§ MR. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will consider the advisability of substituting transportation to the Andaman Islands in cases of murder and serious crime in Ceylon, in view of the increase in cases of murder and manslaughter, as proved by Major de Wilton's Report on Prisons, Colombo, in his official Report, as various authorities have declared that such transportation would prove a greater deterrent than the taking of life.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) The question of transporting convicts from Ceylon to the Andaman Islands has been raised on various occasions; and though I will give the matter further consideration I am not, as at present advised, prepared to reconsider the decision of my predecessors, which has been adverse to the proposal.