§ SIR R. TEMPLE (Surrey, Kingston)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether there is reason to believe that during the recent emeute in one of the gaols in Egypt the Soudanese guard used their firearms more than was necessary, and shot down some prisoners who were not actually resisting, and were not in a condition to escape; whether any practice prevails whereby ordinary prisoners have to be fed in gaol by their relatives; and whether that causes some prisoners to be insufficiently fed?
§ SIR E. GREYThe convicts were on their way back to Toura Prison after stone quarrying. The whole body—620—made a determined effort to escape; 39 were shot, 11 escaped, and the rest were brought back to prison. One policeman was badly wounded, and two horses were shot by a convict who had taken a policeman's rifle. We have no information that the guard used their firearms more than was necessary. (2.) Indigent prisoners are fed by the State. The Council of Ministers have deferred a decision on a recommendation of the Prisons' Commission that all prisoners should be so fed whenever the produce of prison labour and the financial resources at the disposal of the Prison Department became sufficient to meet the expense. Prisoners are allowed to have food sent to them by their families. (3.) We have no precise information on this point.