§ MR. DIXONasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Government of the Fiji Islands has been acknowledged by Her Majesty's Government, and if not, whether he can state to the House the reason why the acknowledgment has been delayed?
§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDIt is presumed that the hon. Member refers to a Council of British subjects which has been formed under the authority of one of the Native chiefs in the Fiji Islands. The Governors of New South Wales and of some other Australian colonies, and the Naval authorities on the station, have been instructed to deal with this newly-constituted Government so long as it exercises actual authority as a de facto Government so far as concerns the districts 290 which may acknowledge its rule; but Her Majesty's Government are not prepared to give any opinion as to the propriety of formally recognizing it without much fuller information as to its character and prospects.