File 959/1914 Pt 2 'Abyssinia: Order in Council. Recovery of maintenance charges of prisoners convicted in Abyssinia and confined in Aden District Prison.' [‎471r] (867/878)

(a) Is the Government of India liable for the cost of maintenance
of all prisoners without distinction of race convict-d by
Eis Majesty’s Consular Courts in Abyssinia?
(b) If not, is the cost recoverable from the Gov eminent of that
part of the js^pire to which the prisoner belongs?
( c) In this event, is such cost to be recovered direct by His
Majesty’s Consulates in Abyssinia from the Government concerned,
or should it b® shown in the quarterly accounts to be
recovered eventually In London?
(d) In the case of a prisoner convicted by a Consular Court, and
serving his sentence in the Consular Prison at Addis Ababa
Is the oost of his maintenance recoverable from the Government
concerned*
5* My personal opinion Is that when a parson is convicted by a
Consul Court, th© cost of maintenance, regardless of race, should
in the case of imprisonment in Addis Ababa be born© by the Imperial
Government, and in th© case of imprisonment at Aden or elsewhere
be borne by the Government of India or Soiaaliland* If this be
not accepted, and the Government of India claim reimbursement for
prisoners other than British Indians detained at Aden, it would seem
only Just that the Government of India and Somaliland should be
responsible for the cost of Indian and Somali prisoners respectively
detained at Addis Ababa* Convictions by th© Abyssinian Mixed Court
on the other hand are on a totally different plane, imprisonment
either in the Consular prison or at Aden having merely the object of
saving the convict from the horrors of an Abyssinian prison, and it
Is therefor© perfectly just that the cost of maintenance should be
according to the race of the convict, though hare again I consider
that if the sentence Is served In the Consular prison the cost should
still be recoverable from th© Government concerned*
I have, etc*,
{Signed) 0* T* Maclean