HC Deb 16 June 1938 vol 337 cc385-6
37. Mr. Thurtle

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Clerk of the Peace of Surrey recently authorised a flag day and street collection in that county for the purpose of obtaining funds for the Church of England Central School Movement; that in the county of Surrey there is considerable opposition to the movement in question; and whether he will take such steps as are necessary to prevent the holding of flag days and street collections for objects of a contentious character throughout the country?

Sir S. Hoare

I am informed that the Standing Joint Committee of Surrey granted a permit for a collection in a particular area to raise funds for a school to serve that area. I have no information that there was opposition to such a collection, but in any case the object of the statutory provision regulating street collections is not to prevent collections merely because the object of collection may not command universal approval.

Mr. Thurtle

Is the Home Secretary aware that the police have refused permission for flag day collections to be held on behalf of sufferers in Spain and in China on the ground that these were contentious objects; and if there be a general rule that there should not be flag day collections for contentious objects, why was a collection allowed in this case?

Sir S. Hoare

The hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The Metropolitan Police refused permission for a collection for Spanish sufferers, not on the ground that the object was a contentious one but because it is a general rule that all collections in the Metropolitan area shall be devoted to domestic purposes.

Mr. Benjamin Smith

Is the Home Secretary not aware that only this week the Lord Mayor of London boasted that he has collected many thousands of pounds for sufferers in China?

Sir S. Hoare

That was not a street collection.

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