§ SIR WALTER BARTTELOT (Sussex, North-West)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been called to a statement in the Times of the 13th inst., with regard to Uganda, that the British East Africa Company have issued an order to abandon it; whether it is the intention of the Government to allow the Company to abandon a sphere which has been allotted to England; and whether no attempt is to be made to sustain Captain Lugard and his men in that position, in which, by all accounts, they have so nobly done their duty?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.I have endeavoured to obtain the information which the right hon. and gallant Gentleman desires, but I have not succeeded, and perhaps he will be good enough to defer his question until Thursday, when I hope to be able to reply fully.
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT (Derby)Will the right hon. Gentleman communicate to the House the information referred to yesterday in the House of Lords as a communication received from Captain Williams? I think it has not been stated here, nor indeed has the information been published in extenso. Is the right hon. Gentleman in a position to give us that information, and can he also state how it is that Captain Williams, who was appointed military coadjutor with Captain Lugard, 1052 appears to have left Uganda and to be on the south side of the Lake?
§ MR. BALFOURI shall be glad to answer any of these questions if the right hon. Gentleman will put them down for Thursday.
§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)May I express a hope that the Clerk will examine questions before they are printed on the Paper? The question of the hon. Baronet reads, "a sphere which has been allotted to England"; but, of course, for "England" we ought to read "Great Britain."