§ MR. MACDONALDasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, When he will introduce the promised Naval Discipline Bill; and, whether, considering that, by the Army Discipline Act, which has now become Law, the punishment of solitary confinement to the soldier has been abolished as a part of the original sentence, he will stay the execution of all sentences that have solitary confinement as a part of the original conviction until the Naval Discipline Bill has been dealt with?
§ MR. W. H. SMITH,in reply, said, he was afraid it was now too late to introduce a Bill for the amendment of the Naval Discipline. Act this Session, looking to the importance of the subject and to the lateness of the period which had been reached; but he had been for some days in communication with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with a view to securing that the punishment under the Naval Discipline Act—the special and particular punishment to which the hon. Gentleman referred—should be carried out in the same way as similar punishments under the Army Discipline Act. Under these circumstances, he hoped the object which the hon. Gentleman had in view would be practically accomplished.