§ SIR G. CAMPBELLI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Commissioners just appointed for West Africa, East Africa, and Northern Zambesia are to be Royal Commissioners, independent of the Niger, East Africa, and African Lakes Companies, and exercising some jurisdiction and supervision on behalf of Her Majesty, as distinguished from the jurisdiction vested in the companies?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONThey are Commissioners appointed by the Crown; they are independent officers who will receive instructions from, and report to the Secretary of State. The Commissioners on the West Coast will have a district distinct from that administered by the Niger Company. As regards those on the East Coast, their position is fairly described in the question. Care will be taken that their jurisdiction will not conflict with that of the Chartered Companies. As regards the districts north of the Zambesi, administrative and judicial jurisdiction is for the present vested in the Commissioner.