§ ADMIRAL ERSKINEasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, If it is true that a sentence of death passed in the Criminal Court of New South Wales, on the 20th of November last, on Joseph Armstrong and Charles Dowden for crimes described by the Judge on passing sentence as "of such a terrible nature as to be hitherto almost unknown to civilized men," has been commuted for a milder punishment; and, if so, if he can state the reasons for such commutation?
§ MR. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN,in reply, said, that he had, in common with the hon. and gallant Admiral, seen a telegram in the newspapers stating that the sentences on the persons to whom he referred had been commuted, but that he had received no official tele- 198 gram or despatch on the subject. He was, therefore, unable to state officially whether the sentence had or had not been commuted.