§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, if he can state the number of prisoners now in the prisons, mines, ships, and other penal establishments of Portugal in and outside of that country for alleged political offences; the number of them that are the result of public trial, with time and opportunity for cross-examination and defence: the number imprisoned without such public trial; the number of cases in which overt acts were proved on trial; the number in which the offence consisted in holding or expressing political opinion; the number of each class who have been prisoners for three months or more; and the number who have died in prison in that time?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Acland)In view of the well-established policy of His Majesty's Government not to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, I am unable to take steps in the sense desired.