§ "That a sum, not exceeding £375,897, be granted to His Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1904, for the expenses of the prisons in England, Wales, and the Colonies."
§ MR. WHITLEY (Halifax)called attention to the fact that when this Vote was in Committee he had asked a question as to the large increase of £25,000, but had received no answer owing probably to the fact that the hour was late when the right hon. Gentleman replied, and this point was overlooked. He wished now to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he could not see his way to economise in this Department when the Vote next came before the House.
§ MR. CALDWELL (Lanarkshire, Mid)explained that the number of convictions in England had enormously increased owing to the practice of legislation making petty offences punishable by fine or imprisonment. In England, as in Scotland, the people frequently preferred to go to prison rather than pay the fine, and that necessitated greatly increased prison accommodation.
§ *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. COCHRANE,) Ayrshire, N.said that serious crime, happily, continued 62 to decrease. The increase in the number of prisoners arose almost entirely from the large increase in the number of petty offences in the last two or three years. The increase in the Estimate was to provide for a further estimated increase. In addition to that there was the increased cost of the new prison dietary which the House had sanctioned.
§ MR. WHITLEYDoes that account for the increase in the number of the petty offences?
§ *MR. COCHRANEdeclined to express an opinion on such a wide question as to whether persons might or might not prefer the diet of the prison to that of the workhouse.
§ Resoluton agreed to.