§ Mr. HINDSasked the Attorney-General whether his attention had been called to the fact that at the East Carnarvon county court a Welsh girl of fourteen years of age was refused permission to give her evidence in the Welsh language, and when her father appealed for her to be allowed to do so he was ordered out of court; and whether he will, by legislation or in other ways, arrange that Welsh witnesses be permitted in their country to give evidence in their own language?
§ Sir RUFUS ISAACSMy attention having been called to the incident referred to by my hon. Friend, I have made inquiries, and have ascertained that the facts are not as stated in my hon. Friend's question. At the trial of the action frequent disturbances were caused by witnesses at the back of the court. When the girl was sworn she asked to be allowed to give her evidence in Welsh. The learned county court judge asked her if she could speak English, she replied in the affirmative, whereupon he directed her to give evidence in English. This gave rise to some disturbance at the back of the court, and a man, who, as the learned judge subsequently discovered was the girl's father, shouted out some remark, and was thereupon immediately ordered out of court. The girl spoke English perfectly well, and she gave her evidence clearly and without the slightest difficulty. The father of the girl subsequently gave evidence, and apologised to the judge for the disturbance he had caused. It appears that he was a monoglot Welshman, and had asked his daughter to give evidence in Welsh in order that he might understand it. The learned county court judge makes it a rule whenever a witness has a difficulty in speaking English to suggest that the witness should give evidence in Welsh. The sole reason why this rule was not followed in this case was because the girl understood and spoke English perfectly well.