Mr. Cross's Bill transferring the control of local prisons from
the Justices to the Home Office passed its second reading on Thursday, by 279 to 69. The majority of Members found, as we anticipated last year, that their constituents wished for the Bill ; but it is evidently not liked in the House, and it may have some difficulty in passing the Lords. The Members for boroughs, such as Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Rylands, and Sir Sydney Waterlow, resisted the second reading, arguing that it was contrary to the spirit of municipal self-govern- ment; and fine old Tory Members for counties, like Mr. Newdegate and Sir W. Barttelot, see in it another blow at the authority of the squires. There can be no doubt that the Bill will improve prison discipline, and no doubt either that it takes one more bit of work, and therefore a trifle of personal import- ance, from the country gentlemen. The only real objection to the measure, however, is the one raised by Mr. Goschen,—that it should have been proposed after the long-promised County reform, and not before it.
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