64. Mrs. Hillasked the Attorney-General if he will make a further statement concerning the letter of the Town Clerk of Manchester in connection with the purchase of Ardwick cemetery.
§ The Attorney-GeneralA full inquiry has been made by the police in order to ascertain whether there is evidence that an offence against the Prevention of Frauds (Investment) Act, 1939, was committed in connection with the sending of the letter. The results of this inquiry show that there is no ground for concluding that the letter contained any false, misleading or deceptive statement or that there was any dishonest concealment of material facts. Consequently there are no grounds for a prosecution for an offence against Section 12 of the Act.
Section 13 of the Act prohibits, subject to the exceptions specified in subsections (2) and (3) of the Section, the distribution of a circular inviting persons to sell securities. Neither subsection (2) nor subsection (3) seems to me to apply to this 78W case, and it would, therefore, appear that there was an infringement of this Section. Offences against the Section may be prosecuted only by or with the consent of the Board of Trade or the Director of Public Prosecutions, to whom the case was referred by the Board. In the Director's opinion, with which I agree, the public interest does not require him to prosecute in this case, and he has accordingly decided not to institute proceedings.