HC Deb 05 August 1887 vol 318 cc1374-5
MR. HENEAGE (Great Grimsby)

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the Government will undertake, on the receipt of the judgment in the case of Funnell, skipper of the Lady Godiva, not only to consider his claim for compensation for false imprisonment and loss in connection therewith, as well as for the injuries sustained by the vessel, but also to consider and enter into communication at the earliest possible moment with the German Govern- ment in regard to the treatment of Funnell in prison whilst awaiting trial, and during both the preliminary inquiry and the trial; and, whether they will in quire into the alleged breaches of the North Sea Fisheries Convention by the German cruiser, which were not brought forward at the trial owing to the fact that no notice was given either to the British Consul or to Dr. Israel, who had been retained for the defence, but which are of the greatest and most urgent importance to the whole fishing trade of the United Kingdom?

THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)

I can only repeat the answer given on the 2nd instant by the Secretary to the Board of Trade to a similar Question. The Report of the British Consul at Hamburg on the whole case has not yet reached us; and until we receive it I am unable to say what steps Her Majesty's Government may think fit to take in the matter.