A Spectator's Notebook
THE HOME OFFICE cut a sorry figure in its attempt on the eve of the Commons debate on hanging to discredit Mr. Arthur Koestler for his Observer article on the instructions given to Prison governors as to how much coroners should be told about executions. It was the clear implication of Lord Mancroft's statement in the House of Lords last week that Mr. Koestler had doctored a quotation to help his case. So clear was it that after the statement Lord Waverley talked about the 'gross misrepresentation' having been made, and Lord Hailsham talked about 'untruths.' Lord Mancroft has now apologised, but I think he would have done well to have been more humble about it. After all, his statement was a quite unjustified slur upon an eminent author and newspaper, and it was the cause of much of the Commons debate on Monday being devoted to irrelevancies. When Lord Mancroft made his original state- ment he was unaware of the facts of the matter. That was a pity; but somebody must have been aware of them, and I hope that the civil servant responsible for the statement has been suitably dealt with. Lord Mancroft still refuses to publish the instruction in question and talks about the 'public interest.' What pompous nonsense! Public interest simply mans Home Office interest, and it will be a very strong indication that the Instruction contains material helpful to the abolitionists' case if the Home Office does not reconsider this refusal to publish it. While it is about it, the Home Office should also, I think. publish the document that has to be filled in by prison officials after an execution. Failing that, would Lord Mancroft agree that the prison governor has to state whether he is aware of any circumstances occurring before, at, or after the execution which tend to show that the executioner is not a suitable person to employ on future occasions either because of incapacity or because of the likelihood of his creating public scandal before or after the execution? And would he care to confirm that officials have to answer questions about the character of the prisoner's neck, about the character and amount of destruction to the soft and bony structure of the neck, and about whether the cause of death was dislocation of the vertebrae or tisPhy.ria?
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