§ MAJOR SEELY (Liverpool, Abercromby)On behalf of the hon. Member for St. Pancras, E., I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the increase in the number of prisoners committed to military prisons at home and abroad (excluding India), as shown on page 8 of [Cd. 2699] the Report on Military Prisons, 1905; and if he will explain this increase, seeing that the number of committals has gone up from 6,655 in 1896, when the average Army strength at home and abroad (excluding India) was 139,305 to 19,461 in 1905, when the average strength was only 188,570; what action does he propose taking to stop an increase of 192 per cent. in committals to prison in the space of ten years during which the increase in the average strength has been only 35 per cent.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. HALDANE,) HaddingtonIf my hon. friend will kindly refer to the footnote below the figures, which he mentions, he will find the explanation of a large portion of the increase. The increase in the number of men awarded sentences of imprisonment by the commanding officers is due to these men being committed to a military prison, instead of, as formerly, to provost or barrack cells. This explanation also applied to court martial sentences not exceeding forty-two days, which prior to 1902 were carried out in provost prisons, and as these are now classed as military prisons the figures for the latter have correspondingly increased.