§ MR. E. H. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in how many cases during the year ended 31st March, 1897, the Inspectors of Prisons reported to the Commissioners complaints or requests made to them by prisoners, and in what proportion of the cases was the complaint remedied or the request granted; and in how many cases during the same year did the inspectors report to the Commissioners representations, complaints, or grievances of prison officials, and in what proportion of the cases was any action taken by the Commissioners?
§ MR. JESSE COLLINGSI am afraid that it is impossible for me to give this information without an examination of some five hundred Reports and a mass of departmental correspondence ensuing upon them; and even if it were desirable to give the information, which I doubt, it does not appear that any useful end would be served which would justify so laborious a task.