HC Deb 21 May 1868 vol 192 cc656-7
MR. H. B. SHERIDAN

said, he wished to ask the Under Secretary for State for the Colonies, Whether Mr. Horatio Hugging, recently appointed to the office of Assistant Judge in the Colony of Sierra Leone, has ever been called to the English Bar, and whether he is the same person whose judgments while sitting as sole Judge in the Supreme Court at Sierra Leone were brought under the notice of the House last Session; And whether the Colonial Office has received a Communication from Mr. Rainy, a properly qualified advocate practising at the Bar of that Country, setting forth further facts having reference to that gentleman, and demanding an inquiry?

MR. ADDERLEY

said, in reply, that the hon. Member for Dudley had four or five times placed Questions of a character similar to that which he now asked upon the Notice Paper, without coming down to the House to enable a reply to be given to them. He thought that this was scarcely the right course for any hon. Member to take. In reply to the first Question of the hon. Member he had to state that Mr. Horatio Huggins had been called to the English Bar, though the Question seemed to imply that he had not been called to that Bar, and was therefore not a fit person to fill the position to which he had been appointed. In answer to the second Question he had to state that Mr. Huggins' judgments had been noticed in that House last year, and that the allegations made against them had been proved to be unfounded; and in answer to the third Question he had to state that communications had been received from Mr. Rainy, whose statements had been inquired into and found to be inaccurate.

MR. H. B. SHERIDAN

said, he wished to say that this was the first time this Question had been put upon the Paper.

MR. ADDERLEY

I said Questions with respect to West African appointments.

MR. H. B. SHERIDAN

said, he had put the Question on the Paper in the exercise of the ordinary privilege of a Member of that House, and he regretted that the Under Secretary had not confined himself to answering it. He should certainly take an early opportunity of bringing the whole subject with reference to these appointments before the House.