Part of Orders of the Day — Reorganisation of Offices (Scotland) Bill. – in the House of Commons am ar 9 Gorffennaf 1928.
Mr William Wright
, Rutherglen
I know that, but I think it was worth saying. It is a great pity the people of Scotland are not here to see it. But I leave that aspect of the question. I was pointing out that, if there be any logic at all in the statement of the superiority of the education that prevails in Scotland, it ought to apply with equal force to those who are responsible for local government, and, if that be true, I cannot understand the object of the Secretary of State in seeking to abolish these Offices. There is one other point so far as the Prison Commissioners are concerned. This report in dealing with the health of prisoners says:
Eighty-one cases of insanity were reported, as compared with 71 last year; 72 of these were insane before admission to prison.
So they have a number of people in England and in Scotland who were arrested as people who were responsible for their conduct, and it is afterwards discovered that they ought not to have been there at all.
68 were untried and four were convicted prisoners; 20 were reported as feebleminded, and of these 11 were handed over to inspectors of poor on discharge.
That reveals a very shocking state of affairs. If I could believe for a moment that, the right hon. Gentleman's proposals were going to improve the social, moral and intellectual position of the people, I should support them wholeheartedly. Having lived there for wellnigh 30 years, I have seen some of the awful conditions that prevail, and in few places are they worse than in my own Division of Rutherglen, and I know from the local officials that they look with alarm on this proposal that has been made. I know how utterly futile any appeal of mine to the Secretary of State will be. At an earlier stage to-day he made a special appeal to us on these benches, in a great peroration,
that if we could advance any arguments or bring forward any data which would weigh with him or the Government, he would listen to thorn. My answer is that for five and a half years we have hammered him again and again with arguments and data that could not be disputed and in not one single case, as far as I know, has it ever had the faintest effect upon him or the Government. Therefore, I have no hope that any appeal of mine will have effect, but at any rate we have the satisfaction of registering our protest against this change that is about to be made.
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