MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can explain the circumstance of 20 pairs of boots having been supplied to the gaol at Shanghai during the March quarter 1892, at a time when only one prisoner had been detained in the gaol during the quarter, and that one for a period of only three days?
§ SIR E. GREYThe 20 pairs of boots were ordered to replace a corresponding number which were worn out in 1891. A stock of prisoners' clothing has to be maintained and replenished as the old becomes worn out, and the new supply of any article bears no immediate relation to the number of prisoners charged for in any given quarter.