§ MR. MARSHsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the fact of the Wiltshire Magistrates having decided to make Devizes Gaol the only gaol in the county; whether he is aware that malignant typhus exists in that gaol; and, whether he will send down an Inspector of the Board of Health to report whether Devizes Gaol is fit to be the only gaol in the county?
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDYsaid, in 1456 reply, that nothing was known at the Home Office of typhus fever having prevailed in Devizes Gaol, nor would such a fact come before him officially, unless the visiting Justices applied to Government to send down an Inspector. It was for the local Magistrates to decide whether Devizes should be the only gaol for the county; and, as long as they complied with the Prison Act Regulations, they could place it where they pleased, and the Home Office had no power to interfere.