MR. FERGUSON (Leith, &c.)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, By what authority was the Eastern Boundary of the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland of 1885 placed at the 30th degree of longitude in the map contained in Blue Book C. 5488, and when was that map prepared; and, is it the case that the Eastern Boundary of the British Protectorate, recently declared over the Native tribes south of the Zambesi, has been defined as represented in the map contained in Blue Book C. 5488?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)The Eastern Boundary of the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland was fixed by Her Majesty's Government in August, 1887, after consultation with Sir Hercules Robinson. The map, as the Blue Book quoted shows, was prepared and sent home by Sir Hercules Robinson in June, 1888. It was necessary to define the Bechuanaland Protectorate; and its boundaries do not affect the separate question of the sphere of British influence south of the Zambesi, which, in a Paper already laid before Parliament, and shortly about to be distributed, is declared to extend over—
The territories north of the South African Republic and the Bechuanaland Protectorate, south of the Zambesi, east of the 20th degree of East longitude, and west of the Portuguese Province of Sofala.