§ 57. Mr. WEDGWOODasked the Home Secretary whether George Lansbury will be kept in prison for three months unless he gives sureties; and of what crime has he been found guilty?
§ Mr. McKENNAMr. Lansbury has not been found guilty of a crime, but is liable to imprisonment for three months if he fails or refuses to enter into a recognisance and find sureties for his good behaviour. The High Court have found that the magistrate's order to this effect was amply justified.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODAre we to understand that Mr. Lansbury, a former Member of this House, is to be kept three months in prison although he has been found guilty of no crime whatever?
§ Mr. McKENNAYes, but my hon. Friend misunderstands. Mr. Lansbury has been sent to prison under ordinary process of law, because he has failed to find sureties for good behaviour, and there does not appear to be at the present moment any ground for interference.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODCan you send anybody to prison who refuses to find bail to be of good behaviour?
§ Mr. McKENNANo, Sir; I cannot send anybody to prison.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODCan any magistrate send any man, strike leader or anybody 728 else, indefinitely to prison in default of giving sureties?
§ Mr. McKENNAIf any person is called upon to give sureties for good behaviour after hearing the evidence, and if the magistrate comes to the conclusion that the evidence is such as to require him to call upon the person charged to give such sureties, on his failing to give sureties he can be sent to prison.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODEvidence of what—there has been no charge?
§ Mr. McKENNAThere was a charge.
§ Mr. JOHN WARDWill the right hon. Gentleman take into consideration the fact that this surety was demanded of Mr. Lansbury some few weeks ago, and will he take that interval into account in the sentence of imprisonment on failing to find sureties?
§ Mr. McKENNAI will certainly bear in mind what my hon. Friend says.
§ Mr. SPEAKERFurther questions should be put down.
§ 58. Mr. WEDGWOODasked in what prisons Mr. Lansbury and Mr. John Scurr are confined; what privileges, if any, they enjoy as political prisoners; whether they are on hunger-strike; and how long he proposes to allow men who have not been convicted to remain in prison under these circumstances?
§ Mr. McKENNAMr. Lansbury is in Pentonville Prison. Mr. Scurr's case is still before the Court. As Mr. Lansbury is refusing food he is not receiving the privileges he would otherwise enjoy under Rule 243a. I am not at present aware of any grounds for intervention with regard to the sentence passed on him.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODDo I understand that Mr. Lansbury, a prisoner who has been convicted of no offence, is in the third divison and on hunger strike?
§ Mr. McKENNANo, Sir. My hon. Friend in his original question used the expression "convicted of crime." Technically, it is not correct to say that. When a man is called upon to give sureties for good behaviour and refuses to do so, he is technically not guilty of a crime, but he was charged with a certain offence and this offence was proved against him, and 729 it was because of that proof he was called upon to give sureties for his good behaviour in the future.
§ Mr. T. M. HEALYMay I ask why Mr. Lansbury is not being treated as a first-class misdemeanant, as he would be under similar circumstances in Ireland according to the state of the Irish law?
§ Mr. McKENNANo, Sir, as I endeavoured to explain more than once, the question of the class to which any person is sent does not depend upon me, but depends upon the committing magistrate. In this case, I think, Mr. Lansbury was sent to prison in the second division.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODI beg to give notice that at the end of Questions I shall-move the Adjournment of the House.
§ Mr. T. M. HEALYIn Ireland there is a large number of these cases, and I may say I was in gaol myself under this procedure as a first-class misdemeanant, and why should not the same rule apply in this case?
§ Mr. McKENNAHere we have adopted the practice of late years of giving prisoners in certain circumstances such as these the benefit of Rule 243a, which gives almost all the privilege of a prisoner committed in the first class.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODI desire to call attention to a definite matter of urgent public importance, namely, the continued imprisonment in the third division in Pentonville, and the continued starvation in prison of Mr. George Lansbury, some time a Member of this House, and to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House thereon.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI would remind the hon. Gentleman of Standing Order No. 15, Sub-section (9), which says: "On the days appointed for concluding the business of Supply, the consideration of that business shall not be anticipated by a Motion of Adjournment.…"