Hindustani Interpreters for London Prisons.

HC Deb 02 August 1906 vol 162 cc1358-9

MR. ALDEN

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in any of the London prisons, † See (4) Debates, clxii., 431. there are interpreters who can speak Hindustani; failing this, whether there are Government interpreters at the docks who might be sent to the prisons in case of need; and, if so, how many.

MR. GLADSTONE

There is no Hindustani interpreter in the London prisons. The few Hindustani prisoners who are received can almost always speak enough English to make themselves understood: but if necessity should arise, the Prison Commissioners would procure the services of an interpreter.