§ Mr. SORENSENasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the organising secretary of the West African Youth League, Gold Coast Section, was arrested in Accra on 6th June and is held in custody; whether this was done under the Criminal Code Amendment Ordinance; and whether, seeing that this ordinance provides that the opinion of the Governor in Council may be substituted for the judgment of the courts, he will see that no punishment shall be inflicted on anyone in the Gold Coast on a charge of seditious publication without a trial before a judge and jury?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREThe hon. Member is correct in his information that the organising secretary was arrested on the 6th of June. He was charged under the Criminal Code Amendment Ordinance, 1934, with publishing seditious writing,1014W and was released on bail on the 8th of June. The ordinance does not substitute the opinion of the Governor in Council for a judgment of the court and the accused will be tried by the court sitting with assessors, unless the judge directs that the accused shall be tried with a jury.