MR. MACLIVEEasked the Under Secretary of State for the Home Department, If his attention has been called to a sentence of four months' imprisonment passed by Sheriff Leo, of Glasgow, on William M'Culloch, an express driver in the employ of the Caledonian Railway Company; and, whether, having regard to the facts that the collision, which occurred on January 24th, and for which he was tried, was occasioned through the unexpected failure of Clarke and Webb's patent brake, with which the train was fitted, and to the unimpeachable character for carefulness, attention to duty, and sobriety of M'Culloch for 33 years, he is prepared to recommend that the remainder of M'Culloch's term of imprisonment should be remitted?
§ MR. BAXTERsaid, that before his hon. Friend answered the Question, he had another to ask on another part of 1077 the case under notice—namely, whether it was true that after the extraordinary sentence passed on this man at Glasgow, he was removed to the penitentiary at Perth, handcuffed and in the company of felons, and whether the hon. Gentleman would take measures to prevent the recurrence of such proceedings?
§ MR. ARTHUR PEEL,in reply, said, that in the second portion of the first Question it was assumed that the collision occurred in consequence of the unexpected failure of Clarke and Webb's patent brake. Whether that failed or not, it was undoubted that it was owing to the carelessness of the driver in overrunning the signals that he required to put it in use at all. If he had not overrun the signals, the ordinary hand-brake would have been sufficient to arrest the progress of the train. After a careful consideration of the whole circumstances of this case, and notwithstanding that the offence was one of much gravity, his right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary had thought fit, having regard to the long period during which M'Culloch had borne an irreproachable character, to remit two months of the term of his imprisonment. This had been done with the full assent of the Sheriff and of the Lord Advocate. As to the Question by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Montrose, he had not had Notice of it long enough to obtain full information. He had caused an inquiry to be made, and had referred to the Scotch Commissioners of Prisons to see what was their practice when prisoners were being transferred from one place to another. In England the general practice was that the prisoners were secured by handcuffs, or in some similar manner. He would be glad to give the information to the right hon. Gentleman when he received it.