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A report made by the Acting Attorney General to whom the papers were referred, it appears that there were certain informalities in the proceedings which necessitated the discharge of the men until the proper documents could be obtained from Manila.
The Report of the Acting Attorney General points out the nature of these informalities which were such as to preclude all possibility of the case being tried here, and accordingly directed the men to be put on remand until Her Majesty's Acting Consul at Manila could be communicated with and the informalities be corrected.
Unfortunately, however, the President of the Naval Court, The Honorable E.S. Dawson, R.N., Commander of Her Majesty's Ship "Dwarf", has since left Manila, and this circumstance, combined with the difficulty which the Acting Attorney General apprehends there would be in obtaining such evidence as would justify the Magistrate in convicting the men, has compelled me, though with great reluctance, to release them, and I have caused Her Majesty's Acting Consul at Manila...