§ MR. T. D. SULLIVANasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is a fact that Mr. Timothy Harrington, on the very day of his unopposed return, in the town of Mullin-gar, to represent the county of Westmeath 1155 in this House of Commons, was not commanded by the officials of Mullingar Gaol to remove a bucket of prison slops from one part of the prison to another; whether he did refuse to submit to such indignity; and, whether, for such refusal, he has been subjected by the Governor of the Gaol to special punishment?
§ MR. TREVELYANMr. Harrington, having been committed as an ordinary convicted prisoner, was subject to the regular Prison Regulations. Under these Regulations, prisoners are required to cleanse their own cells and utensils. Mr. Harrington refused to do so, and was adjudged by the Governor of Mullingar Prison to forfeit his exercise on the days on which he refused to obey the Regulations. Since then the Lord Lieutenant has directed the removal of Mr. Harrington to Galway Gaol, where the accommodation for prisoners is better than at Mullingar, and has instructed the prison authorities that such relaxation of the Prison Rules may be made as is consistent with the maintenance of prison discipline, and as the law will permit.