HC Deb 02 December 1890 vol 349 cc344-5
MR. ALFRED THOMAS (Glamorgan, E.)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to a paragraph in the Star on the 26th instant:— Tramps on Oakum Cages.—At Bishops Stortford to-day three tramps named Harris, Sullivan, and Crowley were charged with refusing to pick oakum at the workhouse. The prisoners, in defence, said the oakum cages were in a field on bare ground. They were exposed to the weather, and a human being would die if placed there for 24 hours. It was snowing, and they refused to go into the cages, but offered to break stones. They could not sit down, except on the bare earth, and they asked the Magistrates to condemn the cages. It was stated, on the other hand, that the cages had been passed by the Government Inspector. The Magistrate said he could not interfere, and sentenced each man to seven days' imprisonment; and whether other provisions should be made in view of the present inclement season?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE, Tower Hamlets, St. George's)

My attention has been called to the paragraph referred to; but it does not, as I am informed, accurately represent the facts. The vagrants were placed in wooden sheds, roofed and enclosed on three sides and partly on the remaining side. These sheds were not placed in a field, but alongside and adjacent to the workhouse. The vagrants were not required to sit upon the ground, as stools were provided, and the floor is not of the common earth, but of chalk concrete. The sheds, however, appear to have admitted of an unnecessary exposure to wind and weather. They were not passed by the Inspector of the Local Government Board. On the contrary, he informed the porter and labour master (who were with him owing to the master being unwell), on the occasion of a visit on the 12th of last month, that the sheds should be altered so that they might be less exposed, and requested that the old stone breaking sheds might be used until they were altered. I am informed that the matter is to be brought before the Guardians at their next meeting, and in the meantime the use of the sheds has been discontinued.