§ MR. E. ROBERTSON (Dundee)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has seen the statement in the Times of Monday, that in April, 1890 the five unofficial members of the Legislative Council of British Honduras resigned their offices as members of the Council owing to a resolution being carried in the Council by the casting vote of the then Governor, for the payment of upwards of £4,000 out of the Colonies Revenues to a Mr. Hunter; and whether these moneys were paid pursuant to an award made at an arbitration which took place privately in London, and at which the Colony was not represented either by witnesses or counsel; whether the opportunity of inspecting the evidence taken before the arbitrators, and the documents in relation to the arbitration offered in this House nearly 12 months ago, will be extended to the ex-members of the Legislative Council now in this country, or to their legal representative; whether he is aware that the Administrator of the colony, finding it impossible to induce men of respectability to accept seats in the Legislative Council as unofficial members acting under the instructions of the Secretary of State, appointed the colonial surgeon, the colonial engineer, and two District Magistrates to act as unofficial members; whether, in nominating salaried officials to be unofficial members of the Legislative Council, the Administrator has acted constitutionally; whether he is aware that increased impost duties, imposed by the Council so constituted, have been declared by the Supreme Court of the Colony illegal and unen-forcible; whether Her Majesty's Government intend to make any concession to the demands of the colonists for a return to Government by a popularly elected assembly, which obtained in 921 British Honduras for 200 years prior to 1870, when it became a Crown Colony, or a fuller measure of representation on the Legislative Council; and what instructions, if any, were given to the new Governor for dealing with the state of affairs at present existing in the Colony?
§ *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Baron H. de WORMS, Liverpool, East Toxteth)The statements in the first question are substantially correct; but with reference to one part of it I may state that Mr. Harris, of the Colonial Department, who was thoroughly acquainted with the case, was instructed by the Secretary of State to appear, and did appear, on behalf of the Colonial Government, and that the arbitrators did not think it necessary to hear witnesses. The award of the arbitrators cannot be re-opened, and the Secretary of State cannot undertake to submit the proceedings to persons not connected with the Government or Legislature. Questions 3, 4, and 5 were answered in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for the Oswestry Division yesterday. Her Majesty's Government are not able to entertain the suggestion that the Constitution, repealed for strong reasons in 1870, should now be revived, or that the present Constitution should be otherwise materially altered; but they are willing to consider whether in certain cases the unofficial members may not have an increased power of giving effect to their views, and the new Governor has been instructed accordingly.