HC Deb 07 August 1905 vol 151 cc368-9
MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty on what ground is the provision in No. 759 of the King's Naval Regulations, entitled Birching and Caning of Boys, whereby drummers under the age of eighteen may be caned but not birched, founded; and why is this exemption from birching thus conferred on drummers not extended to all the boys rated as such in the Royal Navy.

MR. PRETYMAN

The rule is one of long standing, and was confirmed by the Board as long ago as in 1878.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

Why are drummer boys exempted and A.B.'s, and men in the Engineering Branch not?

MR. PRETYMAN

The Marines, I believe, come under the Army Act, and the others are under the Naval Discipline Act.

MR. BRIGHT (Shropshire, Oswestry)

Cannot the hon. Gentleman take steps to put a stop to the brutal practice of flogging in the Navy?

MR. PRETYMAN

I absolutely deny, as I have done many times before, that there is any brutal practice. The hon. Member, in making that statement, is throwing an undeserved slur on the officers of the Navy. I ask him and his friends to produce any single case where there has been brutal treatment, and it will be investigated.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

I have produced dozens.

MR. PRETYMAN

Until the hon. Gentleman and his friends are able to produce such a case I think they have no right to make these statements.

MR. BRIGHT

I should like to ask the hon. Gentleman if he did not himself say that a boy who had corporal punishment inflicted upon him had to be put under surveillance for fear that in an outbreak of temper he might commit suicide?

MR. PRETYMAN

No, Sir; that is a specimen of the way in which statements made in this House are perverted; and I dare say very often outside this House, where it cannot be contradicted. What I said was, that the boy was examined by the doctor both before and after punishment as a precautionary measure; and that it was thought better while he was smarting under the irritation of punishment that he should be kept to himself so that he should not commit himself.