RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS (GIBRALTAR)—DR. CANILLA.—OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 13 March 1882)

§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF
said, he regretted that the Under Secretary for the Colonies had already spoken, because he felt it his duty again to bring before the House the very grave disorders which had taken place at Gibraltar. If the hon. Gentleman would listen but for a very short time he would explain why he brought on the question on that occasion. It was because there were at that time 47 persons under arrest in Gibraltar, under what he believed to be an illegal act on the part of the Governor of the Colony. He was glad that the right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister was in his place, and he invited his attention to the circumstances. He had privately appealed to the Under Secretary to telegraph to Gibraltar to know if it was true that these persons were under arrest, which the hon. Gentleman had declined to do. On Friday last, when he called attention to this matter, he was told by the hon. Gentleman that the next mail would bring the information; but to-day he learned that no information had arrived. At that moment there were men at Gibraltar in exactly the same position as used to be the case in the Ionian Islands under the police; they had been arbitrarily arrested, and some of them had been sentenced to six months' imprisonment. He would read an extract from the order of the Governor to the police, giving instructions with regard to arrests. It began by saying that where offences were committed the police were at once to arrest the people; but it went on as follows:— Even where no offence has been committed, but where a breach of the peace is likely to occur, the police are authorized to take into custody those whom they may reasonably suspect of being about to commit a violation of the law. Hon. Members would observe that the language of Her Majesty's Government seemed to travel widely; but the powers which, in Ireland, were intrusted to the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, were, in Gibraltar, intrusted to a policeman. He thought it right to defer any general discussion of the question until the Papers were laid upon the Table of the House; but he would point out that 825 the circumstances arose out of a difference which existed between the Roman Catholic community in Gibraltar and the Vicar Apostolic named by the Pope. The Roman Catholic community had always had the management of the Church of Santa Maria Coronada, and they considered that they had the right to have jurisdiction even against the proceedings of the Vicar Apostolic. Instead of raising the question in the Law Courts the Governor took the matter into his own hands, filled the town with troops to the number of 2,500, brought out field-pieces, and arbitrarily arrested some people, who were sentenced to three months' hard labour without the option of a fine. He had asked the Under Secretary for the Colonies if he had any information upon this subject; but it appeared that on Friday last the Colonial Department knew nothing about it. He therefore begged to repeat his question; and in order to afford the hon. Gentleman an opportunity of replying he would, pro formâ, move the adjournment of the House.

MR. GLADSTONE
said, the hon. Member for Portsmouth had made a Motion for the adjournment of the House in order to enable his hon. Friend to break through the debate. He was not sure whether he was himself also entitled to speak; if not, he hoped to be instructed from the Chair.

§ MR. SPEAKER
The right hon. Gentleman is enabled to speak a second time, as is also the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, by the action of hon. Member for Portsmouth—a mode of action which I am bound to say I deprecated the other night as highly irregular.

§ MR. COURTNEY
said, at a late hour on Friday night last the hon. Member for Portsmouth (Sir H. Drummond Wolff) had called the attention of the House to what he called the arbitrary arrests which had been made at Gibraltar, and the imprisonment of a certain number of the persons arrested. He told the hon. Gentleman at half-past 5 o'clock that afternoon that no information had arrived, and as he had not returned to the Colonial Office he was not aware that any had been received since 826 that time. He would point out to the hon. Member that his statements were rather self-contradictory. Arbitrary arrest, as he (Mr. Courtney) understood the term, was the arrest of persons, and the keeping them under arrest, by the mere will of the Executive. But the hon. Member complained simultaneously that in connection with these arrests proceedings took place before the police magistrate. No doubt a number of persons were arrested. That he did not deny. And no doubt certain persons were brought before the police magistrate; but there was nothing whatever in the statement of the hon. Member which would lead Her Majesty's Government for one moment to suspect that any person had been taken into custody without being brought before a magistrate.

§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF
said, one paragraph stated that the police would keep strict order, and do the utmost in their power to prevent any breach of the peace; but, should such breach of the peace occur, they would at once arrest any person by whose conduct the peace was broken or endangered. Such person would at once be taken before the police magistrate, who would be present in Court to try such case immediately. There was an end of the magistrate in the matter; but then the order provided that where any offence was committed, and a breach of the peace seemed likely, the police should take into custody those whom they might reasonably suspect of being about to commit a breach of the peace.

§ MR. COURTNEY
said, the second part was precisely the same as the first; the order to the police was the same in each case. People committing, or about to commit, a breach of the peace, were arrested and taken at once before the police magistrate; and there was nothing to suggest that there were any persons in custody who had not been taken before a magistrate. If they had been arrested and taken before a magistrate for committing a breach of the peace, then, if they were in custody, it might be supposed that they had been tried and properly sentenced; and there was nothing in the intelligence which had been brought before them to lead the Government to suppose that anything of an irregular character had occurred, or that anything the Executive had done 827 was not justified by the law. There was nothing to show that any person had been kept in custody beyond the power of the law; but if the particulars of these matters did not arrive in the regular course, the Colonial Office would send for full details of the proceedings before the magistrates, though it was not very respectful to imagine that a breach of the law had been committed, when all the intelligence produced by the hon. Member led to the supposition that all that had been done was perfectly regular.

§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF
asked leave to withdraw his Motion.