MR. O'CONNOR POWERasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether, under section 51 of the Prisons Act passed last Session, he has "settled and approved" the rules and regulations for the management of prisons, and when, in accordance with the same section of the Act, they will be laid before Parliament; and, whether he has made, or intends to make, any special rules for the better treatment of persons imprisoned for political offences?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSSir, the Rules will soon be ready, but they have not yet been finally settled and approved. They will be laid on the Table within the time prescribed by the Act—that is to say, in about a fortnight. With regard to the latter part of the Question, all I can do—and all that the Statute requires me to do—is to make special rules for the class of persons named in it—namely, first-class misdemeanants, and they will be found amongst the other Rules.