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A.—2

Appendix XXII. —Instructions for regulating the Application of the Naval Discipline Act to the Officers and Men of the Royal Navy and of the Dominion Navies in relation to each other. (See Article 26, Clause 2.) Note. —These provisions at present apply only in the cases in which officers and men of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy are concerned, as the necessary arrangements for carrying out the agreement mentioned below have only been completed with the Australian Government. An agreement having been arrived at in 1911 between the Admiralty and the Naval Departments Australia and Canada that "When a court-martial has to be ordered by a Dominion and a sufficient number of officers are not available in the Dominion service at the time, the British Admiralty, if requested, will make the necessary arrangements to enable a Court to be formed. Provision will be made by Order of His Majesty in Council and by the Dominion Governments respectively to define the conditions under which officers of the different services are to sit on joint courts-martial " : and further that " The dominions having applied to their naval forces the King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions and the Naval Discipline Act, the British Admiralty and Dominion Governments will communicate to each other any changes which they propose to make in those regulations or that Act " —the following instructions have been drawn up for the guidance of Commanders-in-Chief and Officers Commanding H.M. Ships: — Where a court-martial is ordered to take place when Dominion vessels are present, by virtue of the Act 1 and 2 Geo. 5, cap. 47, entitled the Naval Discipline (Dominion Naval Forces) Act, 1911, their officers are eligible and bound to sit according to their seniority on the court-martial whether the accused belongs to the Royal Navy or to a Dominion Naval Force. I. Where Accused Persons belonging to the Royal Navy are concerned. The usual procedure is to be followed except that it may be that one or more officers on the court will, belong to the Dominion Force. Commanders-in-Chief are therefore to consider this possibility in selecting the President of any Court, but are not to take steps in ordinary cases which would have the effect of excluding officers of the Dominion Force who may be " present at the place where the court-martial is held." The Commander-in-Chief or Officer in Command of the Dominion Force will be provided by the Admiralty with a warrant authorizing him to order courts-martial when necessary on officers and men of the Royal Navy, and he will accordingly follow the usual procedure (as indicated above). 11. Where Offenders belonging to the Dominion Naval Forces are concerned. (A.) Courts-martial. 1. Where vessels of the Dominion Force are attached to a fleet or squadron of the Royal Navy or are temporarily under the orders of an officer of the Royal Navy or are in company with any of H.M. ships— (a.) No court-martial should be ordered unless the officer ordering it is either in possession of a warrant issued by the proper authority of the Dominion in whose service the accused is, or is expressly authorized by the legislation of the Dominion to order courts-martial. The warrant to the President should state that it is issued in exercise of the power so conferred. (&.) It is desirable but not essential that one officer at least belonging to the same force as the offender should sit as a member of the court-martial. When possible the President should be selected from that force. (c.) At the conclusion of the court-martial the minutes should be sent by the convening authority to the Minister of the Dominion and a copy forwarded to the Admiralty for information. (d.) Where detention or any greater punishment is awarded by the court-martial the offender is to be dealt with in all respects as if he belonged to the Royal Navy, except that if, as is generally desirable, it is intended that he should serve his sentence in the Dominion, arrangements should be made for the issue of a warrant for his detention or imprisonment by the proper authority on his arrival in the Dominion to which he belongs. If dismissed from the service he is entitled to a free passage to a port of the Dominion to which he belongs. (c.) In the case of offenders' sentenced to be dismissed from H.M. service with or without disgrace the offender is to be sent by the first Government opportunity to the Dominion to which he belongs. 2. Where officers and men of the Dominion Naval Force are borne on one of the ships of the Royal Navy— (a.) Offenders belonging to the Dominion Forces borne on the books of a ship of the Royal Navy are subject to the Naval Discipline and King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions in the ordinary way; but the instructions contained in 1 (b) and (c) should be followed in their cases. (b.) The convening authority should issue the warrant for imprisonment, in respect of which the routine 'usual in the case of offenders belonging to the Royal Navy should be followed. (c.) In the case of an offender sentenced to dismissal from H.M. service either at once or at the expiration of a term of imprisonment he is entitled to a free passage to a port of the Dominion to which he belongs.