§ MR. MOSS (Denbighshire, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his attention has been directed to the case of Kendrick Smith, who was, on 4th January last, at the Overton petty sessions, in Flintshire, convicted of night poaching, and sentenced to two months imprisonment, and ordered to find sureties for his good behaviour. And, having regard to the fact that it was given in evidence that Smith was a married man with eight children, that he had never appeared in a police court before, that he was knocked down and handcuffed by the gamekeeper who arrested him, and that he denied having offered any violence to the gamekeeper, whether he will cause inquiries to be made into the facts of the case with a view to having the unexpired term of this sentence remitted.
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. JESSE COLLINGS,) Birmingham, BordesleyThe Secretary of State regrets that the hon. Member should have thought it necessary to make this matter the subject of a Question. His attention had not been called to the case until the hon. Member handed to him last night a written representation which will be enquired into without delay. The Secretary of State requests me to take this opportunity of stating that applications of this nature should be made direct to the Home Office at the earliest opportunity, where they will be at once attended to and, if there appears prima facie ground, form the subject of enquiries.