were not fairly remunerated they would turn their talents in other directions. The hon. Member for Mid Lanark desired to pose as a great supporter of cheap music. Last session he himself moved a Resolution dealing with the question of national opera and the desirability of placing music within the reach of the poorer classes. What action did the hon. Gentleman take? At 10 o'clock he drew Mr. Speaker's attention to the fact that forty Members were not present, and he is the hon. Gentleman who now comes forward and poses as being interested in increasing the knowledge of music. The deathbed repentance of the hon. Gentleman was not worth very much. the pirated copies which were exposed for sale. The owner of the shop defied them and threatened an action for trespass. The constable thereupon refused to act. The agent went to the chief police office and saw the chief officer, who also refused to act, as he said he was afraid of the magistrates hauling him over the coals. The agent applied for a search warrant and after he had waited an hour and a half it was refused. The man who kept the shops supplied all the gutter merchants in the town who acted as his salesmen, and ultimately it cost the agent £13 to secure the destruction of the copies which were exposed for sale. In such a state of things could it be denied that his hon. friend was justified is asking the House of Commons to apply the simple but effectual remedy proposed in the Bill? If the persons who sold pirated music were a respectable class of the community then there might be something to be said on the other side, but it was well known that they were not in any sense respectable citizens who were carrying on a respectable trade. Willats, who was called the king of the pirates, admitted that he had been summoned four or five times for selling pirated music, and that he had been fined. MR. CALDWELL: The man was not fined; he had to pay the costs. MR. GALLOWAY said he was surprised at the hon. Gentleman's want of information. Still, he was content to accept his definition of the case. With reference to the piracy of music it began in 1901 and had been spreading ever since. His hon. friend who moved the Second Reading of the Bill said that there were now about 231 copyrights which had been pirated. The number of summonses issued was between 5,000 and 6,000, but only 287 had been served owing to the fact the hawkers had given inaccurate addresses. Only 400,000 pirated copies had been seized, whereas if they had a proper remedy the number would be infinitely greater. Messrs. Boosey & Company, one of the most eminent firms, issued twelve summonses at a cost of £500, and in only two cases did they recover any costs, and then they amounted to only £30. It cost them £500 to endeavour to protect their own property, and by the remedy offered by the hon. Gentleman opposite they were refunded to the extent of £30. Was that fair? At present the remedy was entirely ineffectual. He received a letter from the agent to Messrs. Hopwood & Crew, written only yesterday. The writer travelled all over the country and had considerable experience. He said that he knew the Musical Copyright Bill was coming on that day, and he wished to communicate an incident which happened yesterday to show the difficulty of dealing with pirates under the present law. In Cardiff a man had two shops in the market, in one of which he sold legitiinate music, and in the other, which was in the gallery and which was locked up, he sold pirated music. The agent called MR. CALDWELL: Yes, because on in the aid of a constable and gave them the evidence laid before the Committee, his warrant, and requested him to seize it was plain what had taken place. I MR. CALDWELL: I may say I know nothing whatever about this man. During the whole time of the inquiry I had no communication direct or indirect with anyone. Until his letter came before the Committee asking to be heard, I was absolutely ignorant of the existence of any pirate of the name. I think it is not fair that the hon. Member should attack me in this way. MR. GALLOWAY: I think it is a case of honi soit qui mal y pense. I did not connected with pirates. I only said he accuse the hon. Member of having been seemed to know all about them. paid attention to what the Committee | There they had evidence that the man was doing. had been guilty of embezzlement. MR. GALLOWAY: I am aware that the hon. Member did pay careful attention to what the Committee was doing. I am bound to admit that I did not stop there all the time, but I never made any suggestion that the hon. Member was in league with the pirates, and I do not do so now. I am quite prepared to accept his statement that he had no knowledge of the man Willats. At all events, that man, when he gave evidence before the Committee, admitted that he had had to pay the costs of the action which had been brought against him. Does the hon. Member defend this man seeing that, by having been called upon to pay the costs, he was shown to be in the wrong? Does the hon. Member defend him for