§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether it is the case that prison surgeons in the principal prisons of England are appointed at a salary of £400 per annum increasing to £500 per annum, while the prison surgeons in the principal prisons in Scotland are appointed at £200 per annum increasing to £300 per annum; whether the prison surgeons in the principal Irish prisons begin at £350 per annum and increase to £400 per annum; whether the prisoners in the principal Scotch prisons are as numerous as in the English and Irish ones; whether the assistant surgeons in England begin at £250 per annum increasing to £300 per annum; whether the prison chaplains in England begin 184 at £350 per annum and increase to £450, while the prison chaplains in Scotland begin at £;200 and increase to £300; whether the assistant chaplains in England begin at £250 increasing to £300; why Scotland is treated in this way; and, whether the Treasury intend to level up the Scottish officers or to reduce the English and Irish ones?
THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON)(who replied) said (Leeds, N.)It would not be possible, within the limits of an answer, to follow the hon. Member into elaborate comparisons of salaries in the Three Kingdoms, though I must not be understood to admit the accuracy of his statements. His whole argument rests on the supposition that the prisoners in the larger Scotch prisons are as numerous as those in England, and this is not the fact. Several first-class prisons in England contain over 1,000 prisoners; whereas the largest Scotch prison contains only 735 prisoners, and the next two contain 550 and 450 respectively. It must be borne in mind that several of the largest English and Irish prisons, unlike those in Scotland, contain convicts.
§ In reply to a further Question by Dr. CLARK,
§ MR. JACKSONsaid, the whole question was carefully gone into, and the conclusion was arrived at that the pay which was at present given was sufficiently adequate for the work performed.