Mr. E. HARVEYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a request was recently made to the Prison Commissioners by Miss D. James to be allowed to present Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle," Russell Wallace's "Malay Archipelago," Olive Schreiner's "Dreams," and Alfred Noyes's "Collected Poems," first volume, to the Dor- 1632W chester Prison Library, and that one of the prisoners might be allowed to read them; whether the request was declined on the ground that it would be contrary to prison rules for the Prison Commissioners to avail themselves of this offer; and, if so, what are the rules referred to, and whether they will be revised so as to allow the addition of standard works to the prison libraries in the interest not merely of individuals but of prisoners generally?
§ Sir G. CAVEOffers of standard books for the prison libraries are freely accepted by the Prison Commissioners, and a large number of gifts of this sort have recently been received. The difficulty in the case referred to arose from the request that the books should be supplied in the first instance to a particular prisoner. If sent without this condition they would be accepted.