§ SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty if he will state, concerning the three stokers lately sentenced to penal servitude, what were their ages on enlistment; when did each enlist: has each served afloat, and, if so, for how long; what serious entries were against each in the defaulter sheets before the trial; and in what class was each in regard to leave.
§ MR. LAMBERTOnly one of the stokers tried by court-martial as a result of the recent disturbance at Portsmouth has been sentenced to penal servitude. This man, Edward Moody, entered the Navy in March, 1905, at the age of twenty-two. He served afloat for six months in the "Majestic." In July, 1905, he was sentenced to five days cells for leave breaking. In the same month he deserted and remained in a state of desertion for seven weeks. On being recovered he was sentenced to twenty-eight days hard labour, and two days after he had completed this sentence he received fourteen days cell punishment or breaking out. A month later he received a further fourteen days cells 568 for a similar offence. His character was "indifferent," and he was in the second class for leave.