having, under such circumstances, endeavoured to break the law of the country? If he does not, why did he interrupt me when I stated that this man had been fined; why did he seek to draw the distinction that the man had only paid the costs? I have gone into this matter thoroughly, and I know a great deal about Willats that is not to his credit; but I do not see any necessity for going into his past character now. I only ask the House to remember what sort of a man he is, so that they may know how much reliance to place upon his word. I do not believe that the House would be justified in believing him under any circumstances. MR. GALLOWAY: I do not ask that, but perhaps the House will allow me to enlarge the knowledge of the hon. Member as to this man's real character. I will quote from the evidence which he gave. He was examined by Mr. Scrutton, and he was asked whether this was the first time he had come in conflict with the laws of this country. To that he answered "I do not understand." then came the question "You have been imprisoned?" and to that the answer was "I will tell you what it was for." next he was asked MR. CALDWELL: Read the rest of it. Let the House hear his explanation. MR. GALLOWAY: I did not want to take up the time of the House. This man pleaded guilty, and he has been imprisoned for three months for embezzlement, but, if the hon. Member is so impatient, I will read on. Am I not right in saying he pleaded guilty? MR. CALDWELL: No, he did not. MR. GALLOWAY: Then he was found guilty of embezzlement, and sentenced by the judge to three months imprisonment in the second division. The man certainly goes on to explain the circumstances under which he was convicted. He said that Messrs. Whittinghame owed him £25, that they were going into bankruptcy, hat he collected an account from one of their customers, and informed them that he had so collected it; that no notice was taken of his having done so until after the bankruptcy, when the matter went into the hands of the Official Receiver, who wrote and told him that, if he liked to pay the money hack, no more would be heard about it,. but otherwise, he would be prosecuted. That letter was not produced in Court, and he had serious doubts whether it was ever written. MR. CALDWELL: I rise to a point of order. MR. GALLOWAY: I decline to give way to the hon. Gentleman. I really do not know why he is anxious to defend this man; it is most extraordinary on his part. All I wish the House to bear in mind is that this man was a pirate, and his position should be carefully considered before he is believed. MR. CALDWELL here rose again. MR. GALLOWAY: I am not going to give way to the hon. Gentleman. He "Were not Messrs. Whittinghame the pro- will have an opportunity of placing his secutors?" explanation before the House later on. I will read further what the man said in explanation. He said he did not think he had done anything wrong; he looked upon what he had collected as belonging to him. Unfortunately, however, for him the judge took a different view. Had I known that the hon. Member was going to challenge my statement on this point I should have come prepared with further facts about this man which would have put, I think, an entirely different construction upon the case. Still, I repeat that all I want the House to bear in mind is that this man, Willats, is one of the class of hawkers and pirates. The Committee also had before it Superintendent Moore, of the Police, who had had law. a great deal to do with this question, and had dealt with it so far as the police could possibly do anything under the existing He was asked a question in regard to the class of people from whom these pirates were drawn, and he informed the Committee that they were mostly of the criminal class, that they were persons who had been convicted, that they were gutter-men, that they lived in common lodging-houses, and that, consequently, there was consider able difficulty in serving summonses upon them. He also added another fact in which the House would be interested, namely, that a large number of them were foreign, alien Jews, so that, unfortunately, we in this country not only had pirates among our own countrymen, but we imported them from foreign countries. He trusted that by the end of the session the Home Office would have put a stop to that practice. In considering the remedies which they were to apply in a case like this it was well to understand the character of the people with whom they were dealing. They must apply their remedies carefully. He wished to give one MR. CALDWELL: I thought the hon. Member represented me as opposed to any remedy whatever? MR. GALLOWAY said he was sorry that either the hon. Gentleman had wilfully misunderstood him, or was insaid was that the hon Member had capable of understanding him. What he been put forward, and that he wished to opposed every effectual remedy that had repeat. The Bill, as he had said, conGentleman last session had agreed. He merely mentioned that in order to explain to the House why, while he was