§ MR. HOWTARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, If the attention of the French Government has been again drawn to the injury inflicted upon the territories of the South Pacific by the wholesale deportation, under a loose system of discipline, of the most depraved criminals to New Caledonia; as also to the increasing irritation upon the subject among the Australasian peoples; and, what progress has been made in the negotiations with the Government of the Republic for the suspension of this system?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)The French Government formally offered some time ago to discontinue transportation of criminals to the Pacific if allowed to assume the sovereignty of the New Hebrides. The Australian Colonies having altogether refused to entertain this proposal, there are no negotiations at present on foot. But Her Majesty's Government have not ceased to urge upon the French Government the discontinuance of a system which has inflicted great evils on the Colonies.