MR. CATHCART WASONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that a Mr. Lodge was illegally deported from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands to Fiji; and, if so, can he state whether any compensation has been paid to him in respect of his deportation or any reprimand upon those who were responsible for it.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN, Birmingham, W.)Mr. Lodge was sent, to Fiji in September, 1901, to be sentenced by the High Commissioner on a charge of being an idle and disorderly person. This action was taken by the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate, under a misconception of the powers vested in him by the Pacific Order in Council, 1893, in order that he might not have 1092 to deal with a man against whom he might be supposed to be prejudiced. The attention of the Resident Commissioner was drawn to the technical illegality, and the cost of Mr. Lodge's maintenance in Fiji and return passage to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands was defrayed from Protectorate funds. The circumstances, in my opinion, do not call for a reprimand of the Resident Commissioner.