ADMIRAL DUNDASwished to call the attention of the Government to a case which had lately excited great interest in the public mind; he referred to the case of Captain Johnstone, who had lately been tried and acquitted. It had been since reported, that it was the intention of Government to send that individual to a Colony. He hoped this report was untrue; for the man ought certainly to have been hanged. He also wished to know whether Government intended to institute any examination into the qualifications of masters of merchant vessels?
§ SIR J. GRAHAMsaid, in reference to the first question put to him by the hon. and gallant Member with respect to Captain Johnstone, who had lately been tried and not found guilty but insane, he begged to state to the hon. and gallant Officer, that her Majesty's Government had no power whatever of inflicting any punishment on that individual. It would be their duty to place him under close confinement for the rest of his days. In reference to the second question put to him by the hon. and gallant Member, he had the satisfaction of stating that the Board of Trade, by a recent regulation, had established a system of examination for masters of merchant vessels.