§ MR. BOND (Dorset, E.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to the sentence of five years' penal servitude indicted upon William Ballock for striking a non-commissioned officer with the open hand; and whether he will take this case into his consideration, with a view to the remission of a portion of the sentence?
§ *THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingI presume the hon. Member refers to the case of William McGill Ballock, ordinary seaman of H.M.S. Sultan, who was condemned, in 1888, to five years' penal servitude for striking with his clenched fist his superior officer, a Boatswain R.N. This was a very gross case of insubordination, as there was not the slightest provocation to the offence; and, looking to the prisoner's previous indifferent character, there seems to be no reason for re-considering his sentence out of the usual routine.