HC Deb 15 May 1896 vol 40 c1439
MR. PATRICK A. M'HUGH (Leitrim, N)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, if it is a fact that four British subjects, recently convicted of high treason in the Transvaal and sentenced to death, have been reprieved by President Kruger; can he state the terms on which the death sentences were commuted; and, can he inform the House if the present prison treatment of these four convicts is similar to that accorded to ordinary malefactors undergoing terms of imprisonment in the Transvaal?

MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN

Four gentlemen were condemned to death as stated in the Question, and I believe that three of them were British subjects. I have not yet learned what punishment is to be substituted for the death penalty. I have no official information as to their present treatment, but the newspapers report that they and the other 59 political prisoners enjoy certain indulgences. ["Hear, hear!"]