§ CAPTAIN BEDFORD PIMasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether the Colonial Office has received any information as to two sentences recently passed by one of the district magistrates in Mauritius, in one of which he sentenced Mr. Piddington, an engineer of great eminence in the Colony, to pay a fine of £5 and suffer fourteen days' imprisonment for a slight assault on a Coolie under circumstances of considerable provocation; and, in the other, he inflicted on a Coolie who had attempted to murder a hospital surgeon a fine of £1, and ordered the surgeon to pay the costs; and, whether it is true that in Mr. Piddington's case the Governor has refused to receive a humble and respectful Petition, which prayed his intervention upon the ground, not of any informality in the Petition or its wording, but of some personal complaint made by the magistrate against Mr. Piddington's Attorney?
§ MR. J. LOWTHERNo official information, Sir, has been received at the Colonial Office, although my attention has been called to some newspaper paragraphs containing the information alluded to in the hon. Gentleman's Question. Until some official communication is received, I cannot afford any information upon the subject.