§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury what is the present condition of the debt of £250,000, bearing interest at 3½ per cent., and repayable by means of a 25 years' annuity, due by the Government of the Transvaal to the Imperial Government; and whether these payments have been suspended, and for what reason?
THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACRSON,) Leeds,NI am much obliged to my hon. Friend for calling attention to this point. The payments in respect of the Transvaal debt of £250,000 have been regularly made. They have until within the last year been applied in discharge of a debt due to the Treasury Chest Fund of £61,073 15s. 3d., and now 1401 that that debt has been discharged the payments are made into the Exchequer, the first of such payments having been made in April last year. The note at page 136 of the Finance Accounts should, I think, have been fuller, and I propose that it shall be more explicit in future.