§ Mr. HARRY LAWSONasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that the stipendiary magistrate at East Ham on 29th April, in a case wherein a Mr. Charles William Evans, cheesemonger, was summoned for contravening a butchers' early closing Order, ruled that salt pork did not come within the scope of the Order and dismissed the summons, with the result that during the hours butchers' shops in East Ham are compulsorily closed by Order cheesemongers and others may with impunity retail salt pork, which is essentially a butcher's commodity; and whether he can do anything to prevent this and ensure the smooth working of the Shops Act, 1912?
§ Mr. McKENNAMy attention had not previously been called to this case. It is provided by the Order in question that it shall apply to all shops in which the business of a butcher is carried on. If it is decided by the Courts that this does not cover the sale of a particular class of article, the Home Office has no power to interfere: but it is, of course, open to local authority in framing an Order to define precisely the nature of the business it is intended to cover.