§ 63. Mr. CURRIEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether reparation and 1711 apology have been or will be publicly tendered by His Majesty's Government to Mr. Whitelaw, chairman of the North British Railway Company, and others, in respect of the injury, insult, and outlay inflicted upon them through the recent unsuccessful criminal prosecution in the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAI can add nothing to the answer which I gave my hon. Friend on the 2nd March.
§ Sir G. YOUNGERDoes not the right hon. Gentleman think that an unnecessary indignity was put upon these people by the manner in which action was taken by the Admiralty for an alleged offence of a purely technical kind?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAAs I said on 2nd March, the object of the Admiralty is to establish that no local authority or person shall have the power to hamper the movements of any ship connected with His Majesty's Service engaged upon war work, and that is a principle which we still think is of vital importance.
§ Sir G. YOUNGERCould not that principle have been perfectly well established by a totally different proceeding than that adopted?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThat was not the view which the Admiralty took.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTIs there any more reason why an apology should be given to these gentlemen than to the hundreds of workmen who have been prosecuted under the Munitions Act?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAOh. but I have not given an apology in this case!
§ Mr. WATTDid the right hon. Gentleman's Department overrule the Law Officers of the Crown in this prosecution?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAPerhaps the hon. Member will do me the favour of reading what I ventured to say upon this matter yesterday.
§ Mr. CURRIEWill the right hon. Gentleman make public the representations of fact to which he referred yesterday as being the basis of these proceedings?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAI have given them what publicity I could, and they are published in the OFFICIAL REPORT.