they wander they may be brought back to their spiritual home. My hon. Friend might, I think, have had the courage of his opinions, and asked for the abolition of all the laws against witchcraft, which are completely out of date. He suggests that there is to be an association to issue licences. I suppose that means the appointment of further officials and fresh taxation. While there is to be this preposterous licence, the Bill is quite out of the question, and I would suggest that, buoyed up as he should be by his enthusiasm in the cause, he should have the courage to abolish the whole of these antediluvian laws. He would then have had my support, but, as it is, I think that this is a mere abuse of legislation, and I formally oppose the Motion.