§ Mr. Kellyasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that on the occasion of the Radio Exhibition, the Electrical Trades Union sought, by the distribution of leaflets and the showing of placards outside Olympia, to draw attention to the conditions of work of radio service engineers, and were informed by the police of a regulation prohibiting this form of publicity although, at the same time, the Radio Manufacturers' Association employed dozens of men selling or distributing advertising literature outside the premises; and whether he will state the reason for this discrimination?
§ Sir S. HoareThe Commissioner of Police informs me that on 24th August, the opening day of the Radio Exhibition at Olympia, a number of sandwichmen, some carrying boards and placards advertising wireless sets and others bearing complaints regarding the conditions of work of members of the Electrical Trades Union, paraded in Hammersmith Road in front of Olympia. The Commissioner has made Regulations which provide that during exhibitions and other events at Olympia sandwichmen are not permitted in a number of roads in the vicinity, including Hammersmith Road. These regulations were explained to the sandwichmen, who thereupon went away. Soon afterwards, a member of the union asked the police whether he could distribute handbills in the vicinity of Olympia. He was informed that he could do so, so long as bills were not thrown down and left in the street, as this would be an offence under local by-laws. He was also given a copy of the Commissioner's Regulations. Apart from the ordinary vendors310W of newspapers and periodicals who stand on the forecourt of the building during events at Olympia, no persons (acting either on behalf of the Radio Manufacturers' Association or of any other body) were seen by the police to sell or distribute advertising literature during the progress of the Exhibition.