§ Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Home Secretary if he will call for a report on the health of Philip Milward, conscientious objector, Canterbury Prison, who has been in prison two and a-half years and is reported failing?
§ Mr. SHORTTI have had a report on this prisoner and find he is in good health. He has gained weight every month since July last.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Home Secretary if he will state how many letters, telegrams, or resolutions of protest against the continued imprisonment of conscientious objectors have been received by the Government since the signing of the Armistice?
§ Mr. SHORTTI am afraid I cannot give this figure. The number of such communications received at the Home Office is very large, and, as most of them come from the friends of individual prisoners, to find them would involve searching through many hundreds of files. I do not think they represent the views of more than a small minority of the population.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that N. Sogon, a conscientious objector who has been in prison for the last seventeen months, is in Wandsworth Prison in a very serious physical and mental condition; and will he call for a Report?
§ Mr. SHORTTI find that the allegations on which the hon. Member's question is found have no basis in fact. Repeated medical examination has failed to discover any sign of illness, mental or physical. The prisoner has increased in weight since reception in prison and appears to be in excellent health. He assures the medical officer that he sleeps and eats well, and that he has not made any complaint of ill-health to his friends.