Mr. POWERasked the Chief Secretary for particulars of the fines, dismissals, transfers, applications for transfers, resignations, reductions in the ranks, and sworn inquiries at Waterford Prison during the governorship of Major Dobbyn, the present governor, and how these compare with other prisons in Ireland; is he aware that the standing order of the Irish Prisons Board granting in rota a half-day on Saturday to the officers of His Majesty's prisons in Ireland was not being observed in His Majesty's prison in Waterford; and will he state what is the standing order of the Irish Prisons Board regulating the Sunday duties of the officers of His Majesty's prisons in Ireland?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe information asked for in the first paragraph of the question is not available, and could not be procured without an expenditure of time and labour out of all proportion to its public utility. I am informed by the General Prisons Board that the standing order as to the Saturday half-day is observed in Waterford Prison. There is no standing order as to the Sunday duties of prison officers—the practice existing in some prisons (Waterford included) is that officers other than those required for patrol duty go off duty on Sundays at two o'clock.