§ 24. Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has read the considered opinion of Mr. Eardley Norton with reference to the courts-martial held in Ceylon in 1915, that they laboured under disadvantages to which no governor should have subjected the civil population of the island; that innocent men had been convicted upon evidence on which no com- 2590 petent legal tribunal would have acted; that there was no lawyer to advise the officers acting as judges; and that, contrary to law, the Courts were secret; whether Sir Robert Chalmers, Governor of Ceylon at that time, was Under-Secretary in Ireland when the similar courts-martial were held there in 1916; and where and in what position Sir Robert Chalmers now is?
§ Mr. STEEL-MAITLANDThe Secretary of State has read what purports to be a copy of the opinion referred to. The hon. Member is in as good a position as the Secretary of State is for ascertaining the answer to his last two questions.
§ Mr. GINNELLWill Sir Robert Chalmers be afforded an opportunity of vindicating his character if ever?
§ Mr. STEEL-MAITLANDI am not sure that the character of Sir Robert Chalmers is attacked except by the hon. Member.
§ 25. Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary for the Colonies by whom are English police magistrates in Ceylon appointed; what qualifications are required; how are the qualifications ascertained; what instructions are issued to them; what follows violation of instructions and of law by them; why no consequences followed the censure of the Supreme Court of Ceylon on 22nd May, 1915, when, in a case in which a blind Sinhalese charged a European planter with having assaulted him, it was known that the magistrate's judgment acquitting the European opened with the words, that in a case of that nature, where a European was charged before a European magistrate every point that could be strained in favour of the accused would naturally find favour in the eyes of the magistrate; why this magistrate, entertaining such views, was employed to administer martial law a fortnight later; whether his general conduct in that capacity has been subjected to any independent investigation; whether he has undergone any trial for having on 8th June, 1915, ordered the shooting, without trial, of Mark Leo Ferando, who had done his utmost to stop the rioting, and had incurred the displeasure of his own people by protecting Moors and their property under his roof; whether the depositions of Fernando's mother, D. Francina Hamine, of Diulapitiya, have been examined at the Colonial Office; whether the corroborative evidence of Rev. Father Davy, O.M.T., has been examined; where 2591 this police magistrate now is; and whether his movements will be restrained until his conduct has been investigated?
§ Mr. STEEL-MAITLANDThe hon. Member under cover of one question asks thirteen questions, which I could not answer within the limits of a reply, even if I possessed the materials for doing so.
§ Mr. GINNELLIs it not obvious that the questions are inconvenient?
§ Mr. STEEL-MAITLANDNot in the least. If the hon. Member wishes to put any one of them separately, I will see that they are taken into consideration.
§ Mr. GINNELLWill the Government see that the Allies are informed of this Hunnism?