MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty what is the practice of the Board of Admiralty with regard to the enforcement of Section 16 of The Naval Discipline Act, 1866, which enacts that every person subject to the Act who shall strike, or with any weapon attempt to strike, or draw, or lift up, any weapon against his superior officer, shall be punished with death, with penal servitude, or with such other punishment as is aftermentioned in the Act; do the Board of Admiralty hold that they have a dispensing power with regard to this section; and, if so, is such power exercised as well with regard to men as to officers.
§ MR. PRETYMANSuch an offence, is a capital offence, and can only be triable and punishable by Court-martial. The Admiralty have discretionary power whether to appoint a Court martial or not, and the question would be decided in each case on its own merits, irrespective of the rank of the offender.