§ MR. JAMES O'KELLY (Roscommon, N.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the death rate in the Old Calabar Gaol, where there are always from 400 to 500 prisoners, the majority of whom are crowded into cells at the rate of twenty-six par cell, and where some cells contain no fewer than thirty-five prisoners; and whether, seeing that out of 200 prisoners sent from Asaba in the beginning of last year only five are now alive, and in view of the number of cases of suicides among the prisoners, he will say whether he proposes to take any, and, if so, what, steps in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) My attention has been called to a statement in a newspaper to this effect, and an inquiry is being made into the matter.