Sir Julian
Pauncefote to Mr. Olney.
British
Embassy,
Washington, December 30,
1896.
Sir: I have the honor, acting under
instructions from the Marquis of Salisbury, to transmit herewith a copy
of an ordinance which has been passed by the municipal council of Apia
with regard to the arrest and imprisonment of men-of-war’s men.
I inclose at the same time a copy of a dispatch which has been addressed
by Her Majesty’s consul at Apia to Lord Salisbury, forwarding the
ordinance in question and suggesting that under the peculiar
circumstances relating to Samoa it would avoid friction in future if the
[Page 553]
powers would instruct the
president of the municipal council in the sense of the consul’s request,
as set forth in Mr. Cusack-Smith’s dispatch, leaving the commander of
the man-of-war to punish all minor infractions of municipal regulations
as he saw fit.
The lords commissioners of the admiralty, to whom Mr. Cusack-Smith’s
dispatch was referred, have expressed their concurrence with the views
taken by the consuls with regard to the ordinance.
I have now the honor to request you to be good enough to favor me with an
expression of the opinion entertained by the United States Government
upon the subject, in order that I may inform Her Majesty’s Government in
compliance with the desire expressed by Lord Salisbury to that
effect.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
An ordinance to provide the manner in which
members of crews of ships of war offending against municipal
ordinances and regulations shall be dealt with.
Be it enacted by the municipal council of
Apia:
- 1.
- The short title of this ordinance shall he “the
men-of-war’s men offenders’ ordinance.”
- 2.
- Whenever a member of the crew of a ship of war shall
commit an offence on shore against any of the municipal
ordinances or regulations, accompanied by violent or
disorderly conduct, he shall be arrested by the municipal
police and delivered on shore into the custody of the
officers or seamen who shall have been appointed by the
commanding officer of that ship of war to receive persons so
offending, and if no such officers or seamen shall have been
so appointed, then he shall be delivered into the custody of
the consul of the nationality to which the ship of war shall
belong, and if there shall be no such consul, or if the
consul shall decline to receive such offender, then he shall
be delivered into the custody of the commanding officer on
board the ship of war.
- 3.
- Whenever a member of a crew of a ship of war shall commit
an offence on shore against any of the municipal ordinances
or regulations unaccompanied with violent or disorderly
conduct, or if it be suspected by a municipal police officer
that such person is about to commit such an offence, he
shall be warned by the municipal police to desist or refrain
from such action.
- If the offence shall have been actually committed the
police officer shall demand the name of the offender, and if
the person so offending shall refuse to give his name or
shall persist in continuing in the commission of the offence
after having been warned to desist therefrom, he shall be
arrested by the municipal police and dealt with in the
manner prescribed in section 2 of this ordinance.
- 4.
- The municipal police shall report every offence against
any municipal ordinance or regulation which shall have been
committed by any member of a crew of a ship of war to the
municipal magistrate, who shall forward to the commanding
officer of that ship of war a complaint in writing,
specifying the nature of the offence and the name of the
offender, if such shall have been ascertained; but if the
name of the offender shall not have been ascertained, then
the commanding officer of such ship of war shall be
requested by the municipal magistrate to permit a policeman
or other person to attend on board the ship to identify the
offender.
- 5.
- No clause, matter, or thing contained in this ordinance
shall be construed to mean any surrender of the jurisdiction
of the municipal court in case at any time hereafter this
ordinance shall be repealed by the municipal council, or to
affect the jurisdiction of the municipal court during the
continuance of this ordinance to impose punishment on
members of the crew of any ship of war in cases where the
disciplinary regulations governing the ship of war and their
crews do not admit of the punishment by the commanding
officer thereof of offences against municipal regulations
committed by members of the crew of such ship of war, or if
the commanding officer shall decline to take jurisdiction in
such matters.
- 6.
- The president of the municipal council shall, on the
arrival of a ship of war in the harbour of Apia, forward to
the commanding officer thereof a copy of this ordinance and
inquire if such commanding officer possesses the
jurisdiction specified in section 5 hereof and desires to
exercise the same, and shall notify the municipal magistrate
of the result of such inquiry.
- 7.
- This ordinance shall come into force and take effect from
the date of publication thereof.
[Page 554]
[Inclosure 2.]
Mr. Cusack-Smith to Lord Salisbury.
Apia, Samoa, September 24, 1896.
My Lord: I have the honor to inclose a copy
of an ordinance passed by the municipal council of Apia dealing with
the arrest and imprisonment of men-of-war sailors.
The consuls have deferred consideration of the ordinance in order
that they may communicate with their respective Governments.
The German consul informs me that in Germany a man-of-war sailor is
never tried by the regular courts of justice for breaches of
municipal regulations, but is tried by the naval authorities.
In only two cases, so far as I can recollect, have British men-of-war
sailors been arrested on shore by the municipal police during the
past seven years, and no friction occurred, the men being tried and
fined or acquitted by the municipal magistrate.
This ordinance has been passed owing to several cases in former years
of arrests on shore of German men-of-war’s men, which occasioned
considerable friction, but more particularly owing to a recent
instance in which the president of the municipal council and the
German consul obtained the release of the sailors from the custody
of the municipal police. It is asserted that the president and the
consul guaranteed that the men would be submitted for trial before
the municipal magistrate, but subsequently, as in all former cases,
the sailors were not submitted for trial, and the incident gave rise
to considerable correspondence and friction.
The consuls unanimously dislike the cumbersome provisions of this
ordinance, and in announcing to the municipal council that they
deferred consideration in order that they might refer to the treaty
powers, they made the following suggestion:
Meanwhile the consuls unanimously request that in the case of
an arrest of a man-of-war’s man, the president of the
municipal council will at once notify the commander of the
man-of-war concerned, and inform him that if he send the
necessary guard the prisoner will be handed over.
This request has been agreed to by the municipal council.
The consuls are unanimous in thinking that under all the peculiar
circumstances relating to Samoa, it would avoid friction in future
if the powers would instruct the President in the sense of the
consul’s request above written, leaving the commander of the
man-of-war to punish all minor infractions of municipal regulations
as he sees fit.
I presume that in serious criminal offenses committed on shore in
Samoa, a British man-of-war’s man would be subject to the
jurisdiction of Her Britannic Majesty’s high commissioners’ court,
and similarly German and American men-of-war’s men would be under
the criminal jurisdiction of their respective consulates.
I have, etc.,
