LORD MUSKERRYMy Lords, I rise to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, having regard to the case of Mr. J. A. Nelson, chief officer of the R.M.S. "Aro," who was tried in Sierra Leone and sentenced to nine months imprisonment with hard labour, for shooting a Kroobey, at Monrovia in Liberia, and whose sentence was subsequently reduced in this country, it would be possible to give instructions that in future where the officer of a British ship is charged with a crime committed in a foreign port, that officer shall be brought to the United Kingdom for trial, and not taken for trial, as was Nelson in the case referred to, to a colonial court. I wish to express my thanks to the noble Earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies for his kindness and courtesy in the case of Mr. Nelson, and I beg to assure him that his action in this matter is very strongly appreciated, and will be gratefully remembered by the captains and officers of the merchant service.
*THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (The Earl of ELGIN)My Lords, as the noble Lord has referred to the case of Mr. Nelson, I think it right to say that I have noticed some statements with regard to this case which might imply that I had thrown some discredit on the court in the colony. I wish emphatically to say, that in directing the release of Mr. Nelson, I did not intend in any way to reflect either on the fairness of the trial itself, on the judge who tried the case, or on any of the officers concerned. On the contrary, I endeavoured to avoid any imputation on the justice of the conviction, but having regard to the further information which had reached me and which was not before the court, I think I was justified in holding that the case was one in which the clemency of the Crown might be exercised, and I so humbly advised His Majesty.
With regard to the Question which the noble Lord has now placed on the Paper, I have to reply that Section 689 (1a) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, Cap. 60, provides that whenever a complaint is made to a British consular officer that any offence against property or person has been committed, either on shore or afloat, out of His Majesty's dominions by any master seaman or apprentice who at the time the offence was committed was employed on any British ship, the consular officer may inquire into the case on oath and send the offender in custody to the United Kingdom, or any British possession at which there is a court capable of taking cognisance of the offence. The section goes on to give the necessary ways and means of sending offenders for trial.
I imagine it is for the Foreign Office to consider whether they would direct a consular officer, in the exercise of the discretion conferred upon him by the Statute, in all or certain cases to send the accused person to this country rather than to a British possession. But it would be undesirable to do so in all cases, because the witnesses would have to be sent home too, and this would cause great inconvenience, and in the case of native witnesses possibly danger to health, and if they refused to come the case might break down and a guilty man escape. Moreover, it is desirable that criminal proceedings should be taken as 20 speedily as possible, and it saves time, trouble, and expense to conduct them in the nearest British Colony. I have also to inform the noble Lord that once an accused person has arrived in the jurisdiction of the colonial court that court is required to institute proceedings in the case of any person charged with an offence committed in the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, as Nelson's offence was, and I know of no power, statutory or otherwise, to enable the case to be withdrawn from the colonial court.