§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty what explanation, if any, is there of the fact that the birches with which ships of war and naval training ships are, in accordance with the King's Regulations, supplied from the dockyards for the flogging of boys and youths under eighteen, the infliction of twenty-four strokes on the bare flesh being permissible, are 9 ounces in weight; whereas the birches used by the police are only 4½ounces in weight; and whether the Admiralty will assimilate the weight of the birch used in the infliction of floggings in the Royal Navy to the weight of the birch used by the police.
(Answered by Mr. Pretyman.) I find on inquiry that the Navy birch is actually lighter than that authorised by Civil Power for boys of corresponding ages. There is no intention to make an alteration in the approved pattern.