§ MR. MACDONALDasked the President of the Local Government Board, If his attention has been directed to the case of Samuel Dawson, an agricultural labourer, who was sent to Bedford Gaol on the 11th of June for two months, from the Tharm Brook Petty Sessions, county of Bedford, because he was unable to pay the sum of one pound sixteen shillings that he had been ordered to pay, at the rate of one shilling per week, for maintenance or support of his parents; whether he is aware that Dawson's goods had been previously distrained for debt, and that they were of too little value to meet the liability; whether Dawson is in the gaol compelled to pick oakum as if sentenced to hard labour; whether, considering that Dawson was unable to pay, that his being sent to prison was not illegal; and, whether he will place upon the Table of the House the names of the committing magistrates
MR. SOLATER - BOOTH, in reply, said, he had been in communication with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State with reference to the matter. He had to inform the hon. Member that it was within the power of the Guardians to institute such proceedings, although he did not intend to offer any opinion as to the way in which they had dealt with the present case. When it was proposed to distrain on the goods of the person in question it was found that they had already been disposed of by a bill of sale. With reference to the other portions of the Question, it would, of course, be the duty of the governor of the gaol to put him to the employment which the class of prisoners to which he belonged generally performed. He could not place the names of the magistrates on the Table.