§ MR. HENRY KIMBER (Wandsworth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he has considered that part of the Committee's Report on Prisons just circulated (paragraph 104) in which the Committee state that the whole prison staff is undermanned, and also that the specific question of hours of work was excluded from their reference, and they had not taken evidence on the subject, but that the Committee felt bound to express their opinion that the hours of duty of warders generally amount to the maximum which ought to be imposed, and, further, that if a warder is expected to make a constant mental effort to deal kindly and wisely by all the prisoners under his charge, it is too much to expect him to maintain the effort throughout the time which he has now to work; and, whether he will inquire into the question above mentioned with a view to such amelioration of the hours of work as may be found appropriate?
§ MR. ASQUITHThis question will not be lost sight of in the consideration of the Committee's Report.