HC Deb 06 May 1907 vol 173 cc1332-4
MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)

On behalf of the hon. Member for Roxburghshire, 1 beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the person called Captain Grogan, at Nairobi, holds any military or naval commission from the Crown; whether he is a Justice of the Peace and a visitor of the gaol at Nairobi; and whether, after the conviction and sentence of imprisonment passed upon him for unlawful flogging of native subjects of the King, he will be continued in such offices.

THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. CHURCHILL,) Manchester, N.W.

Captain Grogan does not now hold any military or naval commission from the Crown; but he is entitled to describe himself as Captain, as he was granted the honorary rank of Captain in the Army in virtue of his having served as a Captain in an embodied Militia battalion. He is a visiting Justice of Nairobi Gaol, but does not, so far as the Secretary of State is aware, possess any of the other powers belonging to a Justice of the Peace in this country. He will not be continued in the office of visiting Justice.

MR. SMEATON

On behalf of the hon. Member for Roxburghshire, I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the criminal codes in force at Nairobi contain any provision similar to Section 545 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure, where by a Court passing judgment of fine may order the whole or any part of the fine recovered to be applied to defray the costs of the prosecution and in compensation for the injury caused by the offence committed, where substantial compensation is, in the opinion of the Court, recoverable by civil suit; and whether the magistrate at Nairobi who sentenced Captain Grogan and others to fines for unlawful floggings of native subjects of the King did award any compensation to any of the native subjects flogged.

MR. CHURCHILL

The offence for which Captain Grogan and others have recently been sentenced to fine and imprisonment is that of unlawful assembly, so that the provisions of Section 545 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are not applicable, since a civil action could not be brought to recover compensation for I unlawful assembly.

MR. J. WARD (Stoke-on-Trent)

Will the right hon. Gentleman answer the last part of the Question?

MR. CHURCHILL

I do not think compensation can be awarded. At any rate it is not usual for the Crown to award it in such cases.

MR. LEA (St. Pancras, E.)

What remedy or redress have the natives then?

MR. CHURCHILL

The remedies the law allows.