§ MR. BUCHANAN (Edinburgh, W.)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it was true that Mr. D. J. Rankin, a British subject, has discovered a good navigable channel, called the Chindé, in the delta of the Zambesi; whether the Portuguese were going to establish a custom house there; and, whether Her Majesty's Government would take immediate steps to insist on the opening of the navigation of that river to the flags of all nations by International agreement or otherwise?
*SIR, J. FERGUSSONMr. Rankin has reported the existence of a good navigable channel through the Chindé mouth of the Zambesi river, and further inquiries are being made about it. Nothing is known as to the intentions of the Portuguese Government in regard to it. If the discovery should prove to be of real value, it will have an important bearing on the question of access to the upper waters and to the lakes. Her Majesty's Government adhere to their previous declarations of their claim of right to navigate the river.