§ MR. YOUNG (Christchurch)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the statement in the Gold Fields News of last October, that a party of Englishmen were arrested in Zambaan's territory by a Transvaal Sheriff and were turned out of the country, has been brought to the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government; whether any Dutchmen, on behalf of the Transvaal, demand taxes within the territories of Zambaan and M'Bigesa; and whether Her Majesty's Government are taking any steps to prevent concessions being granted to the subjects of the Transvaal similar to those which were acquired by them in Swaziland?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Baron H. DE WORMS,) Liverpool, East ToxtethThe statement in the Gold Fields News, which the Secretary of State has not seen, no doubt refers to a case which occurred in September last, when a party of white men were arrested by a Transvaal official while on their way to Zambaan's kraal. It is not stated that the men were British subjects, and it is doubtful whether the spot where the arrest took place was, or was not, within the Transvaal boundary. The Transvaal official maintained that it was. The Secretary of State is not aware that taxes are being demanded in the territories of Zambaan and M'Bigesa by a Dutchman on behalf of the Transvaal Government. Her Majesty's Government cannot prevent the grant of concessions by independent chiefs, but they must reserve the question whether they would lie under an obligation to recognise such concessions hereafter under altered circumstances.