§ MR. MACDONALDasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, If the "Danæ," in which Charles P. Stamp, engine-room artificer, was tried by a court martial at Sydney, New South Wales, in December last, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour, has reached any port of the United Kingdom, or whether Stamp was sent by any other vessel to this country; if his case has as yet been reviewed by the Board of Admiralty; and, if they have confirmed the sentence passed upon Stamp by the court martial, or remitted it, and to what extent they have done so?
§ MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSHasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether he will lay upon the Table of the House, Copy of the proceedings in the court martial for alleged drunkenness held in Gibraltar Bay, 7th April last, upon Joseph Milne, engineer, of Her Majesty's Ironclad, "Northumberland," which resulted after the briefest trial in Milne's instant dismissal from the Navy, after nineteen years' honourable service, and within a short period of his being able to retire upon a pension?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe Danœ arrived at Portsmouth on the 24th of June, having Stamp on board. Stamp was sentenced on the 20th December last to be dismissed the Service and imprisoned for 12 months. On the arrival of the ship at home the case was reconsidered by their Lordships; the dismissal from the Service has been confirmed, and the remainder of the imprisonment has been remitted. It is most unusual to lay the proceedings of a court martial before Parliament. The Court was open to the public; and a copy of the proceedings can always be obtained under Section 69 of the Naval Discipline Act. As regards the case of Joseph Milne referred to in the Question of the hon. Member for Inverness (Mr. Fraser-Mackintosh), there was nothing brief or hurried in the trial. The chief engineer and the commander of the ship gave positive evidence that Mr. 1960 Milne was in a state unfit to be put in charge of the engines at the very moment when it was his duty to undertake the charge of them. There was rebutting evidence; but the court martial considered the charge proved. With regard to the previous service of Mr. Milne, I must inform the hon. Member that he was tried in 1879 for drunkenness, and pleaded guilty, and was, in consequence, dismissed his ship, and lost two years' seniority. The court martial, which consisted of three captains and two commanders, was such as to inspire the Admiralty with perfect confidence in its judgment; and drunkenness is a fault to which, however painful the individual cases are, it is not permissible to show indulgence when such vast and delicate machines as the Northumberland, with all her crew, are dependent on the care and judgment of a single officer.
§ MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSHasked, if medical evidence was given that Milne was unfit for duty?
§ MR. TREVELYANsaid, he did not think medical evidence better than that of any other man as to saying whether or not a man was fit for duty of this kind.
§ MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSHgave Notice that he should call attention to this subject on a future date, on the Naval Estimates, when he hoped to satisfy the House that flagrant injustice had occurred.