§ MR. HARRINGTONasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true that the warders of Irish prisons have been compelled, under pain of dismissal, to sign an undertaking that they would not use any political influence to obtain an increase of salary; whether a Circular has recently been issued by the Prisons Board, directing unmarried warders who reside in gaols to procure bed, bedding, and furniture at their own expense, and return the bedding and furniture hitherto allowed them by the Prisons Board; whether the salary of £45 per annum, out of which a warder is to maintain himself and furnish his apartments in 72 the gaol, is frequently diminished by fines, which it is in the discretion of the governor of the gaol, as well as the Prisons Board, to inflict; and whether he proposes to take any steps towards giving this class of officials some better remuneration for their arduous duties?
§ MR. TREVELYAN, in reply, said, that the attention of public servants generally in Ireland had been called recently to a Treasury Minute of 1867, forbidding the use of political influence in endeavours to obtain increased remuneration. The Prisons Board had not required prison warders to sign any undertaking; but they had been required to place their signatures on the circular issued upon the subject, as evidence of their knowledge of its contents, the same as every other paper that was issued from the prison. No such circular as that referred to in regard to unmarried warders had been issued. Probably the hon. Member referred to the condition imposed upon warders while' on probation. If warders were subjected to fines, they were, of course, required to pay them out of their salaries. £45 was the minimum salary of a warder, and he got also apartments, fuel, light, and uniform. The Government did not, at present, intend to enter on the question of warders' remuneration. The whole question of prison management was before a Royal Commission.
§ MR. HARRINGTONstated that the second part of his Question did not refer to probationary warders, but to warders in local prisons.