§ CAPTAIN NORTON (Newington, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the length of time during which persons awaiting trial are kept in prison has been brought to his notice; and whether, seeing that accused persons in the provinces are sometimes awaiting trial for months, he will take steps to shorten the period of their detention.
§ * SIR M. WHITE RIDLEYThis question has been frequently under consideration. I fear that in some cases a long detention before trial is inevitable, but I am not in a position at present to promise any definite remedy. The matter is, however, one which will not be lost sight of, and I may perhaps in this connection draw the hon, and gallant Member's attention to the Bail Act, 1898, which gives greater powers to magistrates to allow persons to be at large pending trial.