§ MR. T. B. CURRAN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is aware that the authorities at Aldershot Gaol, on a recent occasion, refused permission to a man named Barry to supply his son, an untried prisoner, with a copy of Reynolds's Newspaper, telling him that he would be at liberty to supply him with copies of Conservative weekly journals; also that the police at Chatham Dockyard refused to allow the newspaper boys, under instructions from the authorities, to supply Reynolds's Newspaper to the sailors on board Her Majestys' ships; and, if this state of things be true, will he explain the reason for this action of the authorities mentioned?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. H. H. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.I am informed by the War Office that there is no foundation whatever for the statement as to Aldershot Gaol, and that no prisoner of the name of Barry has been confined in the Aldershot Gaol during the last six years. I am also informed by the Admiralty that the statement that the sale of Reynoldg's Newspaper is not permitted on board the Depôt is without foundation. No such order has been issued either directly or indirectly, and no restrictions have been placed upon the sale of this paper to the men; and so far as the police are concerned, 157 newsboys, with permission of the Dockyard authorities, are at all times allowed by the police to enter the Dockyard, and no question is ever asked as to which newspapers they carry.