§ MR. HARVEY LEWISsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether the sentence passed by the Court Martial on John Hawkins, of Her Majesty's Ship Cherub, on the 30th November last, has been approved by the Board of Admiralty, and if the opinion of the Legal Adviser of the Admiralty has been taken thereon; whether the attention of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty has been called to the sentences recently pronounced by Naval Courts Martial; and, whether it is in contemplation to issue any regulations with regard to the scale of punishments in future?
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONI have, Sir, to state, in answer to the Question of the hon. Member for Marylebone, that the attention of the Board of Admiralty was called on the 8th of February to the court martial to which he has now referred, and by direction of the Board this Minute was passed—
Their Lordships have to call attention to the extreme severity of this sentence, which the facts elicited at the trial did not justify; and under 1235 the circumstances their Lordships have directed that the future imprisonment shall be cancelled.As to the other Question of the hon. Member, whether the attention of the Admiralty had been called to the sentences recently pronounced by Naval Courts Martial, I have to state that in the course of the last autumn the very serious attention of the Board of Admiralty was directed to the sentences of the courts martial. And in answer to the last part of the Question, whether it is in contemplation to issue any regulations with regard to the scale of punishments in future, I can hardly say it is in contemplation, because early in last December a confidential circular was issued to the Commanders-in-Chief and the captains of ships, calling attention to the severity of the sentences, and expressing an opinion that their severity ought to be relaxed.