§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL (Kirkcaldy, &c)asked the Under Secretary of State for Forign Affairs, If the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been called to the prospectus of the "Central Borneo Company (Limited)," the promoters of which propose to take over and obtain concessions from the Sultan, the Pangerans, and others, and to manage or control them, and farther propose to obtain from the Crown a Charter enabling them to take and hold concessions in the Island of Borneo, and in any of the Islands of the Asiatic Archipelago, New Guinea, the Malay Peninsula, Siam, or Burmah; whether any encouragement has been given by the Government to the promoters, or any 8 hope of a Charter has been held out to them; who is the first promoter, "the Honourable William Hood Treacher;" whether he is styled "honourable" in virtue of any official post; and, if so, whether he has asked, and obtained, permission to embark in this speculation; in case the Government has considered proposals for a Charter to this Company, what provision has been made for controlling them in foreign territories; and whether such a Charter would enable them to develop into a territorial Company, like the North Borneo Company, whose title they homologate?
§ THE UNDER SECRETAEY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)Her Majesty's Government know nothing of the proposed Company, and have not been applied to for a Charter. Mr. Treacher has the local title of Honourable in Labuan, where he was formerly a Member of the Legislative Council, and subsequently the chief officer of the North Borneo Company.