§ MR. CATHCART WASON (Orkney and Shetland)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if any action has been taken or is in contemplation by His Majesty's Government in regard to the case of Silvanus Jones, a British subject of Lagos, sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the appeal court at Boma, Congo Free State, on 15th March, 1904, for alleged complicity in the murder of a woman; if His Majesty's Government are aware that the accused denied the charges against him, that he was unprovided with counsel, and was not given the opportunity of securing such; and if His Majesty's Government will take steps to remove British subjects in the Congo from the position in which they stand towards the Congo executive and judiciary.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir EDWARD GREY,) Northumberland, BerwickConsul Nightingale has recently reported that Silvanus Jones died in hospital last March. He did deny the charges against him, but it does not appear that they were unfounded or false, and the result of the inquiry made by my Predecessor, referred to in the answer to the hon. Member's question of May 18th, 1904 † was to show that Jones must have been aware that criminal proceedings were to be taken against him, and that ho might have engaged counsel if he had desired to do so. He was asked at the trial on appeal whether he had applied I for the assistance of counsel, and replied in the negative. This case is not one which would justify the action suggested in the last part of the Question, for the reason given by the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in his speech in 1904.‡