§ MR. WHALLEYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his statement to a deputation that, in the event of the Prisons Bill being passed, the appointment of Chaplains cannot be left to the visiting justices or the magistrates, Whether he has received any communication as to the conduct of Roman Catholic chap- 1395 lains in Government or other prisons affecting the discipline thereof and subscription to the rules prescribed for and accepted by Presbyterian or Anglican chaplains; and, if so, whether he will lay the same upon the Table of the House?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSI thought the best way to obtain information on the subject of the hon. Gentleman's Question would be to send a copy of it to Colonel Du Cane, Director of Convict Prisons, and his answer is that no such communication, to his knowledge, has been received with regard to metropolitan prisons. With respect to county and borough prisons, I thought the best way would be to send the hon. Member's Question to the able head of the Prisons department at the Home Office, and he says—
A search through the register would be attended with so much difficulty and loss of time that it has not been attempted; but, to the best of my knowledge, no such communication relative to the conduct of Roman Catholic prison chaplains, as the hon. Member refers to, has been received at the Home Office.