§ MR. ARTHUR HENDERSON (Durham, Barnard Castle)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been called to the sentence of fourteen days' hard labour passed upon nine lads at the Guernsey Court for setting fire to the furze on l'Ancresse Common on Guy Fawkes Day; whether he can state the age of these lads; and whether, having regard to all the circumstances, he will make representations to secure some reduction in the sentence.
§ MR. GLADSTONEThe ages of the offenders varied between seventeen to twenty-three; they were ordered to pay a fine of £2 each, or in default to go to prison for fourteen days; eight of them have paid their fines. The total amount of damage done on l'Ancresse Common on the night in question was very considerable, amounting, according to one estimate, to £100. Incendiary fires of this kind have increased in number recently in the island, and a large extent of grass on which the poorer inhabitants feed their sheep has been destroyed. I see no reason for advising any reduction in the penalties imposed.