With martial law in force, it followed that offences arising out of the Rebellion were, for the most part, dealt with under such law. Many of the Magistrates were granted authority by the Commandant to try these offences, but this was revoked by the Governor on the 17th September. Graver crimes were reserved for properly-constituted courts-martial. These courts were convened at such places as Nkandhla (Empandhleni), Mapumulo, Greytown, Dundee and Pietermaritzburg, and were presided over by the following, among other, officers: Lieutenant-Colonels J. Weighton, V.D., J.S. Wylie, H.H.C. Puntan, H.R. Bousfield, C.M.G. The sittings began at Empandhleni on the 25th June with the trial of Sigananda,[299] and lasted till the end of September. To afford the accused every facility in procuring witnesses, to obviate putting European and Native witnesses to more inconvenience than necessary, and to impress those most specially concerned with the enormity of the offences that had been committed, it was arranged to try offenders, as far as possible, in the districts within which the treason or sedition had been committed. Among the most important trials were those of Sigananda, Ndabaningi, Meseni, Ndhlovu,[300] Tilonko, Sikukuku, and some forty of those implicated in the attack on the Police at Mpanza (tried in two lots). In some of these, and in other, cases, the death sentence was passed, but, on the advice of Ministers, the Governor, in every instance, commuted it to one of imprisonment. The three Natives, including Mjongo, who were concerned in the murder of Hunt and Armstrong--too unwell to be tried by court-martial at Richmond in March--were tried in September, not by court-martial, but by the Supreme Court. The evidence adduced was similar to that given at the court-martial. The prisoners were defended by counsel other than those who appeared before the latter court. The three were convicted, the jury being unanimous in respect to two, and 7 to 2 as to the third. The sentence of death by hanging was subsequently carried out. This conviction by an ordinary tribunal only goes to confirm the Governor's contention in respect of the first trial, namely, that it was in every way fair and just. Kula, the Chief who was removed from Umsinga in May, was not tried for the reason that no crime of a sufficiently definite nature was found to have been committed by him. As, however, his conduct as a Government officer had, for some time past, as well as during the Rebellion, been unsatisfactory, it was considered undesirable for him to resume control of his tribe. He was accordingly required to reside for a time a few miles from Pietermaritzburg, so as to be under the immediate eye of the Government.[301]