§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he can say how many military prisoners convicted of offences in connection with the late South African War are at present confined in Great Britain and Ireland respectively; whether he can state the names, the charges upon which they were convicted, the tribunals by which they were tried, and the sentences imposed in each case, of all such prisoners sent to prisons in Ireland; whether any such prisoner is now confined in Ireland; whether any such prisoners sent to Irish prisons since the South African War have been discharged; and whether he favours the release of any other such prisoner.
§ THE SECRETARY or STATE FOR WAR (Mr. ARNOLD-FORSTER, Belfast, W.)Of the military prisoners convicted of offences in connection with the war in South Africa thirteen are confined in Great Britain and one in Ireland. The latter was convicted by Court-martial of desertion and treason and was condemned to penal servitude for life. Seven prisoners who were 771 convicted by Court-martial of offences in connection with the South African War and were awarded varying sentences of penal servitude, were confined in Ireland and have since been discharged. The reply to the last sentence of the Question is in the negative.
§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIENWhy keep one man in gaol while six or seven others convicted of the same offence have been discharged?
§ [No Answer was returned.]