MR. BRYN ROBERTS (Carnarvonshire, Eifion)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether he can state by whom, and under what authority, the Commissioners have been appointed to go to Cape Colony to inquire into the sentences passed under martial law; and whether there is any and, if so, what precedent for the appointment; and whether he will state the terms of the reference, or lay the same on the Table.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain.) (1) The Commissioners are being 669 authorised to proceed to South Africa in terms of a Royal Commission. As the House of Commons was informed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the 29th July, the Commission was appointed by His Majesty's Government with the concurrence of the Cape Government, and of the Prime Minister of Natal; (2) I am not aware that there is any exact precedent; (3) The terms of references were substantially given in the notice which appeared in The Times of 24th July.