§ MR. P. STANHOPE (Wednesbury)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, during the Parliamentary Recess, he will cause inquiries to be made, through Her Majesty's Representatives abroad, on the Continent of Europe, and in the United States of America, in order to lay upon the Table of the House a Return containing information under the following heads:—As to the recognition or otherwise in each State of the right of private ownership in minerals extracted from the soil; as to the scale of royalties paid to the State or private individuals in respect of the extraction of such minerals, and the general or special laws by which the payment of royalties or mine rents is regulated?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (SIR JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)The Secretary of State will cause to be made the inquiries desired by my hon. Friend. It will facilitate and lessen the undertaking if he will have the goodness to inform me at the Foreign Office from which countries particularly he desires to have the information. But I may remind him that information on this subject respecting France and Belgium is contained in a Blue Book lately laid before Parliament, No. 11, 1886 (Commercial), pp. 157 and 189.