willing to try certain remedies then, he was now supporting the much more drastic remedies proposed by the hon. Member tained all the remedies to which the hon. The charge of the Bill. The evidence given before the Departmental Committee had convinced him that there was no possibility of effectually dealing with the evils by the remedies which he had proposed, and he had, therefore, come to the conclusion that if they were to effectually deal with them it would be necessary to severe remedies have the much more evidence given before the Committee left which the Committee suggested. them in no doubt whatever as to what the witnesses was Sir Harry Poland, for remedies ought to be applied. One of many years the Chief Public Prosecutor, of whom it was said that in the whole course of his experience he had never once been known to prosecute a prisoner unfairly. If that were true, and he believed it was, surely the House ought to attach great weight to what he had extract from the evidence of Mr. Rose. He said he was not so shocked as might perhaps be expected, at the idea of apprehending persons who were selling pirated ! had before them two distinguished police said in his evidence. The Committee also two words of magistrates-Mr. Rose and Mr. Dickinson. personal explanation. During Their evidence was practically identical. the Parliamentary recess he issued to every They suggested the same remedies, and Member of the House a copy of the Bill he would like to be allowed to read one which he proposed to introduce, with a short statement as to what the Bill was about, and he asked for assistance in obtaining a position in the ballot. The Bill was drafted before the Departmental Committee had reported, and all the remedies he suggested were remedies which had been practically agreed to by the hon. Member for Mid Lanark last session. music. reached by making it penal, and by If those persons could only be apprehending them, he confessed he could not see why they should not be so treated That was sufficient to show how necessary it was that the House should grant an effectual remedy for this evil. the song, but to its popularity. He "Special Notice. For the last many years attendance. We return thanks to our customers, When talking of pirates, he wondered how many Members there were in the House who knew how piracy was carried on. Now, piracy was the taking of another man's property and selling it as though it were his own-a process not indistinguishable from stealing. The pirate selected what songs he would sell. He selected only those songs which had proved to be a success; he photographed them, put that production on a plate and then printed any number of copies. Not only that, but sometimes a song was copied out in rough hand. Now, unless power was given to destroy these plates the root of the evil could not be struck at. Having produced these copies, how were they sold? The manufacturers of these copies were much too wary to go themselves out into the street to sell them. They had agents. They employed a middleman who had no shop or abode, but had what was known as a "lock-up"-a place on an upper story of a building in the city or elsewhere. He himself had been anxious to discover how this process was carried on, and had visited one of the e "shops." He found there shelves carefully partitioned off, in which the various pirated copies were kept. But the middleman was wary; he did not purchase any very large number of copies from the printer, so that he only kept a few there. Moreover, he did not sell them to the public. He employed somebody else; and went to where hawkers were to be found. Now, hawkers were to be found principally in public houses. He made that statement because it might be agreeable to the advocates of temperance reform. The hawker was found in the public house by the middleman, who sold him the limit of twenty-five copies. There was no risk of detection as to who was the printer in purchasing from the hawker, because the hawker did not know who the printer was. Moreover, the hawker adopted various forms of selling. He sold in the street; he canvassed from house to house, from door to door; and solicited orders by post. He sold either from the kerbstone, or from a barrow, or from market stalls. He might even go outside a music-seller's shop who was selling legitimate copies of the music and sell there pirated copies of the music. He could also sell outside a MR. GALLOWAY said that the pirate music hall, not according to the merit of was quite aware that the ability of 2 R VOL. CXXX. [FOURTH SERIES.] and warn the public against falsehoods spread by self-interested mischief-mongers misrepresenting us as obtaining money under false pretences. If any lady or gentleman will send of an order unfulfilled (if in accordance witn our books) we promise to supply order, or send back money within three days. Note letter address, A. Brown, 66, Highbury New Park, us at our undermentioned letter address a claim N." It was not a little pathetic that underneath that advertisement there appeared