MR. SULLIVANasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, If he has any objection to inform the House if there be any authority whereby Surgeons in the Royal Navy can be forced to serve after having tendered their resignations and having intimated their desire to leave the service; whether it is true that Dr. James Donovan, of Her Majesty's ship "Dido," then in Australian waters, having been refused leave to resign his commission, 292 was then denied, by Commodore Good-enough, permission to proceed to England, at his own expense, on most urgent private affairs, involving the risk of the loss of a considerable sum of money; whether it is true that this gentleman, having refused to serve in the steerage of Her Majesty's ship "Dido," there being the full complement of medical officers on board, and no cabin accommodation for him as surgeon, was arrested and suffered close arrest for more than a fortnight; and that, having forwarded to the Admiralty a statement of his reasons for leaving the station without leave, he was dismissed the service as a deserter, without trial; owing, as stated by the authorities, to the great difficulty of trying him by court martial and the extenuating circumstances of his case; and, whether the First Lord of the Admiralty will state to the House the facts of the case and what those extenuating circumstances were?
§ MR. HUNTSir, the acceptance of the resignation of the commission of a surgeon in the Navy is in the discretion of the Admiralty, and it must be obvious to the hon. Member that officers cannot be allowed to throw up their commissions when and where they choose. Mr. Donovan, of Her Majesty's ship Dido, asked leave to resign his commission on the Australian station last year, and was refused. He has stated to the Admiralty that he was denied by the Commodore permission to return to England at his own expense on urgent private affairs. The Commodore has been called upon to report upon that statement, but his report has not yet been received. The facts in connection with Mr. Donovan's dismissal from the Service are as follows:—Mr. Donovan was granted leave of absence from Sydney to go and bring his wife from Melbourne. Instead of returning to his duty at Sydney, he took ship from Melbourne to England under a false name. On his arrival in this country he was apprehended as a deserter, and put under close arrest, and it was intended to send him back to the station to be tried by court-martial in the usual course. He applied to resign his commission to avoid a court-martial. This was refused. He then wrote admitting that he had deserted, and asking that his case might be dealt with early by the Admiralty, and setting out, among other matters as an excuse for his con- 293 duct, the inconveniences he had suffered from want of cabin accommodation, and that he had been refused leave to come home on urgent private affairs. His statements were assumed to be true, and treated as extenuating circumstances, and he was dismissed the Service.