§ MR. W. F. LAWRENCE (Liverpool, Abercromby)The following Motion in my name stands first on the Paper for to-day:—
That, in the opinion of this House, it would be unjust to the British mining community located in Swaziland, in reliance on the Convention of 1884, to surrender that country to the jurisdiction of the Transvaal Government,?whose fiscal system and franchise are opposed to British mining enterprise, and, if the independence of the Swazi Nation cannot any longer be maintained, the credit of this country will suffer loss in the estimation of the natives by the creation of a Protectorate over them than it will by surrendering them to the Transvaal:And that, in the present condition of the other South African States, it is undesirable to 1148 promote the aggrandisement of the Transvaal State by giving it a seaboard.After what has fallen from the First Lord of the Treasury as to the undesirability of debating the question at this moment, I will postpone my Motion. I hope that, having regard to the importance of the question, the Government will take an early opportunity to give a day for its discussion, or will so arrange the Estimates that the matter may be early discussed.