§ Sir L. Lyleasked the Home Secretary whether, in view of the decision of his Department that letters admitting an offence are not tantamount to a plea of guilty, he is satisfied that there is no unnecessary travel, waste of time or increase of costs involved in compelling the police-court attendance of the persons concerned?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonA circular letter from my Department to clerks to justices dated 13th May, 1943, of which I am sending a copy to my hon. Friend, suggested to magistrates various ways in which economy in the time of the police and other witnesses might be effected within the framework of the existing law. The letter pointed out that a plea of guilty cannot be admitted by means of a letter to the court. This was not a decision of my Department but a statement of the existing legal position.