HC Deb 26 June 1913 vol 54 cc1226-7
31. Mr. JOWETT

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the intention of the Government again to arrest Mrs. Emmeline Parkhurst?

The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. McKenna)

I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Newcastle under-Lyme on Monday last.

Mr. WEDWOOD

Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether the other circumstances to which he alluded in connection with the rearrest of Mrs. Parkhurst apply also to the other suffragist prisoners?

Mr. McKENNA

Yes, Sir.

32. Mr. JOWETT

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that Mrs. Pankhurst is in a serious state of health owing to the treatment that she has received; and is the Government prepared to face her death should this treatment be continued?

Mr. McKENNA

I have no exact information as to Mrs. Pankhurst's present state of health; but, if it be serious, this is certainly not owing to her treatment in prison by the officials, from whom she received every possible care and consideration. The prison authorities supplied her with food, and did all they could to induce her to take it, and she alone is responsible for the consequences of her persistent refusal to take the food necessary for health.

33 and 34. Mr. JOWETT

asked (1) whether the suffragist prisoners, sentenced at the Old Bailey on Wednesday last, are in Holloway Prison or whether they have been sent to other prisons; and (2) whether the suffragist prisoners, sentenced at the Old Bailey on Wednesday last, are being accorded the same treatment as accorded to other prisoners in the third division?

Mr. McKENNA

These prisoners have all been released under the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act

Mr. JOWETT

They will be treated in exactly the same way as Mrs. Pankhurst?

Mr. McKENNA

Yes. When their licence expires, if they are in a fit state to go to prison, they will be brought back to prison.

Mr. JOWETT

No difference will be made between their treatment and that of Mrs. Pankhurst?

Mr. McKENNA

I have stated so over and over again—no difference at all.