§ MR. ALFRED THOMAS (Glamorgan, E.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his 369 attention has been drawn to the case of Sarah Kedart, who for eighteen months has been detained in Cardiff Gaol for contempt of court; whether he is aware that the plaintiff (her late husband) in the suit in which she was committed for contempt of court has since died; and, whether he will, considering the long-duration of Sarah Kedart's imprisonment and her advanced age (seventy years), recommend Her Majesty to order her release?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, East), in reply, said, that Sarah Kedart had been attached for contempt in disobeying an order of the Queen's Bench Division, by which she was commanded to give up the deeds of a certain house. She had refused to comply with that order, and by reason of her contempt had been committed to prison. The Home Office could not interfere with orders of that sort. Application must be made to the Queen's Bench. The husband of Sarah Kedart was no party to the cause, and his death since her committal, though distressing, was not material to the case.