MR. LLOYD MORGAN (Carmarthenshire, W.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will state the number of prisoners sentenced to be flogged who were sent on by the justices to the sessions to be dealt with under the Vagrancy Act during the years 1904 and 1905 respectively; the
| Place of Conviction. | Offence. | Sentence. |
| 1904 | ||
| Dorset County Sessions, 19th October, 1904 | Convicted of lodging out, after previous conviction as a rogue and vagabond (17 previous convictions, 6 for sleeping out) | 1 month hard labour and 12 strokes with a birch rod |
| Gloucester County Sessions, 22nd June, 1904 | Indecent exposure of his person with intent to insult highway, after a previous conviction as a rogue and vagabond (for the same offence) | 6 calendar months hard labour and 12 strokes with a birch rod |
| Lancaster County Sessions, 1st December, 1904 | A male person living on the earnings of prostitution, after a previous conviction as a rogue and vagabond (2 previous convictions, 1 for the same offence) | 8 calendar months hard labour and 10 strokes with the cat |
| London County (North) Sessions, 12th July, 1904 | A male person soliciting and importuning other male persons for immoral purposes (6 previous convictions, 2 for similar offences) | 12 months hard labour and 12 strokes with a birch rod |
| Sussex (West) County Sessions, 7th April, 1904 | Indecently exposing his person with intent to insult a female, after previous conviction as an incorrigible rogue and vagabond (2 previous convictions, both for the same offence) | 4 calendar months hard labour and 25 strokes with a birch rod. (In this case the whipping was remitted on medical grounds) |
| Middlesex County Sessions, 28th May, 1904 | Indecently exposing his person in a public place with intent to insult females (2 previous convictions, 1 for the same offence, the other for indecent assault) | 12 calendar mouths hard labour and 12 strokes with a birch rod |
§ names of the sessions where such sentences were passed; the offences the prisoners had committed: and the sentences passed.
§ (Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The following is a list of the cases of persons who in 1904 and 1905 were dealt with at sessions under the Vagrancy Act, and were sentenced to be whipped:—
1271| Place of Conviction. | Offence. | Sentence. |
| 1905. | ||
| Dorset County Sessions, 4th, January, 1905 | Begging, after a previous conviction as an incorrigible rogue and vagabond (7 previous convictions for similar offences) | 1 month hard labour and 12 strokes with a birch rod |
| Dorset County Sessions, 28th June, 1905 | Lodging out, after previous convictions as an incorrigible rogue and vagabond (the same man as in the last case) | 1 month hard labour and 25 strokes with a birch rod. |
| Dorset County Sessions, 28th June, 1905 | Lodging out, after previous convictions as an incorrigible rogue and vagabond (11 previous convictions) | 1 month hard labour and 12 strokes with a birch rod. |
| Dorset County Sessions, 5th April, 1905 | Indecently exposing his person with intent to insult a female,(19 convictions, 1 for the same offence and for the aggravated assault on a female) | 1 month hard labour and 12 strokes with a birch rod. |
| Worcester County Sessions, 16th October 1905 | Indecently exposing his person with intent to insult a female, after previous conviction as a rogue and a vagabond (8 previous convictions, 7 for the same offence) | 2 calendar months hard labour and 12 strokes with a birch rod. |
§ On 12th August, 1905, my predecessor wrote to the Chairman of Quarter Sessions for Dorset, expressing a strong opinion that birching is not an appropriate punishment for the offence of "sleeping out," however often the offence may have been repeated. In this opinion I entirely concur.