2 JANUARY 1959, Page 17

I AM SURPRISED that Mr. Foot thinks Mr. Butler's Bill

unjust. It seems to me no more unjust and a lot more sensible and honest than the present law. It is merely giving effect to the proposition that you cannot stamp out prostitution but you can object to certain ways in which the business is transacted. There is nothing hypocritical about this. The police very reasonably object if I park my car in the middle of Piccadilly Circus. They do not (usually) object if I park it outside my office door. This indicates no hypocrisy or caprice in the law, merely a recognition of the fact that whether parking a car is an offence or not depends, like prostitution, upon how and where it is done.

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