§ MR. BAUMANN (Camberwell, Peckham)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether he can state the date of the charter handed to the Chief Usibepu, of Northern Zululand, by Lord (then Sir Garnet) Wolseley, and bearing the Seal of Great Britain, by virtue of which the said Chief Usibepu became a subject of Her Majesty, the date of the attack on Usibepu by the Boers and Usutus; and, whether the Government will give compensation to Mr. Grosvenor Darke, a British subject, who was robbed of all his property by the Boers and Usutus in the above-mentioned attack, and who has sent in particulars of his claims to the Foreign Office?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. OSBORNE MORGAN) (Denbighshire, E.)No such charter as is implied in the Question was ever handed to the Chief Usibepu by Lord Wolseley, nor has that Chief ever been a British subject. The hon. Member is probably referring to the conditions which were signed by Usibepu as one of the 13 Chiefs between whom Lord Wolseley distributed the Kingdom of Cetewayo. They were dated in 1879, and will be found at page 259 of the Parliamentary Paper, C. 2,482, printed for Parliament in February, 1880. The date of the attack on Usibepu by the Boers and Usutus was June 7, 1884. Mr. Darke's 1164 claim for compensation came, in July, 1884, before Lord Derby, who, after going fully into the merits, refused to entertain it. He has since renewed his application to Lord Granville, who, in view of the fact that at the date of the attack in question Usibepu was not a British subject, and that his territory was not under British protection, has declined to re-open the decision of his Predecessor.