§ MR. WAITasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been directed to the committal to gaol for fourteen days, by two magistrates at Frome, on the 29th of April, of a woman sixty-six years of age, and of previous irreproachable character, for stealing coal of the value of one halfpenny, such committal being based on the uncorroborated evidence of one policeman, who did not see the accused take the coal; and, whether, assuming the case to have been correctly reported, it is his intention to revise the judgment of the justices?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, it was a matter of some regret that paragraphs of this description which appeared in the newspapers were taken hold of on which to found a Question without first inquiring into the true facts of the case. He had received a very large number of letters containing the same extract cut from a newspaper. His attention having been called to the case before this Question was placed upon the Paper, he communicated with the magis- 21 trates, and also with the magistrates' clerk, and he had received from the latter a statement which put a different complexion upon the ease. It appeared that the woman had been employed for some time as charwoman at the Frome schools, and that the police had received information from several quarters that it was the woman's daily habit to carry away coal and fuel under her cloak from the schools. She was accordingly watched by the police, and on the very first occasion she was watched she was seen to come away with a large piece of coal concealed under her cloak. When the policeman spoke to her she denied that she had anything, but afterwards she told him that if he would go home with her she would show him what it was, and when they got to the woman's home she produced a piece of coal, stated how she came by it, and asked for forgiveness. The magistrates, considering that these petty thefts had been going on for some time, and by a person of trust, thought it necessary to pass this sentence.