§ MR. GROTRIAN (Hull, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the; Home Department if his attention has been called to a report of a trial at the Assizes held recently at York, according to which a young girl between 16 and 17 years of age named Florence Wardell was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment with hard labour, upon conviction of stealing a silver bracelet and some articles of trifling value from her employer; and whether, having regard to the tender age of the offender, and also having regard to the fact that, it was her first offence, committed under circumstances of great temptation, she having been induced to leave her home by a singer at a music hall, whose acquaintance she had formed, he will cause inquiries to be made with a view to the mitigation of the sentence which, under the circumstances, was passed upon her?
§ MR. MATTHEWSYes, Sir; my attention has been called to the case, and I am now making inquiry into the circumstances.