§ MR. PICTON (Leicester)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether there has been received, during the present year, from the Governor of Lagos any despatch, or other communication, mentioning the arrival in Lagos of certain African Natives in a wounded condition, and who alleged that they had been shot and otherwise assaulted by employés of the Royal Niger Company; whether the statement made by these Natives was that they had been engaged by the Niger Company for service in the Niger District; that a difference arose as to the terms of the engagement, and that after an altercation the men, practically unarmed, were shot down by rifles, with fatal results to many; whether the Government of Lagos made any inquiry, and whether he found the statement of the Natives to be substantially true; and, whether the Government will lay the Governor's communication upon the Table of the House?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)The events referred to took place in March last. A German named Zweifel, who had received high recommendations from the French Senegal Company, under whose auspices he had explored the sources of the 228 Niger, was employed by the Royal Niger Company to conduct an exploring expedition in their territories. He was given the entire management and control of the expedition. He engaged about 160 men belonging to tribes in the rear of Sierra Leone, many of whom had served with him previously. The expedition seemed to have been badly conducted, and ended in a dangerous mutiny. The men were armed, though not with firearms, and the white men—namely, the four officers and the two resident agents—fired upon them to save their own lives, killing six and wounding others. A judicial inquiry was held by Sir James Marshall, the chief judicial officer, who ordered two of the mutineers to be imprisoned till they could be removed to Sierra Leone. The whole affair is believed by the Royal Niger Company to have been owing to lamentable mismanagement on the part of Mr. Zweifel; but the quelling of the mutiny could hardly have been avoided. There is no despatch on the subject from the Governor of Lagos which could be presented, and it is understood that there were no Lagos men employed.
§ MR. PICTONWere those who shot the men tried as well as the mutineers?
§ SIR JAMES FERGUSSONreplied that the judicial officer mentioned had been the Chief Justice of a British Colony before. He considered that the Europeans could not be made criminally responsible, because they acted in defence of their lives.
§ MR. PICTONDid not the Governor express disapproval of the action of the Royal Niger Company?
§ SIR JAMES FERGUSSONThat is not within my knowledge. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to know something more than I have already told him, I must ask him to give Notice of his Question.