§ MR. SMITHWICKasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he is aware that, 1602 under prison regulations, female convicts and female prisoners under remand of the county and city of Kilkenny are sent under escort from the city of Kilkenny to Waterford City, a distance of twenty-five miles per rail, at the expense of such county and city respectively, instead of being committed to some gaol or bridewell in such city or in the locality; and, whether, in view of such hardship towards prisoners, he is prepared to propose some remedial legislation upon the subject; or, at all events, to have the expenses of such removals charged upon the Estimates until a remedy be devised?
§ MR. TREVELYAN,in reply, said, he was aware that under the general re-organization of prisons under the Prisons Act of 1877, Kilkenny had ceased to be a legal place of detention for female prisoners, and the majority of such prisoners formerly confined there were now sent to Waterford. He was not aware that any hardship resulted to prisoners from this arrangement. In some instances the result was to lessen considerably the distance travelled. With regard to the expense involved by the general change which this arrangement had caused, it must be remembered that the cost of maintenance, clothing, &c, was borne by the Treasury.