§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether two persons, named Vander Valt and Boogsen, were recently tried and convicted by a court-martial at Colesberg, in Cape Colony. Could he state to the House with what offence or offences they were charged, what were the sentences imposed by the court-martial, and did the Attorney General of the colony report against the justice of the conviction in either or both of these cases. Have the sentences been since reduced, and by what authority and on what grounds; and can he say whether military tribunals are still taking cognisance of offences against the criminal law of the colony, notwithstanding that the ordinary courts of the country are and have for some time been open.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN,) Birmingham, W.The question seems to be addressed to me under a misapprehension that there has been a difference between the civil legal authority and the military. I am not aware that there has been any such difference. The question therefore concerns the proceedings of the military authorities in a district in which, with the concurrence of the Civil Government, martial law has been proclaimed, and would more properly have been addressed to the Under Secretary of State for War. But as a matter of courtesy to the right hon. Gentleman, I have ascertained that the two persons named were tried for rebellion and sentenced to five and ten years penal servitude respectively. I understand that the sentences were afterwards reduced on the recommendation of the 949 Deputy Judge Advocate General, and, I assume, by the military authorities. As regards the fourth question, I am informed that military tribunals are not now taking cognisance of offences against the criminal law of the colony.