§ MR. ARTHUR PEASEasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, What is the nature and scope of the inquiry into the affairs of the Western Pacific, which is about to be undertaken by Sir Arthur Gordon, Bear Admiral Sir A. Hoskins, and Bear Admiral Wilson; when and where the Commission will hold its sittings, and what will be its mode of procedure?
§ MR. EVELYN ASHLEYSir, it is not a Commission, but a Departmental Committee, which is about to meet. They at present meet in Sir Anthony Hoskins's office. The large experience of affairs in the Western Pacific pos- 692 sessed by its Members renders it unnecessary that any detailed instructions should be conveyed to them; but the nature and scope of the inquiry can best be gathered from the words of a letter addressed by the Secretary of State to Sir Arthur Gordon on the 1st of March, in which the Committee are requested to institute—
A thorough inquiry into the practical working of the Western Pacific Orders in Council, and the nature of the measures requisite to secure the attainment of the objects for which those Orders in Council were issued, and to effect the suppression of evils which still exist in connection with the labour traffic.