§ MR. W. REDMOND (Fermanagh, N.)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether his attention has been called to the following, which appeared in the papers of yesterday:—
The London correspondent of The Manchester Guardian hears that the Foreign Office has decided not to open negotiations for the present with the Pekin Government for a settlement of the question of Chinese immigration into Australia. The Government will probably first check the emigration of Chinese to Australia from Hong Kong and Singapore, which are the centres of the trade, and then will induce the Australian Governments to pass a measure dealing with immigration in general, which will be free from the objection to the present laws that they discriminate against Chinese only;and, whether it is true, as above stated, that the Government have decided not to enter into negotiations with the Government of Pekin; and, if so, whether Her Majesty's Government will reconsider the matter, and endeavour to procure a Treaty from China, as suggested by the Colonial Conference, on the question of Chinese emigration to Australia?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)The newspapers are misinformed. Her Majesty's Government are at present in communication with the Government of China on the subject.