§ Mr. HAYCOCKasked the Home Secretary whether there is another case on record in the prison, service like that of Henry Fardon, Winchester Prison, where an officer has been dismissed after 24 years' service for familiarity with a prisoner; and if, seeing that this alleged familiarity consisted only in conversing with the prisoner, and that such punishment as dismissal involves the loss of service and pension rights, he will have the matter reconsidered?
Mr. HENDERSONThe Prison Commissioners in this case decided, after local inquiry by an Inspector of Prisons extending over four days, that the officer had been guilty of conduct which, considered in relation to his record of service as a whole, left them with no option in the public interest but to dismiss him. I am sure that this decision was taken with great reluctance, but I can find no ground on which I could properly reopen the matter now.