§ Mr. TOUCHEasked the Home Secretary if he will say what lawful order ex-Inspector Syme disobeyed; did he refuse to perform duty after he was reduced from inspector to station sergeant,' or did his insubordination consist in persistence in appealing against what he alleges to be an unjust decision; is he aware that his predecessor, Lord Gladstone, in August, 1907, stated that the police had a right of appeal; does the exercise of this right constitute a refusal to obey lawful orders; has this right of appeal, since used by ex-Inspector Syme, been withdrawn from the police; and, if so, when and why was this done?
§ Mr. McKENNAI would refer the hon. Member to the replies which I gave him in answer to similar questions on the 13th and 23rd March, 1911, and to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Durham on the 10th April, 1911.
§ Mr. TOUCHEasked whether ex-Inspector Syme's allegations relating to certain aspects of police administration, as applied in his case, were investigated in the Courts when he was tried in 1910 and 1911; was the police evidence called by Syme in support of charges affecting his superiors placed before the Courts; and, in view of the recognition in the Knox case that the findings of magistrates may require revision, although the ordinary right of appeal has not been exercised, will 55W he say why the judgment of the Commissioner of Police, in a matter which terminates the career of an officer of long service and good record, should be accepted as final and binding without the production of the evidence on which it is based or any appeal to any judicial tribunal?
§ Mr. McKENNAIt was within the competence of the Courts, in the cases referred to, to admit any evidence that they deemed relevant. I can find no similarity between the case of engine-driver Knox and that of Syme.