§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he has taken in reference to the petition of the prison officers in His Majesty's local prisons asking that they may be placed upon the same scale of pay as the officers of His Majesty's convict prisons; and, if any, whether they have satisfied the legitimate representations of these officers.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The petitions to which the hon. Member refers were most carefully considered by myself and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and, as a result, improvements in the pay of the local prison officers were granted which were, I believe, amply sufficient to satisfy their legitimate claims. These improvements, which I explained in answer to Questions asked in this House on 15th November, 1906, and on 11th April last, included an increase of the maximum salary of the several warder ranks, an increase of annual increments of pay, and, in a large number of cases, increased lodging allowances.