§ MR. SPEAR (Devonshire, Tavistock)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been called to the number of recent attacks on warders by prisoners in His Majesty's prison at Princetown; and if he will consider the advisability of seeking to prevent these attacks by providing warders with some more effective method of defence.
§ MR. AKERS-DOUGLASThere has been no special increase recently in the number of attacks on warders at Dartmoor Convict Prison; it is quite inevitable that, considering the character of the population (Dartmoor contains more than 1,000 of the worst criminals in England), outbreaks of bad temper resulting in actual violence should from time to time 562 occur, but there have only been six assaults on prison officers this year and seven last year. I see no reason for thinking that any special measures are necessary for the protection of officers beyond those which are prescribed in the existing prison regulations.