74
No. 82.
The EARL OF CARNARVON to GOVERNOR SIR W. F. D. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G., C.B.
(Telegraphic.)
Downing Street, March 29, 1877. AGENTS have been authorised to borrow 95,000l. for the requirements of your Government up to the end of next month. Funds should be remitted if possible, and my despatch as to loan replied to.
No. 83.
GOVERNOR SIR W. F. D. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the EARL OF
CARNARVON. (Telegraphic.)
Singapore, March 30, 1877. MARCH 30th. Reply to loan despatch covering Loan Ordinance sent by last mail.
GOVERNOR SINGAPORE.
No. 84.
GOVERNOR SIR W. F. D. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the EARL OF
(Telegraphic.)
CARNARVON.
(Received March 31, 1876.)
MARCH 30th. Abdullah and three chiefs who are to be deported placed under restraint. Proclamation issued declaring Abdullah no longer Sultan.
GENTLEMEN,
No. 85.
GOVERNOR SINGAPORE.
COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS.
Downing Street, March 31, 1877. In reply to your letter of the 27th instant respecting the supply of funds for the service of the Government of the Straits Settlements in this country, I am directed by the Earl of Carnavon, to authorise you to renew the loans shortly expiring, and to increase the amount so borrowed temporarily to any sum not exceeding 95,000l. being the amount estimated as necessary to meet the liabilities of the Colony up to the 30th April.
His Lordship has learnt by telegraph from Sir W. Jervois that an Ordinance authorising the issue of a loan has been passed by the Legislature of the Straits Settlement, and is on its way to this country.
(Signed) W. R. MALCOLM.
75
Yusuf and Rajah Allang Houssein. I have carefully considered these documents and have duly weighed the evidence upon which all the prisoners were adjudged guilty of murder, and in the first instance were all condemned to death by hanging.
3. With regard to the explanations given by Sir W. Jervois on the point raised, not for the first time in Mr. Vaughan's letter of the 28th of December, I am satisfied that no offer was made to induce the Maharajah Lela and his followers to surrender to the messenger of the Maharajah of Johore, beyond that of a fair trial. In pursuance of this object, the attitude of Sir W. Jervois throughout the affair towards the prisoners, and the native authorities was in my opinion considerate and just, and it will be observed that acting under his advice the latter allowed the trial to be held in the presence of English officers, and in a manner analogous to that observed in an English court of law, and with the care and deliberation secured by such procedure. The evidence elicited from the witnesses placed beyond question the guilt of the accused, and the share which each had taken in the crime, but I learnt with satisfaction that the present Regent Rajah Muda Yusuf, had followed the suggestion made by me through Sir W. Jervois and had commuted the sentence of death for four of the prisoners to penal servitude for 4. I have also the honour to acknowledge Sir W. Jervois' despatch No. 30 of the 1st of February informing me that the Maharajah Lela, the Datu Sagor, and Pandak Indut had been executed on the 20th January near the Larut Gaol in Perak, under the warrant of the Rajah Muda Yusuf, and that the four prisoners whose sentences have been commuted, namely, Che Ngha Jabbor, Kulup Alli, Si Tuah, and Panjang Bub, had been lodged in the civil gaol at Singapore, pending my instructions as to their disposal.
life.
5. With regard to these men, I presume that the action reported was taken in conjunc- tion with the Regent of Perak and that it is with his assent that they are now in the gaol at Singapore.
6. I am advised that these prisoners may be detained in Singapore gaol, under the Ordinance 4, of 1876, but that the Ordinance does not authorise their being subjected to forced labour like convicts undergoing long terms of penal servitude under sentences of the Colonial Court.
7. I am not prepared to approve of the deportation of any of the convicted murderers, for it is proposed to send to the Seychelles only the ex-Sultan Abdullah and his chief advisers, who have not been tried by a Criminal Court; but I shall offer no objection to an Ordinance for subjecting these four persons to the performance of penal servitude at Singapore, in the same manner in all respects as criminals sentenced by the Supreme Court.
8. These men had forfeited their lives under the sentence of Judges of their own nation, and would have suffered death with their leaders, had it not been for the inter- position of Sir W. Jervois; there would be manifest inconvenience and possible danger in returning them to Perak to complete their commuted sentence, and the knowledge that these offenders are in a British prison, employed in the same penal labour as British criminals, is likely to have a salutary effect upon the minds of the Malays, and will serve to add one more warning to indicate that the assassination of Britith officers is a crime which will entail on the criminal severe and certain punishment.
No. 86.
*
I have, &c.
(Signed)
CARNARVON.
No. 87.
The EARL OF CARNARVON to the OFFICER ADMINISTERING THE GOVERNMENT.
Downing Street, March 31, 1877.
No. 70. SIB,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir W. Jervois's despatch No. 10, of the 11th January last reporting the proceedings consequent on the directions given by the late Rajah Bandahara, Regent of Perak for the trial of the Maharajah Lela, the Datu Sagor, Pandak Indut and four other natives of that State, as perpetrators of, or accessories to, the murder of Mr. Birch, the late British Resident.
2. Sir W. Jervois enclosed in his despatch a full account of the trial, a copy of the finding of the Court, and a copy of the sentence passed by the Judges Rajah Muda
• No. 81.
↑ No. 69.
The EARL OF CARNARVON to THE OFFICER ADMINISTERING THE
(Secret.)
GOVERNMENT,
Downing Street, March 31, 1877.
SIR,
REFERRING to my despatch No. 70 of this day's date,t I desire to invite your attention to the case of Se Tuah, one of the four prisoners whose sentence has been commuted. This man is stated in the correspondence to be imbecile, but I do not clearly understand the extent to which his intellect is deficient, or whether he is so nearly an idiot that he ought not to be required to complete his sentence. that his treatment should be left in doubt pending a reference to myself on this subject, It is not desirable
• No. 76.
† No. 86.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
ETC.O. 882
4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO