§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has observed the case, reported in the papers of 11th February, of a clergyman who was, on the evidence before the Magistrate, committed for stealing a variety of articles from the Army and Navy Stores, and was tried before Sir Peter Edlin, Chairman of Quarter Sessions, that he pleaded guilty and no evidence was heard, but his counsel was allowed to make an ex parte statement, saying that he was the son of a man of position, that having failed in other pursuits he became a clergyman, that he failed in that profession also owing to intemperate habits, that he was suffering from want and anxiety when he committed the offences charged, and that if he was let off his friends would take care of him and place him in a home for inebriates, that Sir Peter Edlin thereupon released ,him on security on condition that his friends would take care of him; and whether the Chairman has the power to act in this manner?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI have seen a newspaper report, from which I learn that the prisoner, who had already been two months in custody, was liberated on condition that he found one surety in £100, and entered into recognizances in the same amount to come up for judgment if called on within the next 12 months, so as to insure his good conduct during that period. I am advised that the action of the Judge was in accordance with the law as laid down in the 117th section of the Larceny Consolidation Act, 1861, and in the 1st section of the Probation of First Offenders Act, 1887.
§ SIR G. CAMPBELLHave any cases occurred in which poor men convicted under similar circumstances have been treated in this way?
§ MR. MATTHEWSIt does not appear to me to be unreasonable that a man who appears to me to be out of his mind should for a first offence be treated in this way.