§ 46. Captain PETER MACDONALDasked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been drawn to a letter addressed recently to a conference of magistrates by the Minister of Transport, urging them to consider thoughtlessness on the roads as equal to conscious and deliberate wrongdoing; and whether he will restore the practice whereby Ministers, other than the Home Secretary, refrained from giving advice to magistrates as to how certain laws concerning their respective Departments should be interpreted?
§ The PRIME MINISTERYes, Sir. My right hon. Friend was invited to attend the conference in question and to speak. Being unable to attend in person he sent a message. My hon. and gallant Friend is under a misapprehension in suggesting that the message purported to interpret the law.
§ Captain STRICKLANDArising out of the answer, is it not a fact that the magistrates were advised to treat cases of carelessness with as great severity as acts of wilful negligence, and does that represent a new policy on the part of the Government towards motorists?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe message which was sent was agreed with the Home Office before it was sent, and I think my right hon. Friend was acting perfectly properly as Minister of Transport in calling the attention of magistrates to the legislation which had been passed. It is his duty to preserve life, and I consider his conduct was perfectly proper.
§ Captain STRICKLANDAre we to understand that motor legislation does make a new departure in the law, by which deeds of carelessness are to be punished with as much severity as those done of wilful purpose?