§ MR. H. D. GREENE (Shrewsbury)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether he can state the number of Court-martial proceedings which in the years 1900, 1901, and 1902 respectively were submitted to the Judge Advocate-General's Department in London; in how many cases in each year findings were quashed; and in how many cases in which soldiers were sentenced the punishment or part of it had been served before the findings were quashed, or before a remission of the whole or part of the sentence.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) The number of Courts-martial received in the Judge Advocate-General's office, and of convictions wholly quashed, were as follows:—1900, 17,711 Courts-martial, 47 quashed; 1901, 19,349 Courts-martial, 67 quashed; 1902, 14,732 Courts-martial, 47 quashed. In all cases where a sentence of imprisonment had been confirmed and then ultimately quashed by the Judge Advocate-General a certain, though never very great, portion of the sentence had necessarily been served. The cases in which sentences were quashed were, in almost all cases, due to some want of legality in the procedure.