§ MR. KINNAIRDsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether any further Papers will be laid upon the Table with reference to the Deportation of Natives in the South Seas, and especially to the case of the "Daphne;" whether instructions have been given to the Commodore to watch this traffic and to prevent its being abused; and, whether Commander Palmer will be relieved of the Law expenses incurred in prosecuting the "Daphne?"
§ MR. CHILDERSSir, in reply to my hon. Friend, I have to say that I have ascertained that the Colonial Office are collecting a large number of Papers on the subject of the deportation of natives in the South Seas, and that my right hon. Friend the Under Secretary of State will shortly lay them on the Table. As to the second Question, Commodore Lambert was directed, on the 1st of October, 1869, to use the utmost vigilance to check the slave-trade character of these operations; and on the 22nd of February last he was instructed to send a vessel to the Fiji and Friendly Islands, and to cruise as far north as Gilbert's Group, taking all lawful means to prevent this traffic. As I stated in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester (Mr. Taylor) some days ago, an additional ship has been temporarily added to the squadron for this service. As to the third Question, the Rosario detained the Daphne at the Fijis in April, 1869, on suspicion of carrying natives illegally from Bankes's Group. The case was tried in the Vice Admiralty Court at Sydney; and, although the Daphne was released, the learned Judge (Sir Alfred Stephen) certified that there was reasonable cause for seizure. The Secretary of State has approved Commander Palmer's proceedings, and, I may add, that I promoted him yesterday to the rank of captain, expressly to mark our sense of his conduct. The Treasury have also been requested to authorize the payment of his expenses—about £200—by the public.