§ MR. HUGHESsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any steps have been taken to regulate the imprisonment of persons who are now subjected thereto by County Court Judges; and, if not, whether any inconvenience would arise from rescinding that portion of the order for prison discipline which subjects parties to imprisonment in a recusantward?
§ MR. SOTHERON ESTCOURTstated, in reply, that no such order was in existence as that to which the hon. Member referred. Soon after the passing of the County Courts Act the Law Officers of the Crown, upon a question being submitted to them, gave it as their decided opinion that such persons as those to whom the hon. Member alluded should be treated as misdemeanants. They had accordingly been so treated, and, although he admitted that great hardship was suffered in many cases, 1300 he was not prepared to say that any alteration should be made in the present practice. He would be glad, however, to receive any suggestion which the hon. Member might have to make on the subject.