MR..J. RAMSAY MACDONALDI beg to ask the secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether His Majesty's Government have reason to believe that one of the charges brought against the Reverend Edgar Stannard in the Upper Congo is that of having referred in a published letter to the evidence laid before the Congo Commission of Inquiry regarding the administration of the official by whom Mr. Stannard is now being prosecuted; and if His Majesty's Government will ensure that that evidence, publicly tendered in open Court, will be accessible to Mr. Stannard for his defence?
§ MR. RUNCIMAN (for Sir EDWARD GREY)The Papers which I have received on the subject do not enable me to give a definite opinion as to the exact nature of the charges brought against Mr. Stannard. It is not in the power of His Majesty's Government to ensure that the evidence referred to in the latter part of the Question shall be accessible to Mr. Stannard, but if Vice-Consul Armstrong reports that Mr. Stannard is prejudiced in his trial by inability to obtain access to documents which are in the possession of the prosecution, representations will at once be addressed to the Congo Government.