§ Mr. THOMAS GRIFFITHSasked the Home Secretary (1) whether, in view of the fact that the prison regulations exist only in many scattered publications, some of which are out of print, he will arrange for a complete set of the regulations in force, so far as made known to the public, to be presented to Parliament and placed on sale in convenient form at a low price; and (2) whether, in addition to the prison regulations as officially published, there is now a series of orders and directions, not relating to particular cases but of general application, issued to the governors of prisons, and constituting, in effect, a supplementary code of regulations, in some respects modifying and even superseding what is officially published as the prison regulations; and whether he will consider the propriety of publishing such orders and directions as part of the prison regulations in order that these may not mislead the public?
§ Mr. SHORTTI agree that as the prison rules have been amended in a good many points since they were published in 1899, it would be convenient to have a consolidated edition, and I will endeavour to arrange for its issue by the Stationery Office. I do not think it would be desirable to publish the orders and direc- 1801W tions to governors which have to be issued from time to time as occasion arises. They do not modify or supersede the Prison Rules which have Statutory force and can only be altered by new rules issued after drafts have been submitted to Parliament.