§ MR. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSENasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, When the next series of Governors' Reports, Colonial Possessions, will be issued; and, whether, considering the last printed Report on Jamaica is for 1876, the Reports could not be issued with greater promptitude, and kept nearer to current dates?
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHA further series of Reports on the Colonies is in type, and will, I believe, shortly be issued; but it will not contain any further Report on Jamaica. That has been delayed by various causes; the death of the Colonial Secretary, the assumption of office by a new Governor, and a pressure of arrears of other business have contributed to its postponement. I have requested that it may be sent as soon as possible, and am taking steps with a view to procuring from the Colonies, early in each year, a condensed Report and summary of the statistics up to the end of the preceding year.