Mr. HAY MORGAN (Cornwall, Truro)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to certain grave allegations recently made with regard to a mutiny at Dartmoor Prison; whether any independent inquiry has been or will be made in reference to them, and, if so, will he state the result of such inquiry, and whether, if the allegations are false, he will place them before the Attorney-General for the purpose of considering whether proceedings should be 1359 taken against the persons responsible for circulating them.
§ MR. GLADSTONENo, Sir; my attention had not been drawn to these allegations until my hon. friend mentioned them; but I have received a full Report from the Prison Commission as to the recent occurrence at Dartmoor, and I am satisfied that there is absolutely no foundation for the statements and insinuations which have been made. It would, in my opinion, be undesirable to call further attention to them by taking criminal proceedings or other steps. The staff of His Majesty's Convict Prisons are carefully selected men of high character, and they carry out their extremely difficult and trying duties with remarkable patience and humanity.