Mr. CHANCELLORasked the Home Secretary if he will state the benefits prescribed for conscientious objectors in prison under Rule 243 a; and whether instructions have been issued to governors of prisons as to the administration of the rule, and can the nature of these instructions be communicated to this House?
§ Mr. BRACEI will send the hon. hon. Member a Memorandum which will answer the first part of his question. The instructions issued to governors have dealt with matters of detail and such points of difficulty as may have arisen from time to time in the administration of the Rule.
§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the Home Secretary whether, in view of the present internment of conscientious objectors within the Wakefield Work Centre and its prejudicial effect on the health and spirits of the men, he will allow them to work in the open air outside their workshops where that was previously the custom?
§ Mr. BRACEI regret that, with the exception of the garden and building parties, numbering about 100 men out of a total of 450, it is not practicable to permit men to work outside the workshops.
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§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the Home Secretary how long it is proposed to keep the men employed at the Wakefield Work Centre within locked gates; on what ground these men are placed under this forcible restraint; and how far he intends to be guided by the advice received from the local authority, who are hostile to the conscientious objectors?
§ Mr. BRACEI regret that I am not able to say how long it may be necessary to continue the present precaution of confining the men employed under my Committee at Wakefield to their quarters. The precaution has been adopted in the interests of the men's safety and the good order of the town. The matter is obviously one in which I must give great weight to the opinions of those who are responsible to their fellow citizens for the preservation of the peace.