§ 21. Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the name of the English officer who, accompanied by Punjabi soldiers and a Moor, at Mangalatiria, Ceylon, on the 5th June, 1915, called Peli Muhandiram Appu-hamilage Punchi Nilame forth from his own house, where he and his family were taking their mid-day meal, and, without questioning him, on something being said by the Moor to the officer in the Tamil language, which the Sinhalese did not understand, had the Sinhalese shot dead; what were this officer's qualifications for administering martial law and constituting himself a court-martial and an executioner; and will he specify the law under which this Sinhalese was summarily executed on some unknown charge in a language unintelligible to him without any possibility of offering a defence?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Sir A. D. Steel-Maitland)It will be seen from the reply 1117 given to the hon. Member on the 8th June that the version suggested in this question does not properly represent the facts, and I cannot therefore usefully add anything to the information there given.
§ Sir J. D. REESMay I ask the hon. Gentleman whether it is not far more likely that the Cingalese understood what was said in the Tamil language than that the Mahomedan did, and whether the question does not betray a complete ignorance of the probabilities of the case?
§ Mr. GINNELLCannot the hon. Gentleman carry this matter further than he did the other day, when he admitted that this officer had the man tried and executed at his own house, the trial being in a language which the man did not understand? Is the hon. Gentleman prepared to leave the matter there?
§ Sir ARTHUR STEEL-MAITLANDThe hon. Member has given me no reason for believing that the man in question did not understand the nature of the trial, and, as to the circumstances, I can only tell him again that at the time there had been a riot and an attack on the mosque in which the priest had been killed, and that the man was identified by reliable witnesses as one of the people who had led the attack. The riot was still in progress, and, under those circumstances, his execution took place under martial law on perfectly reliable evidence. The case has been inquired into by the Governor. It has been approved by him and by the Secretary of State, and will be approved, I imagine, by everybody who knows the facts.
§ Mr. GINNELLWill the hon. Gentleman inform the House how it is that he withheld from the House what is asked for in the first paragraph of the question, namely, the name and the qualifications of this scoundrel?
§ Sir J. D. REESMay I ask whether the Tamil language is not thoroughly well known to the Cingalese in Ceylon, and, if the hon. Gentleman is going to reopen the question, will he consider the propriety of reconsidering the actions of Governor Eyre— —
§ Mr. SPEAKEROrder, order!
§ Mr. GINNELLCan we have the name of this officer?
§ Mr. DEVLINIs it in order for the hon. Gentleman to put Questions in Sinhalese?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDThe officer was Mr. Moore, of the Ceylon Civil Service.
§ Sir J. D. REESMay I ask, if there is no impropriety in the hon. Member on the Irish Benches daily reopening several questions, whether there is anything out of order in my suggestion that the question of the actions of Governor Eyre and Warren Hastings should be reconsidered?
§ Mr. SPEAKERIt is evident that is open to argument, but the hon. Member was not asking a question with a view to obtain information. His question was put in order to show his own view upon the matter, a very proper view to put forward in Debate, but quite out of place as a supplementary question.