§ MR. TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state the difference in the numbers of hours warders are on duty in local prisons in Ireland and England; what are the differences in the rates of pay in the two countries; and whether it is proposed to assimilate the rate of pay and the number of working hours.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe number of hours performed by warders on duty in English prisons averages, I am informed, sixty-one hours forty minutes per week. In Irish prisons the average, calculated on the five prisons at Sligo, Castlebar, Londonderry, Kilmainham, and Mountjoy, works out at sixty-six hours thirty-eight minutes. In England prisoners are exercised for one hour daily, in Ireland for two hours. If the English practice in this respect prevailed in Ireland the hours of duty for warders would be correspondingly lightened. The rates of pay to warders in both countries are set out in the Estimates. It is not possible to draw a comparison between the two, as the classification is different in each country. No further changes are proposed, such as suggested.