MR. JOHN WILSON (Durham)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to a case tried in the Sunderland Police Court on 31st January, when a boy named Calligan was sentenced to three months' imprisonment with hard labour for stealing six pennyworth of coals; and whether he will inquire into the circumstances of the ease, with a view to either mitigate the sentence or order the immediate release of Calligan?
§ MR. ASQUITHI have inquired into the case, and find that Calligan is not a boy, but a man of the age of 24. He was charged together with a boy named Kerridge, aged 15. Both were convicted; but Kerridge, it being only his second offence, was discharged. Calligan had been four times previously convicted of the same offence, and the Justices were satisfied that he was in the habit of stealing coal and tempting young boys to assist him. Under these circumstances, the sentence appears to me to be a proper one, and I cannot interfere.