HC Deb 24 February 1920 vol 125 cc1496-7
81. Colonel WEDGWOOD

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that a native was murdered at Lusaka, in Rhodesia, by a white youth, aged 16, on 9th October, 1919, and that the murderer was found guilty only of manslaugter; whether he received any further penalty than eight cuts with a cane; and whether it is the intention of His Majesty's Government to allow the murder of a native in a British protectorate to be treated so lightly?

Lieut.-Colonel AMERY

The defendant in the case referred to, an undeveloped boy of 16, mortally wounded a native boy by the accidental discharge of a shot-gun. The Judge found, on the evidence of natives who are present, that the boy had pointed the gun to frighten the native, and consequently gave a verdict of manslaughter.

As regards the leniency of the sentence inflicted, His Majesty's Government are not in a position to interfere with the discretion of Judges whether in Northern Rhodesia or elsewhere, but I may add that the Judge gave as his reason for not sentencing the accused to imprisonment that "no public good would result from sending a boy of this age to prison. He had been guilty of criminal folly, but he was not a criminal in the ordinary sense; imprisonment might convert him into one."

Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY

Might I ask the hon. Gentleman whether he has no influence at all in this case, in view of its great importance to us as a great black Empire and the very unfortunate impression this creates among our loyal black subjects?

Lieut.-Colonel AMERY

The native was killed as the result of the accidental dis- charge of the weapon, and if it had been a case purely in this country of the killing of one white boy by another, I do not think any other verdict than manslaughter could have been found. At any rate, that was my impression on reading the evidence, and if the Judge in this case inflicted a light sentence on a boy of 16, or, as my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Durham (Major Hills) would have said, a child of that age, I do not think it would be within the power of a Department of State to interfere with the Judge's sentence.

Mr. DEVLIN

Will he consider the desirability of abolishing flogging, whether of blacks or whites?