MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury what portion of the £28,380 paid to the German Government in respect of the detention of German vessels detained on suspicion of carrying contraband of war was paid in respect of the "Herzog." Was the "Herzog," on her visit and detention by H.M.S. "Thetis," shown by the papers examined by the boarding officers to have on board quantities of provisions, clothing, and chemicals suited to the purposes of manufacturing explosives, all consigned to Mr. Potts, then Vice Consul of the Transvaal Republic at Delagoa Bay, as well as cases shipped at Naples and marked as containing macaroni, but alleged by the captors to contain 1,700 rifles packed at Lausanne and Zurich and thence transmitted to Naples. And, having regard to the fact that the "Herzog" was taken by H.M.S. "Thetis" to Durban, after visit and detention, and tendered there to the Prize Court without bulk being broken or the cargo examined, that the Prize Court on 6th 1234 January, 1900, exercised its authority over the "Herzog" by ordering the release of certain of the passengers on board, and that the "Herzog" was released by order of His Majesty's Government of 8th January, 1900, without any examination of the ship, the officers, the crew, or the cargo being allowed to be made by the Prize Court at Durban, do His Majesty's Government propose to make any compensation to the officers and crew of H.M.S. "Thetis" for thus depriving them of the prize money they would have been entitled to in case the "Herzog" had, after examination, been condemned by the Prize Court?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.The German claims were satisfied by the payment of the lump sum named, and no specific portion of it was allotted to the "Herzog." The ship's manifest showed large quantities of provisions, iron ware, tools, drugs, bandages, acids, etc., consigned to Mr. Pott, and other suspected Transvaal agents; also cases of macaroni consigned to Mr. Pott, of which warning had been received that they really contained rifles. After the release of the "Herzog," however, H.M. Consul at LourenÇo Marques reported that she had not landed any contraband of war at that place, though subsequently he reported that the greater portion of the flour on the "Herzog" had gone to the Transvaal. As the "Herzog" was never placed in the Prize Court, that Court could not, and did not, exercise any jurisdiction over the vessel. The release of the "Herzog" wag due to orders emanating directly from H.M. Government.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESDo I under stand the right hon. Gentleman to say that the passengers were not released by the peremptory order of the High Court?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURAs the "Herzog" never appeared before the Prize Court, I assume that it did not carry out the operation to which the hon. Member refers.