HC Deb 27 March 1958 vol 585 cc566-7
8. Mr. Osborne

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in conducting the inquiries which he has set in motion concerning corporal punishment and crimes of violence, he will take note of the recent increase of robberies of wages.

Mr. R. A. Butler

The inquiry into crimes of violence to which I referred in replying to a supplementary question by my hon. Friend on 6th February is being carried out by the Department of Criminal Science at Cambridge University. I have no doubt that, in analysing the statistics, the Department will give due attention to robberies of wages.

Mr. Osborne

Can my right hon. Friend say when he expects to receive that report?

Mr. Butler

I could not give a date, but I am hoping for it before too long.

Mr. Page

When considering this report, will my right hon. Friend take into account also that these crimes would not occur if the payment of wages by cheque were allowed?

9. Mr. Osborne

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take power to deport all British subjects not born in the United Kingdom who are proved guilty of crimes of violence.

Miss Hornsby-Smith

Such information as is available to my right hon. Friend does not indicate a need for action on the lines suggested.

Mr. Osborne

Will my hon. Friend reconsider this matter and see that those who abuse the hospitality given them by this country are deported from the country?

Miss Hornsby-Smith

The criminal statitsics are not compiled in such a way as to enable particulars of the country of origin of offenders to be extracted, but a special inquiry was made a few months ago of certain large police forces in whose areas there was a considerable colonial population, and the replies did not suggest that, in general, colonial or coloured people engage in crime to any greater extent than do natives of the United Kingdom.

Mr. Anthony Greenwood

Does the hon. Lady appreciate that her Answer is most welcome, and that the suggestion contained in the Question of the hon. Member for Louth (Mr. Osborne) will be abhorrent to the majority of people in this country, it being the view of the most civilised people that it should be the seriousness of the crime which determines the punishment and not the place of origin of the criminal?