§ 78. Mr. BYRNEasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if any orders have yet been issued to transfer the commandant at Frongoch; if he has applied to be sent to France; will he say on whose recommendation Colonel Lambert retains the post of commandant at 162 Frongoch camp, and what are his qualifications; and whether he proposes to remove the commandant or the unarmed Irish prisoners before any further trouble arises?
Mr. SAMUELThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. As to the second, I have no information. Colonel Lambert was appointed commandant by the War Office, who considered him a suitable officer for the post. The answer to the last part is in the negative
§ Mr. BYRNEIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that this man's conduct is likely to provoke a riot in the camp: is he aware that he has stated to the prisoners that he would have discipline even if there were dead bodies?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Member ought to put a question of that kind on the Paper.
§ Mr. DILLONI wish to ask the Home Secretary the question which I handed to him yesterday, and which I think, perhaps, he will be able to answer to-day, namely, whether his attention has been called to the refusal of the Governor of Frongoch Camp to allow reporters to be present at the court-martial held on Irish prisoners on Saturday, and whether the Governor stated that this refusal was based on express instructions received from the Home Office, and whether that statement was well founded, and whether the court-martial was obliged to adjourn its proceedings to a locality outside the precincts of the camp in order to comply with the law regarding that it should be an open Court, and whether he will give immediate directions to the Governor to allow the court-martial to sit as an open Court in the precincts of the camp?
Mr. SAMUELI have ascertained that it had been arranged for the Court to be held inside the camp. The Regulations forbid the admission of newspaper reporters to internment camps. The President of the Court desired that reporters should be present at the hearing, and the Commandant of the camp telegraphed to the Home Office for instructions. In reply a message was sent by telephone, not that reporters should be excluded, as the hon. Member has been informed, but, on the contrary, that they should be admitted. Meanwhile, the Com- 163 mandant had already arranged for the Court to sit in a room outside the camp, and the reporters were present.