§ MR. TULLyI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of 1331 Ireland whether he can state if any Members of Parliament sentenced to imprisonment under the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act have been obliged to perform prison tasks such as washing prison clothes.
§ MR. WYNDHAMNo, Sir. This charge was made in an aggravated form on the 27th October by an hon. Member in this House.† It was couched in language which admitted of no interpretation other than that during my tenure of office as Chief Secretary an hon. Member had been obliged to perform a peculiarly degrading task in prison. It was so understood at the time, and could not have been understood to mean anything else, for the hon. Member who preferred it added that the Prime Minister under the old Coercion Act would have shrunk from what he called "a new way of stretching political opponents on the rack." To that charge I give an absolute and unqualified denial.
§ MR. TULLYHad the Member for Cork any authority for stating that he had to wash dirty linen in gaol or else-where?
§ *MR. SPEAKEROrder, order!