§ Mr. Liddellsaid, it had been stated by the 305 hon. Member for Knaresborough that Mr. Clements, the Assistant Poor-law Commissioner, had, in conjunction with the board of guardians of Halifax, taken preliminary measures for erecting in the union workhouse at that place a treadmill, in order to carry out the labour test. He wished to ask, whether the right hon. Baronet the Secretary of State for the Home Department was cognizant of the adoption of such a resolution as that to which the hon. Member for Knaresborough had referred, or whether he was aware that such preliminary steps had been taken?—and, if so, he wished to ask the right hon. Baronet whether he approved the proceeding?
§ Sir J. Graham,said, about an hour before he came down to the House, he received a notification from the hon. Member for Knaresborough of his intention to ask whether it was intended that a treadmill should be erected in the work house at Halifax. He (Sir J. Graham) had barely had time to communicate with the Poor-law Commissioners on the subject. He had, however, immediately despatched a messenger to the commissioners, and he had received from them an assurance that the hon. Member for Knares borough had been misinformed, and that no intention existed of erecting a treadmill in the workhouse. He (Sir J. Graham) was informed that the guardians intended to erect a hand mill — a mill for the grinding of corn, worked by hand, and he understood that mills of this description were not unfrequently adopted in workhouses. He conceived that the erection of a treadmill in a workhouse would be a most unjustifiable measure, and he was convinced that in this particular in stance no such intention existed.