§ MR. FRANCIS STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in view of the highly doubtful character of the evidence on the strength of which the ex-Sultan Abdullah of Perak was sentenced in 1876, and to the length to which his term of deportation to the Seychelles Islands has extended, the Colonial Office will consider the desirability of allowing him to return to the Malay Peninsula?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSAs I stated in answer to a similar question by the hon. Member last July, the Executive Council of the Straits Settlements were fully satisfied of the guilt of the ex-Sultan Abdullah of Perak in 1876, and nothing has since occurred to throw any doubt on the justice of the decision then taken that he should be removed to the Seychelles. Her Majesty's Government cannot sanction his return to the Malay Peninsula, and Abdullah declined an offer made last year that he should be allowed to reside in Sarawak, among-people of his own race, language, and religion.