1185/1874.
No. 875.
(MALTA.)
MY LORD.
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
Temple, 18th November 1873. We were honoured with your Lordship's command signified in Lord Tenterden's letter of the 14th November, stating:
That towards the end of last year an Italian vessel, the "Hélène," having on board two oriminals who were being taken to Girgenti, was forced by stress of weather to put into Malta, where, by orders of the local authorities, the prisoners were released in accordance with the laws in force in the Island.
That the Italian Minister at this Court represented to your Lordship the serious consequences which might result from such an occurrence becoming a precedent, and urged that some understanding should be come to to prevent the release of convicts under similar circumstances in the future.
That to meet the objections raised by the Italian Government, a Draft Ordinance was prepared by direction of the Governor of Malta, and was concurred in by the Law Officers of the Crown in their report of the 16th of April last;* that in that Draft Ordinance the Italian Minister wished certain amendments to be inserted, but in the meantime it had been passed by the Colonial Legislature. The Earl of Kimberley therefore instructed the Governor of Malta to submit the observations made.by the Italian Minister to the Crown Advocate of the Island; and Lord Tenterden further stated that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the letter from the Colonial Office inclosing a copy of his Excellency's reply, forwarding the report of the Crown Advocate, together with copies of the Ordinance as it now stands, and the draft of a proposed amending Ordinance.
That the correspondence which had passed on this subject since the date of the Law Officers' report of the 16th April, and the previous papers, were transmitted therewith, and he was to request that we would take them into our consideration, together with the report of the Crown Advocate, and favour your Lordship with any remarks we might have to offer on the recommendations of that Report, and the general question on which it bears, especially with regard to extending the provisions of the Ordinance to political or military offences.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have the honour to
That-
Report
1. We have carefully considered the Report of the Crown Advocate, the Ordinance, and draft of a proposed amending Ordinance, together with the other papers transmitted to us.
2. With your Lordship's permission we propose to deal first with the general question which underlies the whole subject. Whether, in a place situated geographically as Malta is, it is expedient that Her Majesty's Government should insist upon the right of interfering with persons who may be brought as prisoners by a foreign merchant ship into Maltese waters,-Italian prisoners, for instance, on their way as transports to Pantellaria; French prisoners from Algiers to Toulon; or, for such a case is possible, an American on board an American merchant ship given up under an Extradition Treaty by France or Italy, or some other country, to the United States and on his way to America. 3. If it be said that the ship having such prisoners on board need not have come to Malta, and being there must take the law as it exists, the difficulty, as in the case of the "
Hélène," which gave rise to the present controversy, exists in more complicated form where the ship has come in not willingly but by stress of weather or other casualty.
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4. But your Lordship, without our taking up more of your time by enlarging on this matter, will at once see how many untoward discussions may arise between Her Majesty's Government and Foreign Governments if the right to visit foreign ships for the purpose of inquiring into the cases of prisoners on board those ships is exercised at Malta.
0 16278-880.
25.-5/86.
• No. 812.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
THC.O. 885
11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO