§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received a letter from Mr. W. T. Stead, which has been published, in which he asserts that when imprisoned in Holloway Gaol in 1885 he continuously edited and conducted the Pall Mall Gazette just as if he had been in his office, except that he was forbidden to write upon the matter which led to his incarceration; and, if so, whether he will state exactly what the privileges in the matter of editing and conducting his paper were sanctioned by the visiting justices of Holloway Gaol and recorded in the prison, and whether he is now prepared to give any further information to the House on the matter.
§ *MR. RITCHIEI gave the hon. Member on Monday last the information for which he now asks.†
§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIENMy recollection is that the question was not answered.
§ *MR. RITCHIEYes, I said it was a question what constituted the editing of a paper. Mr. Stead was placed under certain rules, and if he says that he was able to properly manage his paper under such conditions I am quite prepared to accept his statement.