§ SIR C. W. DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs-whether he is aware that the revenue of the Oil Rivers Protectorate is chiefly derived from gin and from German rum; what course is adopted with regard to the balance on the annual accounts of the Protectorates which are under the Foreign Office, such as the Oil Rivers Protectorate and the Zanzibar Protectorate; and whether the Government will consider the desirability of providing that full accounts of revenue and expenditure, showing the system of audit and disposal of surplus, if any, shall be annually laid before Parliament?
§ SIR E. GREYThe Report from the Oil Rivers Protectorate laid in June of this year shows that the chief dutiable imports are rum, gin, and tobacco; but in order to form a just idea of the trade of the Protectorate the character and amount of free goods, mostly British, should be taken into consideration. Any surplus revenue must be employed for the purposes of meeting obligations imposed by the Protectorate, there being a stipulation to that effect in the Anglo German Agreement of June, 1885. The Commissioner in the Niger Coast Protectorate will be consulted as to whether complete Returns can be furnished as suggested. The Zanzibar revenue is in a different position. It is the Sultan's; and the British officers connected with the Revenue Department are employed and paid by His Highness. Financial reports are laid annually for the information of the House, but they are not subject to British audit.