HC Deb 18 May 1888 vol 326 c681
MR. QUILTER (Suffolk, S.)

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If it is a fact, as stated in The Daily Chronicle of the 14th instant, that the 200 convicts, who were brought to Dover under the pretext of constructing the harbour works, are now employed in mat-making for the purpose of finding them employment; and, if so, by whose authority this was done; and, whether it is in accordance with the whole policy of the Prisons Department in recent years?

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

No, Sir; it is not a fact. No convicts are now, or ever have been, employed at mat-making at the Dover Prison.