§ MR. MORTON (Peterborough)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has made inquiry into the circumstances of the case of Wallinger, who was sentenced at the Bedford Division Police Court on the 1824 20th ultimo to three months' hard labour for stealing four mangold wurtzels, value 3d.; and whether he can now advise some diminution of the sentence?
§ MR. MATTHEWSYes, Sir; I have inquried into this case, and after a careful consideration of all the circumstances, have felt justified in advising the remission of two months of the sentence.
§ MR. MORTONAs it is admitted that this was an excessive sentence, may I ask what the right hon. Gentleman has to say of the conduct of the Magistrates who awarded it?
§ MR. WINTERBOTHAM (Gloucester, Cirencester)May I ask whether this was a first offence?
§ MR. MATTHEWSNo, Sir; it was not a first offence. This man had been convicted before, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. My remission is by no means to imply the slightest censure upon the Magistrates.