§ MR. M'ARTHUR (Leicester)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government have received from their consular representative in Madagascar any official account of the recent negotiations between the French and the Malagassy authorities; and, whether they have received from the French Government any special communication as to the nature of the authority which France now claims to exercise in Madagascar; and, if so, will he lay these Documents upon the Table?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.)The Consular officers at Antananarivo and Tamatave have reported the conclusion of the Treaty; but having taken no part in the negotiations they have forwarded no account of them. The French Government has confined itself to notifying verbally through the French Ambassador here the ratification and publication of the Treaty, and to stating that its conditions would henceforth govern the relations of the Hovas with foreign countries.