§ Mr. VARLEYasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that, as stated by the Anti-Slavery and 874W Aborigines' Protection Society, a case occurred recently in the Southern Sudan when a native boy, for the alleged theft of three packets of cigarettes, was flogged at intervals, bound hand and foot to a flagstaff from which floated the Union Jack, and kept so bound for a whole day in the sun and denied either food or water; and will he take steps to prevent a repetition of such atrocities and bring the perpetrators to justice?
§ Mr. AMERYMy attention has already been called to the incident in question. From the information supplied to me by the Governor-General of the Sudan the description of what took place appears to have been greatly exaggerated. An investigation is at present being held, but the responsible official, an Egyptian, had already been relieved of his functions and was being sent back to Egypt before any report of the incident had reached the Governor-General.