§ SIR G. BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Crown Agents for the Colonies have sent in their Report on the proposal of an English Syndicate to provide improved steamer communication for the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands, and otherwise develop their resources; whether these Colonies have, through their Legislatures, expressed their anxiety to see such services established without further delay; and whether the Secretary of State has considered the said Report, and will authorise immediate action, seeing that the latest date rapidly approaches for ordering the steamers necessary for carrying on the traffic of the season 1894–5?
§ MR. S. BUXTONThe Crown Agents for the Colonies have submitted their Report on the proposal of the Syndicate. It has received the careful consideration of the Secretary of State, who has instructed the Crown Agents to embody in a contract, with as little delay as possible, the conditions on which it appears to him that concessions might be granted to the Syndicate. The Legislatures of the Leeward and Windward Islands, relying on the statements placed 1481 before them by the representatives of the Syndicate, have given their approval to provisional contracts for the services in question, but have expressly stipulated that these contracts shall be subject to ratification by the Secretary of State.