§ MR. W. A. M'ARTHUR (Cornwall, Mid, St. Austell)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether any agreement was arrived at with Germany in regard to Samoa prior to the assembling of the Washington Conference; and, if so, what was the date of the agreement; whether the United States Government has agreed that Germany should act as the mandatory Power in Samoa; whether Germany was acting within her right in landing a force of armed men at Apia, in forcibly deporting to the Cameroons a King in Treaty relations with us, and in abolishing by declaration of their Consul the joint Consular jurisdiction over the district of Apia previously exercised by England, Germany, and the United States; and, whether there exists any correspondence on this matter with either Germany, the United States, or any of the Australian Colonies; and, if so, when it will be presented to the House?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)As I have already stated, the views of Her Majesty's Government were founded on the Reports of their High Commissioner in the Pacific, and were in accordance with the proposals made by Germany to the Conference at Washington. There was no "agreement" between Her Majesty's Government and that of Germany; but certainly an interchange of views and, as I have said, a concurrence of opinion as to the basis of an arrangement for the future government of Samoa. No 553 conclusion has been arrived at upon that proposal. The landing a German force at Apia was consequent upon a declaration of war. The termination of the joint Consular jurisdiction at Apia was the consequence of the withdrawal of Germany from the Convention of 1879, upon which the separate jurisdiction of the Consuls revived. Her Majesty's Government do not think the maintenance of that Convention desirable. No doubt, there is Correspondence on these matters; but I am unable to say, at such short Notice, whether there is any that can at present be conveniently laid upon the Table.