HC Deb 07 July 1881 vol 263 cc253-4
BARON HENRY DE WORMS

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether his attention has been called to the following advertisement which appears in the "Times":— The Coupons of the Transvaal Amsterdam Loan will be paid under the usual conditions on the 1st July next, by Messrs. Insinger and Co. at their offices in Amsterdam. This payment falling due within the period during which the Commission charged with the settlement of affairs in the Transvaal is still sitting, Her Britannic Majesty's Government has supplied the necessary funds, but it hereby gives notice that by so doing it recognises no obligation to provide for any subsequent dividends, and in no way guarantees the payment of either principal or interest in the future; and, whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to repudiate the obligations entered into and cancel the guarantees already given with respect to the principal and interest of the Transvaal Amsterdam Loan on the strength of and in faith of which numbers of British subjects and others have invested their savings in that loan?

MR. GLADSTONE

This is a matter on which I have communicated with the Colonial Office, and what I understand to be the case is this. At no period has the British Government admitted any liability, or given any guarantee with respect to this loan. In order to guard the credit of the Transvaal Government, the Colonial Office have given instructions for the payment of the interest falling due within the period during which the Commission charged with the settlement of affairs in the Transvaal is sitting. Arrangements are now being made by the Royal Commission which will involve negotiations for the resumption by the new Transvaal Government of all obligations. Although arrangements have been made from time to time, it has always been with the distinct understanding, that there would be no liability on the part of the British Government.