asked the Home Secretary what general rules govern the attendance of secret police at meetings; on what subjects they are asked to report; and whether they are employed to register in general opinions expressed, or whether their duties are limited to the prevention of crime and of the advocacy of crime?

It is the duty of the police to obtain ail the information they can with regard to the aims and projects of revolutionaries, in order that they may inform His Majesty's Government on the subject and be forearmed against any attempts to put such projects into effect. It is impossible to state categorically the means by which this duty can best be discharged, and. even if it were possible, it would not be in the public interest to do so.

Could the right hon. Gentleman say clearly whether the purpose of these secret police visits is to register opinions or to prevent the advocacy of violence? That is the question on the Paper.

The object of police attendance at any particular meeting is to inform me of what takes place at that particular meeting; and if there are revolutionary sentiments or revolutionary projects discussed at that meeting, it would then be my duty to see that they are not carried into effect.

Will the right hon. Gentleman say if police duties also include attendance at dinner parties where revolutionary talk may be going on, and if that is extended to the private dining rooms of the House of Commons, where I hold dinners with my revolutionary friends on occasions?

I think the hon. Member may be satisfied that he is quite safe as long as he dines and expresses his revolutionary sentiments in this building.

Can the Home Secretary state at what stage he decides to send detectives? Does he send them, for instance, to Conservative gatherings, or to the Fascisti, to find out if they express revolutionary sentiments, or are they sent merely to gatherings of labour people because they happen to be opponents of his?

The hon. Member is quite mistaken. In the first place, I do not send anybody.

On whose instructions do they go?

They go under the instructions of the head of the police, who is responsible for the preservations of order in this country, under myself, I admit. I have general control, but I do not send in specific cases, and it is his duty to exercise his discretion and not to waste police force time in sending the police where they are not likely to hear any revolutionary opinions.

rose—

This matter can be raised on the Home Office Estimates.