§ ADMIRAL FIELD (Sussex, Eastbourne)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, with reference to the Portuguese riots in May last, in Georgetown, Demerara, it is a fact that the commutation of the death sentence on a Portuguese, named Gonsalves, to penal servitude for life for the murder of his mistress, a woman of colour, was carried out by order of Her Majesty's Government at home, without reference to, or approval of, or concurrence with, the Government of the Colony, and without reference to the Judge who tried the case; and, if so, on what grounds was such an interference with the course of justice decided upon; and, whether, seeing that the serious riots which followed in consequence of such decision will cost the Colony about 100,000 dollars, this expense will be defrayed under the circumstances by Her Majesty's Government?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Baron H. de WORMS, Liverpool, East Toxteth)This sentence of death was commuted by the Acting Governor of British Guiana, on the recommendation of the jury, who not only accompanied the verdict with a recommendation to mercy, but petitioned the Acting Governor to commute the 1657 sentence. The Acting Governor was directed by the Secretary of State to give effect to the recommendation of the jury, and he has not expressed any dissent from it, though the Judge who tried the case did not concur in it. The commutation of the sentence appears to have caused dissatisfaction to the coloured inhabitants of Georgetown, and the riots which occurred some weeks afterwards, and which arose out of an assault committed by a Portuguese upon a coloured boy, may have been to some extent attributable to this feeling. The amount of the expense to the colony caused by the riots is not known, but it will not be defrayed by Her Majesty's Government.