§ 32. £201,235, to complete the sum for Diplomatic and Consular Services.
99§ 33. £213,to complete the sum for Slave Trade Services.
§ 34. £79,675 (including a Supplementary sum of £5,750), to complete the sum for Colonial Services, including South Africa.
§ DR. CLARKobserved that a new Supplementary Estimate of £35,000 for the new Protectorate in Nyassaland appeared on the Vote. He understood that the expenses were to be defrayed by the Chartered Company, which would pay all the cost of Mr. Johnston and his staff. He wished to know why this large sum had been sprung upon the Committee at the end of the Session.
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. S. BUXTON, Tower Hamlets, Poplar)asked the hon. Member to raise the question on Report, when the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir E. Grey) was present.
§ DR. CLARKsaid, there was a great increase in the Bechuanaland grant in aid. Was it temporary or permanent?
§ MR. S. BUXTONsaid, that last year the sum of £82,500 was granted, and there was a saving from previous years. This year, the savings having been expended, they had to take this larger sum. It had nothing to do with the expenditure incurred by the war.
§ MR. A. C. MORTON (Peterborough)asked when the Committee was to have the opportunity which had been promised for discussing the grant of £20,000 for the British Bechuaualand Railway? A distinct pledge was given earlier in the year that there would be an opportunity of discussing the Agreement before the grant was made.
§ MR. S. BUXTONWe had a discussion in regard to this matter last year, when the Papers were presented. It was then promised by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and also by myself that before the Agreement was signed by the Government the Papers should be laid on the Table in sufficient time for Members before Supply came on to consider them, and that, as far as possible, an opportunity should be given for discussion. It is true that this evening we are pressed for time, but I believe there will 100 be plenty of opportunities to discuss the question on Report to-morrow.
§ MR. A. C. MORTONsaid that, in his opinion, all the time to-morrow had been more than mortgaged, and his opinion was that the promise of the Government had not been kept. The Papers were not laid on the Table until the 9th of August, and since then there had been no opportunities of discussion. It ought to have been presented much earlier, or else postponed till next Session.
§ MR. S. BUXTONThe Agreement was only come to on the 1st or 2nd of August, and the very afternoon on which it was signed I laid the Agreement on the Table, and it was circulated next day to Members, so that there has really been no delay.
§ MR. A. C. MORTONsaid, he understood the Agreement was presented on the 9th of August.
§ MR. S. BUXTONThat was the Minute.
§ MR. BARTLEYobserved, that a most distinct pledge had been given by the Government that there should be an opportunity of discussing this matter, and the Government had failed to fulfil that promise. It was perfectly childish to say that there was now an opportunity for discussion, as it was 12 minutes to 12 o'clock, and there were some 20 more Votes to take. The distinct promise made by the Government, therefore, had absolutely not been fulfilled.
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTI think my hon. Friend has gone rather far in his complaint. It is not the fault of the Government that the House has had no opportunity of discussing the question. Gentlemen opposite are quite as much responsible for this as the Government. If there is no time to-morrow for taking a discussion on this question it can be easily taken on the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill.
§ MR. TOMLINSONremarked that it was the duty of the House to discuss on the Estimates all questions of public policy, and the Government, having taken the whole time of the House for an unusually long period of the Session, had failed to make any provision out of that time for the fair and reasonable discussion of the Estimates.
§ Vote agreed to.
101§ 35. £29,100, to complete the sum for Subsidies to Telegraph Companies, agreed to.
§ 36. £45,000 (Supplementary), to complete the sum for Uganda, agreed to.
§ 37. £35,000, to complete the sum for British Central Africa.
§ MR. TOMLINSONasked whether all these important subjects were to be discussed on Report to-morrow?
§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT (Sheffield, Ecclesall)asked whether it was intended to postpone the Report of the Foreign Office Supply until To-morrow, as he understood there was some opposition to its being taken to-night. If it was to be postponed he would not raise any question upon this Vote.
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTsaid, the present intention was to take the Report of the Foreign Office Votes to-night, but he would confer with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject.
§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTsaid, as the Report might not come on until the late hours of the morning he had better make the remarks he had to make now. The Anglo-Belgian Convention had been, by the action of the German and French Governments, practically abrogated. Very little of that Convention remained, and the important point on which he wished to ask for an assurance from the Under Secretary was this: by that Convention it was understood that the Congo State was to be pushed forward as a buffer between the Nile waterway and the advance of the French—
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir E. GREY,) Northumberland, Berwicksaid, this Vote referred only to British Central Africa, which was Nyassaland.
§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTsaid, he had asked the question, and had been informed that this Vote raised the question of the Congo region. As that question did not apparently arise, however, he would defer his remarks to the Report stage.
§ Vote agreed to.