CLAUSE 27.—(Power to issue search warrant.) (Hansard, 13 November 1934)

§ The SOLICITOR-GENERAL

I beg to move, in page 25, line 40, to leave out from "that," to the word "may," in page 26, line 1, and to insert: any premises are being used for the purpose of the commission of an offence under this Part of this Act in connection with a lottery or proposed lottery. In discussions in Committee, not on this Clause, but on an earlier Clause, which, I think, is now Clause 22, reference was made to the search power, and it was suggested that it might be a hardship if a search warrant could be obtained under the words of the Bill as they note stand, namely, on evidence that an offence in connection with a lottery had been committed on any premises. There might be an isolated transaction or a single bundle of tickets in any place intended for distribution, and it is to meet that objection and to carry out what my right hon. Friend said was the intention, with regard to the search warrant that we propose that the new words be inserted making it necessary for a Justice of the Peace to be satisfied, that premises are being used for the purpose of the commission of an offence. That is to say, a warrant will only be issued if there are actual premises being used, and the magistrates are so satisfied, for the commission of an offence. The matter was discussed at some length in Committee and I emphasised at that time the difference which these words made, and I hope that in the circumstances that may be felt by the House to be a sufficient explanation.

§ The SOLICITOR-GENERAL

I beg to move, in page 26, line 2, to leave out "named in the warrant."

I think that this matter was also referred to in Committee. I am not quite sure when these words first appeared in the Statute Book, but they are in fact inconvenient in practice. The safeguard for a person is that he must be a constable, and that safeguard is continued in the part of the Clause which deals with how the search warrant may be issued. There might be a case where a constable named in the warrant might for some reason, illness or otherwise, be unable to carry out his duties, and there might 1866 be cases in which resistance was put up against the proper exercise of the law, and in which case it might be necessary to get two or three additional men. I have looked through a good many of these Sections, and certainly these words do not occur in the bulk of them, and as they might cause inconvenience I have moved to leave them out.