§ MR. COOPEasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether, in the case of men brutally assaulting their wives, when, as at present, the effect of being sent to gaol is frequently more severely felt by the wife and children than by the guilty party, he is prepared to take steps whereby magistrates may be empowered, at their discretion, to inflict the punishment of flogging in lieu of fine or imprisonment, the punishment to be doubled in the case of a second offence?
§ SIR WILFRID LAWSONsaid, that, before the right hon. and learned Gentleman answered the Question, he wished to asked whether, considering that almost all brutal assaults on wives referred to in the Question of the hon. Member were committed by drunken men, the right hon. and learned Gentleman would consider the desirability of providing more adequate punishment for those who supplied them with the drink?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT,in reply, said, that the question of adding or substituting the punishment of flogging in cases of assaults of this character had been very carefully considered in a Bill proposed by his Predecessor in Office, and the conclusion arrived at by the late 758 Government and the House was that it was not desirable to make any change in the law. He saw no reason for dissenting from that view.