HC Deb 03 June 1892 vol 5 cc542-3
COLONEL NOLAN (Galway, N.)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is Captain Lugard, now reported to be in Uganda, a commissioned officer; is he under the orders of the Foreign Office, the War Department, or any other Government Department, or is he exclusively under the instructions of the East Africa Company; do his instructions from any Government Department permit him to levy offensive war, or do they confine him to purely defensive operations; and has he received any special instructions from the Foreign Office, or from any Government Department, as to his conduct towards the Catholic tribes or towards any Catholic missionaries who may be in Uganda?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. J. W. LOWTHER,) Cumberland, Penrith

Captain Lugard, D.S.O., is a Captain in the Norfolk Regiment, from which he is absent on leave granted by the Commander-in-Chief. He is exclusively under the instructions of the British East Africa Company, and has received no special instructions as to his conduct from any Government Department.

COLONEL NOLAN

I now wish to ask whether Captain Lugard and Captain Williams held regular commissions from the East Africa Company; and, if so, whether the Company have power to grant military commissions?

MR. J. W. LOWTHER

This question may arise out of the answer I previously gave to the hon. and gallant Member; but I think he will see that it is a question upon which we should have to refer for information to the British East Africa Company. It would be impossible to answer the question until it appears in proper course upon the paper.

COLONEL NOLAN

Has the Company power to grant commissions?

MR. LOWTHER

That again, I take it, is a matter of the construction of the Charter of the Company, and would require some consideration. I should not like to answer it offhand.