§ MR. GREGORYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If, having regard to recent failures in carrying out the extreme sentence of the Law, and to the fact that the State has 1896 now assumed the control and government of the gaols in England, the Government would consider the propriety of appointing proper persons to carry out executions within the walls of the gaol, and in future relieving the sheriffs from that duty?
THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. GHILDERS)In reply, I beg to inform the hon. Member that a Committee, of which Lord Aberdare is Chairman, was appointed by my Predecessor to consider what precautions should be adopted, without alteration of the law, to prevent the possibility of failure or miscarriage in executions. On receiving the Report of that Committee, the whole subject will have to be most carefully considered by me.