§ MR. W. H. JAMES (Gateshead)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether his attention has been called to a statement published in The Scotsman of 3rd April, to the effect that in the country between Matadi and Stanley Pool officers of the Free State of the Congo have burned the villages of the Natives, shot the men, and maltreated and massacred their wives and daughters, so that a strip of more than 200 miles by 90 is now destitute of inhabitants; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will make inquiry as to the truth of this statement?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)The Administration of the Congo Free State at Brussels has, in reply to inquiry made by Her Majesty's Minister, formally and indignantly denied the truth of the statement; asserting that in the few instances in which it has been found necessary to punish Natives at the instance of traders in the region referred to, for hostile acts to caravans or theft, the greatest moderation has been shown, and bloodshed has generally been avoided. It is said that the district is so far from being depopulated that there are at present between Matadi and Stanley Pool 15 markets, frequented on an average by between 400 and 500 traders.