§ MR. P. A. TAYLORasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether there is any good reason why flogging as part of the system of prison discipline should be permitted in England, while it is illegal in Scotland; and, whether he will reconsider the propriety of altering in this respect the prison rules for England now lying upon the Table to the extent at least of mitigating the severity of thirty-six lashes with the cat?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, he could not explain how it was flogging had never been permitted in Scotch prisons, but no Act of Parliament did permit it. He presumed that the people of Scotland were of a more orderly character than those of England. With regard to the latter part of the Question, flogging did not depend upon the rules of the prisons at all, but upon Statutes. The Statute of 1865 gave power—and he had no power to take it away—with respect to the special rules that now applied to this subject; and there was no power under that Statute to limit the discretion of the Visiting Committee on this matter. He had, however, done what he could in reference to it by substituting, as he believed he had power to do, an instrument of the nature of a birch rod instead of a "cat."