§ Mr. WILLIAM THORNEasked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been drawn to a statement made by Mr. Justice Channell, in his charge to the grand jury at the Nottingham Assizes on Saturday last, when he stated that he could not help suspecting that the workhouse system was more deterrent than it ought to be, and that the workhouses ought not to be worse than prisons; that there must be something wrong in the relative treatment of the two; that he constantly noticed at assizes that a lot of offences are committed for the sole purpose of getting into prison; and whether he intends taking any action in the matter?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI have seen a report of the statement referred to, from which I gather that the learned judge was alluding to vagrants, not to ordinary workhouse inmates. The question of the treatment of vagrants is now receiving consideration.