§ MR. CHANNING (Northampton, E.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in reference to the Report of the Committee on the accommodation for prisoners awaiting trial, Whether he is aware that some of the worst of the cases referred to in that Report were taken from the Ninth Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for the year ended 31st March, 1886; and, whether, having regard to the urgent importance of this matter, to the length of time since the Report of the Prison Commissioners, and to the fact that no evidence has yet been laid before the 771 House as to the action of Local Authorities, he will either re-consider his decision not to print the Correspondence between the Home Office and the Local Authorities on this subject, or else consent to lay a Memorandum upon the Table of the House briefly stating what has been done, or what engagements have been made by the Local Authorities as regards the worst cases referred to?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.), in reply, said, the correspondence with Local Authorities in reference to the accommodation for untried prisoners was still going on. Defects in some Court Houses had been remedied, and alterations were in progress in others, or under consideration. On the whole, it might be said that Local Authorities had the matter well in hand; and he hoped, before the Session closed, to present a Memorandum summarizing the result.