§ MR. PEEL () Manchester, S.To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the punishment imposed in the recent case of Rex v. Penrud-docke: and whether he proposes to make any alteration in the penalties that can be inflicted in cases of cruelty to children.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) The penalties that can be inflicted in the cases mentioned are prescribed by The Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894, and could only be altered by legislation. They are fixed with wide limits so as to allow, at the discretion of the court, a suitable penalty for every case. The penalities, on conviction on indictment, may be a fine of any amount up to £100, or a sentence of imprisonment for not more than two years, either as an alternative for, or in addition to a fine. The only alteration which would appear to be suggested is to the effect of prescribing a fixed or minimum penalty for all cases. Not only would this be sure to operate most unjustly in certain cases, but the principle of fixing minimum penalties is contrary to the whole tendency and practice of modern legislation.