§ MR. MACDONALDI wish to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Home Department a question of which I have given private notice, respecting the trial at the London Sessions of Amelia Giffard for assault and intimidation in connection with the strike at Messrs. Bryant and May's match factory. Is the Home Secretary aware that Sir P. Edlin called Mr. Winch, Q.C., to the Bench and suggested that the case ought to be settled; that Mr. Winch replied that he could not advise the girl to plead guilty unless assured that she would not be sent to prison; that Sir P. Eldin said he could not give the promise, but the matter might be left safely in his hands; and that, in spite of all this, Sir P. Edlin remanded the girl for a week, and then sentenced her to 21 days' imprisonment from the 1st of the month; will not the Home Secretary, under these circumstances, order the immediate release of the girl?
* MR. GEORGE RUSSELLThe notice of the question reached me only this morning, and I have not been able to consult the Home Secretary in the interval. I will consult him as soon as I have the opportunity of doing so.