HC Deb 23 July 1861 vol 164 cc1378-9
CAPTAIN ARCHDALL

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether an inquiry has taken place into the conduct of the Officers in Calcutta that signed the Inspection Report of the Great Tasmania, previous to her departure from England, who were charged with culpability by the verdict of the Coroner's Inquest which sat upon the bodies of the soldiers who died on board that ship on her voyage home from India, and, if so, if he can state to the House what the result of the inquiry has been?

SIR CHARLES WOOD

said, an inquiry had taken place at Calcutta, and the result was that the evidence which had been given before the Coroner's Jury in this country had been impugned in seve- ral material particulars. Before the inquiry had been instituted the Officer at Calcutta, who was in some respects responsible for what had occurred, had been removed from his command, and had not since been appointed to any other situation. The Officer in charge of the European Troops on board the vessel could only be tried by Court Martial, and that being a process by which it was deemed very little important information could be elicited it had not been adopted.