HC Deb 06 February 1934 vol 285 cc977-8
73. Duchess of ATHOLL

asked the Home Secretary the numbers of murders committed by gunmen in England and Wales in the years 1932 and 1933?

Sir J. GILMOUR

As some research is necessary in order to enable me to answer this question, I shall be much obliged if the Noble Lady will be good enough to put it down again in a week's time.

56. Duchess of ATHOLL

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of murders committed by gunmen in Scotland in the years 1932 and 1933?

Mr. SKELTON

I am not certain that I know what meaning my Noble Friend attaches to the word "gunman," but the only murder committed by shooting in Scotland in the years 1932 and 1933 could not, I think, be so described.

Duchess of ATHOLL

Will the hon. Gentleman bear in mind that that phrase is derived from someone else, who said he believed that there had been more murders by gunmen in Great Britain in the last few years than there had been in the whole of India in the same period, and that I am anxious to get the facts?