– in the House of Commons at on 12 March 1924.
Mr Isaac Foot
, Bodmin
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to a letter recently sent to a number of business men in Scotland by H. Nicholson, accountant, of 34, Annette Street, Glasgow, inviting their investments to assist in the shipment of liquor to America, and offering the return of the capital, together with 25 per cent. interest at the completion of the voyage, and stating that similar shipments leave the Clyde practically every week; and whether steps can be devised to suppress this traffic, which depends for its profit upon the evasion of the Laws of a friendly State?
Mr Arthur Ponsonby
, Sheffield, Brightside
In reply to the first part of the question is in the negative; the question whether steps can be taken to suppress this traffic has received careful consideration and it has been found that there are great difficulties in the way of framing suitable legislation without imposing restrictions which would seriously hamper legitimate trade. As the hon. Member is aware, a treaty with the United States has recently been laid before Parliament which should facilitate the control of smuggling into United territory.
Mr Isaac Foot
, Bodmin
Will the Government and the Under-Secretary have regard in this case to the difficulties and troubles explained by Sir Auckland Geddes last week as to the shameful humiliation of the Ambassador in America, who had again and again to make appeals on behalf of so-called British subjects?
Mr Arthur Ponsonby
, Sheffield, Brightside
Yes, Sir. That consideration will be taken into account.
Mr Thomas Johnston
, Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire Western
Would this not be a suitable opportunity for using the new cruisers?
Mr Edwin Scrymgeour
, Dundee
Is not the principal difficulty our own national policy of licences for exportation?
Lieut-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury
, Wolverhampton Bilston
Perhaps the Glasgow Members will be able to exercise some control.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
