§ MR. ALEXANDER M'ARTHUR (Leicester)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether Her Majesty's Government has received a Petition from King Umbandine asking that Swaziland may be placed under British protection, in accordance with promises said to have been made to him by Sir Evelyn Wood at the time of his rendering assistance to the British forces during the Secocæni War; whether in view of the persistent and 1803 increasing efforts made by agents of the South African Republic to establish complete control over the affairs of Swaziland, the Government is now prepared to oppose this violation of the Convention of 1884, which has hitherto been alleged as a reason for refusing any protection to Umbandine and his people against Boer aggressions; and whether Her Majesty's Government acquiesce in the project of the Transvaal Government for obtaining possession both of Swaziland and of Amatongaland, in order to obtain a frontage on the Indian Ocean, and thus entirely to cut off all land communication between Natal and the districts in South-Eastern Africa north of Zululand?
§ *BARON H. DE WORMSHer Majesty's Government have not received a petition praying that Swaziland may be placed under British protection; but the whole subject of Swaziland is at present engaging their most serious attention.