§ MR. BRYCE (Aberdeen, S.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is the fact, as has been stated in the public prints, that Her Majesty's Government have agreed to retire from the position which this country has hitherto occupied as one of the three protecting Powers in Samoa, and to occupy the position of an umpire only in case of differences between Germany and the United States; and, when the Papers relating to the recent Conference at Berlin on Samoan affairs are to be presented to Parliament?
§ * SIR J. FERGUSSONAs I have: already stated, the proposed Agreement respecting Samoa cannot be ratified by-the United States until it has been submitted to the Senate, which will not meet till December. Until then it would: not be proper to make public any part of the proceedings of the Conference. It follows that I cannot undertake to deny assumptions in regard to it; but I will say that the statement in question has no foundation in fact.