§ Mr. SMEDLEY CROOKEasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the cases of Edward Charles Bicknell and Horace Perrins, both lads of 17 years of age, who, charged before Sutton Coldfield magistrates on the 5th instant with a series of petty thefts, pleaded guilty and received sentences of six months' hard labour; whether, during the course of the sentences being carried out, these lads will be likely to come in contact with other prisoners undergoing sentences of hard labour; and what action, if any, he proposes to take?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI have made inquiry into the facts of the case and can find no reason for intervention on my part. The two lads will be put in a young offenders' class, where they will be treated specially and kept separate, as far as possible, from adult prisoners.