§ MR. HORNIMAN (Chelsea)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the fact that Miss Florence Haig and Miss Joachim were sentenced on 1st July last for an offence committed for political reasons, he will advise their transfer from the second to the first division for the remainder of their term of three months imprisonment; and whether his attention has been called to the legal decision of 1891, quoted in Pitt Cobbett's "Leading Cases on International Law," page 36.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) I see no sufficient reason for interference on behalf of these ladies, who can bring their terms of imprisonment to an end at any moment, and, as I have already said, I think it would be unconstitutional for me to advise the use of the Royal prerogative for this purpose. The deci- 72 sion quoted by the hon. Member related to offences "of a politicial character" within the meaning of the Extradition Act of 1870, and has no bearing upon the prison treatment of persons sentenced in respect of offences committed in this country.