§ MR. JOYCE (Limerick)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the fact that a petition has been presented to the Lieutenant Governor of the Transvaal, Sir Richard Solomon, K.C.M.G., on behalf of the prisoners of the Leinster Regiment, convicted in 1903 for a mutinous offence and sentenced in one case to imprisonment for life, and in the other four cases to long terms of imprisonment; and whether, taking all the circumstances into account and the length of time those men have been in prison, he can now say that an inquiry will be held with a view to extending the clemency of the Crown to those prisoners.
§ MR. RUNCIMANThe Secretary of State has no information as to the presentation of such a petition, and has received no official information whatever on the subject since his predecessor stated in the House of Commons on 19th July, 1904, that no grounds had been submitted to him on which he would be justified in intervening in the administration of justice in this case.
§ MR. O'SHAUGHNESSY (Limerick, W.)Will the Secretary of State himself inquire into this matter.
§ MR. RUNCIMANI am afraid my noble friend cannot depart from the position taken up by his predecessor.