§ MR. HANDEL COSSHAM (Bristol, E.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to a decision of the Bath 254 Magistrates given last Monday (19th March) in which a man named John Sartoris was sent to prison for one month for cutting and carrying away two hazel sticks, the value of which could not be more than 2d.; whether he will require the depositions in the case to be sent to him; and, whether he will take the case into his consideration?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)(in reply) said, he had received a Report from the Magistrates on this case, and he had received the depositions, which showed that the man had stolen two saplings of three years' growth, valued at 1s., out of an enclosed private garden, thus spoiling a row of trees. There were no less than 22 convictions against the prisoner, several of them for similar offences. Certainly he did not consider it a case in which to interfere with the sentence.