§ MR. BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether the inhabitants of the Island of Tristan d'Acunha are at present in grave distress, owing to the cessation of visits from passing sailing vessels and whalers, and from other causes; whether H.M.S. Thalia, leaving England next month, is ordered to call there and land stores and other necessaries for their temporary relief; whether the inhabitants have petitioned to be removed to some other part of the Empire, where they will be enabled to obtain a livelihood; whether any estimate has been made as to the cost of the removal of the inhabitants, together with their live stock, which constitutes their chief property; and, whether Her Majesty's Government, by agreement with any Colonial Government or otherwise, can arrange for such necessary removal, and can utilise the visit of H.M.S. Thalia for making such preliminary arrangements as may be desirable?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. OSBORNE MORGAN) (Denbighshire, E.)I am afraid it is true, though we have no actual information on the subject, that the inhabitants of the Island of Tristan d'Aeunha—where, owing to the loss of a whale-boat with 15 hands on board, there are scarcely any able-bodied men left—are suffering grave distress. Her Majesty's ship Thalia has orders to call there, and she carries stores and provisions for the temporary relief of the islanders. It was, in fact, partly with this object that 27 she was commissioned. I may add that the Treasury have given £100 to be spent in supplies, and that Mr. Dodgson, the Vicar of Tristan d'Acunha, is going out in the Thalia to distribute them, the Admiralty having given him a free passage, and the Treasury having agreed to pay his messing expenses. The inhabitants have not petitioned to be removed; indeed, it is believed that the leading man among them is averse to such a step; but emigrants from the Island now in the Cape Colony have petitioned that assistance may be sent there, and Mr. Dodgson has several times asked that his parishioners might be transferred to a more accessible place. The inhabitants themselves could be removed to the Cape, the nearest British Colony, in a man-of-war, for less than £50, but no estimate has been made of the cost of moving their live stock. Unfortunately, the Government of the Cape report that the prospect of these poor people obtaining a livelihood in that Colony is hopeless. Under these circumstances, the captain of the Thalia has been instructed to ascertain and report what the inhabitants need and desire, and what had best be done for them.