No. 2352.
Sir,
Enclosure 3.
0.0
14755
REC
Red 13 11 96
199
Colonial Secretary's Office,
Hong Kong 3rd January 1896.
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th ultimo relative to the service on board H.I.G.M.S. "Irene" of summonses against two Engineers belonging to that vessel.
In reply, I am to state that you have apparently been misinformed as to the facts of the case. The summonses were not served by the officer of Police personally on the Engineers in question, but were handed to Captain Lieutenant Lincksieck, who informed the serving officer that the two men were not on board, but himself accepted the summonses and gave his card to the serving officer.
I am to add that where members of the crew of a foreign ship of war go ashore, they are liable in every respect to the territorial jurisdiction whilst outside their own ship, and that they have no immunity if they break the law. This fact in no way infringes the doctrine relating to the general exemption of a ship of war from territorial jurisdiction when in foreign waters, a doctrine which this Government has no desire to dispute or con-