§ MR. QUILTER (Suffolk, Sudbury)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that, notwithstanding the written assurance from the Home Office of the 23rd May last, that there was only one contract in force for the making of mats by prisoners, that this would terminate in the following July, and that it was not proposed to make any others, the Department has permitted contracts to be given for nosebags and kneeling mats, and that such are still being made at the prisons of Hull, Liverpool, and Stafford; and, if so, whether he is prepared to reverse the policy of his predecessor and permit the continuance of interference with free labour?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.No contracts have been entered into for making nosebags and kneelers by prison labour since 23rd May 1892. Those articles have continued to be made by prisoners at the prisons of Hull, Liverpool, and Stafford under contracts previously in force, but which will terminate during the mouth of May next. When the assurance was given, on the 23rd May last, that there was only one contract in force for the making of mats by prisoners, that it would terminate in the following July, and that it was not proposed to make any others, it was not considered that nosebags and kneelers came under the denomination of mats.