SUSTAINED CASE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 89, 14 March 1934, Page 7

SUSTAINED CASE.

A CONCLUSION REACHED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 12. The Lord Privy Seal (Mr R. A. Eden) stated in the House of Commons to-day that the claim" of the British officer of the Mercantile Marine, Mr Brewer, against the Portuguese Government had been satisfactorily settled by the award of £BOO. Mr Eden expressed the appreciation of the British Government of the attitude adopted by the Portuguese Government ill making this award and in arranging a re-trial of the case against Mr Brewer, as the result of which he was eventually acquitted by the Supreme Court at Lisbon.

Mr Brewer, a ship’s officer, was arrested at Benguela in 1927 on a charge of petty theft, and, after being m custody for 10 months awaiting trial, was sentenced to imprisonment and a fine. He strongly protested his innocence, and representations by the British Government resulted in a retrial at Benguela where Mr Brewer was found not guilty and awarded 200,000 angolares moral damages. The case was then reopened by the High Court of Loanda in Portuguese West Africa, which decided there must be a new trial. Mr Brewer successfully appealed against this decision, and was awarded 6000 angolares (about £SO) by the Supreme Court, instead of the 200,000 angolares previously awarded him. Further proceedings followed, culminating in the settlement mentioned above.