§ 88. Mr. WEBBasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that at Oron, in British Calabar, on one occasion, 24 men and two women were publicly hanged in the market place on a single morning, one after another, the proceedings lasting five hours; at what date these executions took place, and were they carried out after judicial trial and sentence, and after confirmation and specific sanction by the highest authority; and whether, in view of the fact that the practice of public executions by the former King of Benin was suppressed by British authority, he can state on what grounds has this expedient for deterrence been revived in a British territory?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREI have no information regarding the executions to which the hon. Member refers. They do not appear to have taken place in recent years, so far as the records of the Colonial Office show; but, if the hon. Member will 262 furnish me with such information as is in his possession, I will have further inquiries made.
§ Mr. WEBBIs the hon. Gentleman aware that there are at least two British eye-witnesses who testify to these facts, one of whom was engaged to design and erect the scaffold, that photographs were taken, some of which are in this country, and that the event took place during the term of office of the hon. Gentleman's predecessor?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREIf the hon. Member will communicate those facts and photographs to me, I shall be much obliged. It is the first we have heard of it.