§ Captain BARINGasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Assistant Warder W. J. Davies, lately serving at Winchester Prison, was declared unfit for further service on medical grounds or for other reasons; and whether an officer of the prison service is entitled to know the precise reasons for his dismissal?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe hon. Member is probably referring to Assistant-Warder J. X. Davis, whose provisional engagement was terminated in the usual way, after he had failed to pass a successful probation. The Governor of the Prison reported that he was not suitable for the service, as from his want of energy and lack of interest in his work, he was never likely to make a useful officer. Unsatisfactory reports were also received both from the training school and the prison where he served his probation as to his general conditions of health. The Commissioners, therefore, decided in the public interest to terminate his engagement. There is no rule which prevents a governor from acquainting an officer with the reasons for terminating his engagement, and this, I 325W believe, is done in the ordinary course. It seems to me unfair to the officer to speak of him as dismissed from the service when after a period of probation he fails to secure a permanent engagement.