§ MR. HANBURYI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is the amount of the annual sum being contributed by the British South Africa Company as subsidy to the 649 Imperial Government of Nyassaland, and what proportion of the Government expenses does it represent; and what are the special circumstances which call for the contribution by a Company to the expenses of a territory administered by an Imperial Commissioner?
§ SIR E. GREYUnder the conditions of the extension of the Charter to the north of the Zambesi, the Company is bound to maintain a police force, expending for the purpose through the Imperial Commissioner not less than £10,000 a year. The Commissioner has power to employ the police at his discretion within the Protectorate or outside it in the Company's field of operations. The expenses borne directly by Government are the salaries of the Commissioner and of a Vice Consul, and the expenditure connected with the gunboats placed on the lake.
§ MR. HANBURYThat is not the question I asked. I want to know what the Company have contributed?
§ SIR E. GREYThey have contributed at the rate of £10,000 a year, with the exception of a period of three months, when their contribution was at the rate of £17,500 a year.
§ MR. HANBURYI have a letter here from one of the Directors in which he states that from the 1st of April to the 20th of September—the date of the letter itself—they have been contributing at the rate of £17,500 a year.
§ SIR E. GREYThat was the exception; they have reverted to the £10,000 rate now.