HC Deb 10 October 1944 vol 403 c1554
30. Mr. Rhys Davies

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many persons have been prosecuted by his Department for offences that were not punishable before the present war; how many of those were employed persons; and how many were imprisoned, giving the number of employed persons separately.

Mr. Dalton

The collection of all these particulars would be a formidable piece of research, which would not justify the time and labour involved.

Mr. Davies

May I take it that there is a record in the Department of all these prosecutions? May I also ask the right hon. Gentleman what becomes of the large sums imposed in these cases in fines? Does his Department get the money?

Mr. Dalton

The Treasury gets it, and, although there are records, I repeat it would mean taking staff off much more important work in order to elaborate all these particulars.