§ MR. BYRON REED (Bradford, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the Report of Mr. Walter T. Lyall, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Santos, in reference to the misfortunes of British emigrants to Brazil; whether, in his opinion, there is just ground for the conclusions at which Mr. Lyall has arrived, amongst which is the statement that—
The Brazilian Agents, though instructed to recruit agricultural labour only, and receiving a commission for each emigrant engaged, eventually registered any individual who said he was an agriculturist";and whether Her Majesty's Government is prepared to take, or to recommend, any steps for bringing to book the Agents who have been the means of causing misery, disaster, and death to the unfortunate British subjects who became their victims?
MR. J. W. LOWTHERMy attention has been called to the Report referred to. The conclusion to which Mr. Lyall comes is probably correct, but it is not easily susceptible of verification. The Brazilian Minister informed us on the 28th March last that the Brazilian Government had no agency in England at that date; and the so-called "Colonisation Office" has ceased to act as the Agent of the 1444 Brazilian Government, which on the 18th April, 1891, it professed to be. Many of those who emigrated from Bradford to Brazil were induced to do so through the agency of a man named Naylor, who, we are informed, has left the country. Even supposing that the parties responsible be found, it is difficult to say for what offence they should be prosecuted.