MR. LLOYD MORGAN) (Carmarthenshire, W.I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the case of a prisoner who was committed by the magistrate at the North London Police Court to two years detention in an inebriate home; whether, without the consent of the magistrate, the prisoner was released from the home after being detained there for ten months, and was again arrested for drunkenness; and whether he will consider the question of prohibiting the release of any such offender before the expiration of the term of detention without first obtaining the consent of the magistrate who committed the prisoner.
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Cochrane,) (for Mr. Akers Douglas) Ayrshire, N.The facts of the case are as stated in the Question. It is much to be regretted that this person, whose prospects seemed good, should have relapsed; but the decision as to the time when an inebriate may properly be released on licence rests with the managers of the reformatory who have him under their immediate supervision; and the case does not seem to afford sufficient ground for interfering with their discretion in this important matter or for making its exercise dependent on the concurrence of the committing magistrate, who could not be in an equally good position for judging the chances that release under careful conditions might be in the inebriate's best interests.