LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYasked Her Majesty's Government, Whether they have taken any steps to secure reward or compensation to two police officers named Cooper and Proudlove for the very serious injuries received by them from a gang of thieves near Bowden Station? The circumstances which gave rise to his Question were that a gang of poachers, finding the night too light to go after rabbits, had stolen 17 geese from a farmyard pond. Information had been given to the police, and two officers went after the thieves. They took refuge in a railway but; but, finding there were only three policemen, they said—"Let us go out and murder them." Accordingly, they went out and so battered the heads of Sergeant Cooper and Police-constable Proudlove that for some time their lives were despaired of. Two men were put on their trial for this affair; one got six months, the other proved an alibi. Two other men were tried on the 7th of this month, at Chester, for feloniously wounding the two police officers, and both got eight years' penal servitude. These police officers had shown great courage in pursuing so large a number of thieves, and he thought the Government might well go out of its way to show its approbation of their conduct. He asked the attention of the Government to the fact that in Cheshire and the adjoining couuties, with the exception of the 19 district round Liverpool, of late years the gangs of marauders had increased in number and in lawlessness, and he dated this increase from the time Sir William Harcourt occupied the Home Office. It was not owing alone or so much to his speeches at the time of passing the Hares and Rabbits Bill, though those, no doubt, had contributed to this result; but the encouragement to lawlessness and violence which he and his Friends had given in Ireland had had their bad effects in this country also.
§ THE PAYMASTER GENERAL (Earl BROWNLOW)The Government have received a Report from the Chief Constable of Cheshire, from which it appears that these two police officers received very serious injuries while endeavouring to arrest a gang of men who were stealing geese on the night of November 5, 1887. The policemen appear to have displayed great courage and British pluck in the encounter which took place, and I have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their bravery. At the same time, I must point out that it is for the Court of Quarter Sessions, and not for the Government, to take such steps as they think proper to secure reward or compensation to members of the County Police Force, where, in the opinion of the Court, special gallantry has been displayed or serious injuries received in the discharge of their ordinary duties.