§ MR. MORTON (Peterborough)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the case of a man named Edwards, who was sentenced at 1055 the Surrey Sessions in 1888 to 14 years' penal servitude for stealing a small quantity of spirits, valued at 2s. 9d.; and, if not, whether he will have an inquiry made, with a view to reducing the sentence or granting the man (who still asserts his innocence) a pardon for the remainder of the sentence?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS,) Birmingham, E.Yes, Sir; this case was considered by me in 1888, and I then decided that the sentence might be treated as one of seven years, which will allow of the convict's release, if his conduct is good, after five years and five months. Though the embezzlements were petty, they were extensive and systematic, and the man's record was a bad one, he having been four times previously convicted—once of forgery, when he was sentenced to five years' penal servitude.