§ MR. BAUMANN (Camberwell, Peckham)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies what jurisdiction Her Majesty has in the Bechuanaland Protectorate; by what right, or under what Instrument, the Administrator of Bechuanaland can compel chiefs in the Protectorate to consent to the construction of a telegraph line across their territories against their will; and whether the British South Africa Company, in taking over the work of constructing a telegraph through the Protectorate from the Government, is bound to carry it out under the conditions imposed by the Charter?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSHer Majesty has an inherent jurisdiction over British subjects, and has the usual authority 1097 possessed by a European Sovereign who assumes the duty of protecting native African chiefs against violence. Further details as to Her Majesty's powers, especially over whites, will be found in a series of Instruments executed by the chiefs at the time Sir Charles Warren visited them in 1885. These Instruments are printed at pages 45 to 48 of the Blue Book C 4,588 of 1885. The right to make the telegraph is not based on any Instrument, but on the natural right of the protecting Power to do all things essential to the safety of the protected area. The Company is, no doubt, bound to respect the provisions of the Charter in all that it does; but it is not perceived how the Company in laying a telegraph-wire can infringe any provision of the Charter.