HC Deb 14 August 1876 vol 231 cc1206-7
CAPTAIN PIM

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If he will take into consideration the case of Horatio Walters, late master of the ship "Emily Augusta," of Liverpool, now undergoing a sentence of penal servitude for fifteen years. He was found guilty of manslaughter in November, 1874, several of the crew having died on the passage from his alleged cruelty, al- though, the real cause of death was never proved, and the men were known to have been shipped in a badly diseased state. Horatio Walters brought the "Emily Augusta" from Akyab to England with the greatest difficulty, after a stormy voyage of nearly six months. The crew, thirty-three in number, were all Lascars and blacks, the mates, one a German, the other a naturalized American; the only Englishman, besides Horatio Walters, being quite a lad. It was necessary to maintain a severe discipline under such very adverse circumstances, or the ship would have been lost more than once; and, if satisfied of these facts, will the right honourable Gentleman take the case of the unfortunate man into consideration, and if convinced that justice has been fully vindicated by the penal servitude already endured by Horatio Walters, recommend him for a pardon?

MR. ASSHETON CROSS,

in reply, said, that hitherto no official representations had been made to the Home Office on the subject, but that inquiries would be made.