§ MR. W. H. CROSS (Liverpool, West Derby)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to a statement made by the Chairman of the Royal Niger Company, Chartered and Limited, on 31st July, 1888, to the effect that "Annual Accounts are submitted to Her Majesty's Government showing the cost of administration" of the Company's territories; whether any separate accounts of the cost of such administration have ever been supplied to Her Majesty's Government; and whether he will lay such accounts before Parliament?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. J. W. LOWTHER,) Cumberland, PenrithThe statement made by the Chairman of the Royal Niger Company, Lord Aberdare, was correct at the time at which it was made—namely, nearly four years ago—the first annual accounts having been then presented. It would not be correct if repeated now. Those accounts were fully gone into and tested by an exhaustive local examination. It is not proposed to publish the accounts of this Company at present, but during the present year the accounts will be again submitted and will be thoroughly investigated.