§ MR. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been drawn to a practical grievance of long standing, arising out of the law by which the duration of a sentence is measured from the day of a convicted person's reception into prison, so that prisoners who, after sentence, pass a night in the custody of the police suffer one day's additional imprisonment; and, whether there is any objection to committing Courts being required to give the date at which the sentence is to commence, as Military and Naval Courts now do?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)The day from which a sentence is reckoned varies according as the sentence is pronounced at the Assizes, at Quarter Sessions and at Petty Sessions. This variation, however, is the result of the existing law, and legislation would be necessary to compel uniformity. The hon. Member is, no doubt, aware that a Bill was introduced with this object in 1885; but that the difficulties surrounding the subject led to the Bill being dropped.