§ MR. HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, If the French Ambassador has been given clearly to understand that Her Majesty's Government cannot upon any consideration entertain His Excellency's proposals for the further acquisition by France of the New Hebrides Islands on the Australian Coast, and the consequent abandonment of the valuable work of civilisation among its independent native population of the British Presbyterian Church?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. OSBORNE MORGAN) (Denbighshire, E.)There appears to be some misunderstanding on this question both here and in the Colonies. The facts are simply these. The French Government some time ago laid certain proposals before Her Majesty's Government, embodying a declaration on their part that they would not send any convicts to the Pacific, and a consent on our part to the French Government occupying the New Hebrides. Her Majesty's Government were of opinion that this proposal, which would put an end to the question of sending any convicts to the Pacific, was worth full consideration; but that in no case could it be entertained, excepting under three conditions—(1) that it provided full protection and freedom for religion and for trade in the New Hebrides; (2) that it was accompanied by the cession of the Island of Rapa; and (3) that the opinion of the Australasian Colonies, to which Her Majesty's Government attached the greatest importance, should first be ascertained. The Earl of Rosebery informed the French Ambassador that it 1043 was necessary to consult the Australasian Colonies, and that, therefore, no answer could be given till the end of April; but he did not disguise from the French Ambassador that, in his opinion, it was, to say the least, improbable that the Colonies would assent to the French proposals. The telegraphic answers from the Colonies are unfavourable, excepting those from New South Wales and New Zealand, of which the Governments were disposed to entertain the plan. M. Waddington has been privately informed by the Earl of Rosebery of the nature of these answers, and of the probable result; but no formal reply has been given, as the correspondence with the Colonies is not yet complete.