HC Deb 24 February 1888 vol 322 cc1363-4
MR. MAURICE HEALY (Cork)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, on coming to Dublin for his recent trial, permission to wear his own clothes while attending Court was (unasked) offered to Mr. Wilfrid Blunt; by whose instructions, and on whose authority, this offer was made; why a similar permission (though asked for) was refused to the hon. Member for South Galway (Mr. Sheehy) when brought up as a witness on Mr. Blunt's trial at Portumna; and, whether it is true, as stated in the Press, that the hon. Member was driven sis miles between Birr and Portumna (a distance of 12 miles) bareheaded, on an open car, during inclement weather?

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)

(who replied) said: The General Prisons Board inform me that, at the instance of the Attorney General for Ireland, they accorded to Mr. Blunt the privilege of wearing his own clothes; but that he declined to avail himself of it, with the exception of wearing his private overcoat. The Governor of Clonmel Prison states that the hon. Member for South Galway (Mr. Sheehy) did make application to him for permission to wear his own clothes on the occasion referred to; but that he did not consider that he had authority to sanction it, and accordingly refused the request. The Governor, however, permitted him to wear his private overcoat. The allegation referred to in the last paragraph is not true. The hon. Member was driven each time in a covered carriage. He was also provided with a cap.

MR. MAURICE HEALY

Will the right hon. and gallant Gentleman say why the Attorney General for Ireland interfered in one case and did not interfere in the other?

COLONEL KING-HAEMAN

I cannot say.

MR. BRADLAUGH (Northampton)

Will the right hon. and gallant Gentleman say whether it is the invariable practice in England to bring up prisoners who are witnesses in cases in their own private clothes?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

That Question should be put to an English Minister.

MR. EDWARD HARRINGTON (Kerry, W.)

Arising out of the answer of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, would the Chief Secretary for Ireland be able to tell us whether the Governor of Tralee Gaol in my case applied for permission to send me in my own clothes down to the Court House; and whether an answer did not come back that if I resisted going in the prison clothes I was to be bound hand and foot and forcibly taken down?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

If the hon. Gentleman will give me Notice of that Question I will answer him.

MR. BRADLAUGH

I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is aware that in this country, and in London especially, prisoners undergoing their sentences, and brought up as witnesses at trials, are invariably brought up in their own private clothes?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)

I am not able to answer the Question with precision; but I do not think the practice is invariable.

DR. TANNER (Cork Co., Mid)

Are we to understand that the hon. Member for South Galway (Mr. Sheehy) was driven out with a cap; because I saw him carried by the police, and he was without a cap?

MR. SPEAKER

Order, order!