Mr. RYDERasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether there is any truth in the statement that the Penal Servitude Commission intend to hold an inquiry into the alleged ill-treatment of Fenian convicts at Spike Island, and have requested Mr. Michael Davit to give evidence as to the alleged treatment in English prisons?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS,in reply, said, he had written to the Secretary of 1759 the Penal Servitude Commission in reference to the subject-matter of the Question of his hon. Friend, but had not as yet received a reply. He had been informed, however, by a Member of the Commission, that there was no foundation for a paragraph in reference to the question which had appeared in the newspapers.