another in regard to the Local Examinations for the Royal College of Music from a student who seemed to be studiously anxious to pass that examination, and in which he asked where he might obtain cheap music. But the middleman also dealt through the post. He issued circulars, and here was one of them from Birmingham "Dear Sir,-If you are desirous of purchasing any further copies of high-class music at the present low prices please send your order at once, as after the proposed amendment of the Act of Parliament relating to Musical Copyright is passed it will be impossible for us to supply you with the same copies after a short time." MR. CALDWELL: Hear, hear. the hon. Member for Mid Lanark to because it was the system adopted all prevent an effectual remedy being over the country. There was no comprovided was coming to an end, and pulsion whatever upon the composer and that he would have to cease author to adopt this method unless they soon carrying on his nefarious trade. thought fit. As a matter of fact, at one What was the "high-class" music that was time the composers and authors endeabeing sold? "The Honeysuckle and the voured to do without the publisher by formBee," The horse the missus dries the ing a combination amongst themselves, clothes on, "You can get a sweetheart but the attempt utterly failed, the reason any day, but not another mother," "Loop- of the failure being that capital was ing the loop with Lucy," and so forth. If necessary, and for the most part neither that was the high-class music the hon. composers nor authors were possessed of Member for Mid, Lanark wished to see much wealth. If the present system was taught in the board schools, and if it was detrimental to the interests of the public, for the production of such music at cheap it necessarily followed that some other rates that the hon. Member thought pirates system ought to be adopted, but he mainshould be leniently dealt with, he could tained that there was no other system only say that, as one who had been inter- possible except that of the composers and ested in music all his life, he would be sorry authors themselves publishing. That for the musical development of the country. meant that a person would be able to What class of person were the hawkers acquire the copyright only if he composed, who issued this cheap music? If they published, advertised, and sung his own were carrying on an honest or a reputable songs. He might be able to satisfy the business they would have no need to take first three, but the fourth of those reany name or address other than their own, quirements would be a serious impedibut in the cases of hawkers who had been ment to composers. The next argument traced they were found to be trading under of the hon. Gentleman was that the various names and at different addresses. present system was detrimental to the Another practice was to print a large advancement of the cause of music. It number of circulars and send them round was difficult to understand the sudden to their own friends in the trade, who desire evinced by the hon. Member to simply placed their names on them by advance the cause of music. Doubtless means of a rubber stamp. So the game he had some ulterior motive-he did not went merrily on, and the existing powers say it was a bad one, but it was not were not sufficient to stop it. apparent on the face of the circumstances. It was the more difficult to understand inasmuch as the hon. Member was the person who succeeded in preventing the House of Commons from discussing the question last year. The third argument of the hon. Member was that "the excessive price charged to the public for music, as compared with the cost of production (even after allowing the fullest remuneration to the composer) offered a great temptation to piracy." If there was anything in that argument, it followed logically that if the price was reduced piracy would cease. But what had happened? An eminent firm of publishers, Messrs. Day & Co., had published a sixpenny edition of a cheaper class of music, and those very songs were amongst the first taken by the pirates. In the face of that fact how could it be argued that the dearness of music had anything to do with the piracy? The hon. Member for Mid, Lanark had argued in his Report that the copyright owners had used their privilege in such a manner as to be detrimental to the interests of the public, and to the advancement of the cause of music, and so as to induce piracy. He would take those arguments in order. As to the interest of the public, what was the method adopted? The composer got his lyrics from the author, who was paid either by royalty or by fee; and then he went to the publisher, who either bought the copyright outright or agreed to pay certain royalties. The song had then to be sung and advertised, and publishers sometimes actually ran concerts to advertise their songs. This method, which was the growth of years, was fair to the public, because the copyright lasted only forty-two years, and it was fair as between composer and publisher |