§ MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the case of Edward White, who was on Saturday last sentenced by the magistrates of Helston to one month's imprisonment with hard labour on a charge of embezzling moneys amounting to about 10s.; whether the prisoner had been employed as a workman on a farm, and to supply with milk twice a-day some 100 customers, at amounts ranging from one halfpenny and upwards; whether he was unable to read or write; whether the evidence showed that the accounts between the prisoner and his employer had been left by the latter to depend on the prisoner's memory; that the prisoner explained the discrepancies complained of in such accounts as due 546 to default in his memory; that some of the accounts in dispute in the prosecutor's books were marked as paid in his own handwriting, though he denied having received the money; that all the witnesses for the prosecution testified to the prisoner's honesty; and the prosecutor himself admitted that his conduct was good while in his employ; whether the sentence of the Court was received with prolonged hissing and cries of shame; whether he will inquire into the case, with a view to the mitigation or remission of the sentence; whether it is the fact that the Town Clerk accompanied the magistrates when they retired to consult about their decision on the case; whether the prosecutor was until recently the managing clerk in the said Town Clerk's office; whether the prosecutor's brother at present acts in that capacity; and, whether both brothers gave evidence in the case?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.), in reply, desired to point out to the House the inconvenience of hon. Members putting into Questions a large number of details, and a vast number of facts that only partially represented what took place in investigations before magistrates. In the case of Edward White, to which the hon. Member's Question referred, he had been sentenced to a month's imprisonment for embezzling 10s. belonging to his employer. White was engaged by a farmer to deliver milk, receiving small sums in payment, and he had not accounted for his receipts. The Justices were unanimous in their decision, and he was not prepared to interfere with the sentence, or order a fresh inquiry.