§ MR. DILLWYNasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether it is true that the British Borneo Company has recently extended its authority for a distance of sixty miles on the West Coast of Borneo, whereby about 4,000 square miles of territory have been added to the possessions of the Company; and, if this statement be true, whether the Company obtained the previous consent of Her Majesty's Government to the annexation?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE(who replied) said: On the 15th of January last the Company notified to the Foreign Office that they had obtained from the Sultan of Brunei the cession of the Padas and Kalias district, subject to an annual rental. The Company are entitled, under Article 15 of their Charter, to make further acquisitions of territory to be held by them on the terms of the Charter; and there is no adverse claim to the district in question which would justify any objection to the cession on the part of Her Majesty's Government under Article 16 of the Charter.