§ MR. KNOX (Cavan, W.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in the year 1889, an intimation was given by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Johore Government that the Sultan should, if possible, arrange with the Singapore Government for the construction of a railway in the territory of Johore; and whether any railway concession was negotiated by the Crown Agents for the Colonies, acting under the direction of the Secretary of State, in substitution for a concession granted by the Sultan in April, 1888, to certain British subjects?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Baron H. de WORMS,) Liverpool, East ToxtethThe Sultan of Johore is an independent Ruler. The Secretary of State suggested that His Highness should, if he thought fit, confer with the Government of the Straits Settlements as to the line to be adopted for any railway constructed in his territory with a view to such line agreeing with the general system of railway communication established or contemplated in other States of the Malay Peninsula. The Crown Agents acted by the leave of, but not under instructions from, the Secretary of State in the conduct of the negotiations as to which they received instructions direct from the Sultan.