§ MR. M'COANasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether the person named Aylward, said to be the chief military adviser of Commandant Joubert, the leader of the Boers, is the person known as Commandant Alfred Aylward, who, in November, 1876, succeeded Captain von Schlieckman in the command of the Lydenburg Volunteer Corps, the first body of troops ever organised by the Transvaal Republic; and, whether, as a necessary qualification for such command, he became then a citizen of the Republic; and, 546 whether he was not at one time a correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph?"
MR. GRANT DUFFSir, to the first part of the Question I have to reply that I presume that the hon. Member's conjecture is correct. To the second part I have to reply that I have no information whatever upon the point. No light seems to be thrown upon it by the book which purports to have been written by the person to whom the Question alludes. Neither am I able to reply to the third part of the Question of the hon. Member.
§ MR. MACDONALDPerhaps the right hon. Gentleman can state whether at one time he was a Government spy in Dublin Castle?