§ ADMIRAL SIR JOHN HAYasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether corporal punishment has recently been inflicted, with the approval of the Board, on three mutineers on board Her Majesty's Prison Ship "Liffey;" and, in case the Naval Discipline Bill should become Law, what punishment will be substituted in like cases? The right hon. and gallant Gentleman also asked, Whether it is intended to make provi- 754 sion in the Naval Discipline Act Amendment Bill, for the corporal punishment of boys in Her Majesty's Navy, with birch or other instrument?
§ MR.TREVELYANThe Board has been advised that the punishment inflicted on the three men on board Her Majesty's ship Liffey was in accordance with existing law and regulations; and, accordingly, it was not disapproved by the Board when reported to them from Coquimbo. The Naval Discipline Amendment Bill does not alter the power which the Board of Admiralty at present possesses to lay down rules for the discipline of naval prisons. Boys are punished under the regulations for minor punishments which the Board of Admiralty is empowered to lay down by Section 52 of the Naval Discipline Act; and we are advised that they will continue to be punished under those regulations if the Amending Bill becomes law in the shape in which it is presented to Parliament. There is certainly a much stronger legislative sanction for these punishments than for the flogging at Eton and Harrow.