le FREE SPEECH
Many of the proceedings of Parliament go unreported in the press. This is the first of our weekly (verbatim) attempts to remedy this unjust neglect.
Salmon Bill (23 October) Alan Beith: (Berwick on Tweed, Liber- al) In Committee we were regaled at length by the hon. Member for Falkirk, West (Mr Dennis Canavan) about the `poor wee crofter woman'. She be- came a favoured figure on the Commit- tee. A salmon was placed at her door and she came forthwith to the conclu- sion that it was a gift from God. It was indeed such a gift. Other agents may have participated in this heavenly dona- tion but it was a gift from God. The woman was guilty because it would have been reasonable for her to suspect that the person who laid the salmon at her door would have come to the front door and knocked and charged her for it had he been a legitimate salmon trader who had obtained the salmon legally. The poor crofter woman has to be found guilty because it would have been reasonable for her to suspect that a relevant offence had been committed.
We must, however, consider other characters as well as the crofter woman. Let us suppose that the Minister had bought a raffle ticket for a worthy cause and that the first prize was a fresh salmon. Suppose the fresh salmon was presented to him as a result of his success in the raffle. However, it would have been reasonable for him to suspect that a relevant offence had been com- mitted in relation to that salmon be- cause it was known that poaching took place in the locality in which the raffle ticket was bought, and it was known that among the supporters of the worthy cause there were people who, at some time, had been found guilty of poaching. It could be argued that it was reasonable for the Minister in those circumstances to have suspected that a relevant offence had been committed.
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