DR. CAMERONasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether any information has been received from the British Resident in the Trans 1004 vaal as to the truth of a report referred to in a letter, dated 1st August 1883, from the Assistant Colonial Secretary of Natal to Mr. Donald Macqueen, of Glasgow, that his son, Mr. James Macqueen, had been "commandeered" by the Boers while on his way from the gold-fields to Kimberley?
§ MR. EVELYN ASHLEY, in reply, said, the Notice of his hon. Friend's Question was the first intimation the Colonial Office had heard of this matter. They had written to the Transvaal to inquire into it. At the same time, it was singular, if the story were true, that no communication had come from the young man himself.