§ MR. BUCHANANI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the two river gunboats for the Zambesi and Shiré are still at Zanzibar; and whether they will soon be sent on to their destination, that 98 free communication may be maintained and protection given to the transit of mails, goods, and travellers, between the coast and the British settlements in the Shiré Highlands and Nyassaland?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONThe gunboats are still at Zanzibar. It has not been decided when they will be forwarded, but the question of freedom of communication in the Zambesi is receiving the attention which its importance deserves.