§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he has considered details which have been sent him about the treatment meted out by the Customs officers at Harwich to an invalid, Mr. A. Wade; why a man who was seriously ill was subjected to such treatment; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Glenvil HallI have considered the details sent me by the hon. Member, but I cannot accept Mr. Wade's view that he was not treated with every consideration. His examination by the Customs was purely formal and in fact amounted to a request to him to identify his baggage, which was then passed unexamined. His transfer from his bunk on the ship to the train took no more than five minutes and I am satisfied that no appreciable reduction could have been made in the time taken for this operation.