§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland if he will state whether Mr. Malcolm McNeill, Secretary to the Board of Supervision, is the same person who visited the Island of Lewis and canvassed crofters with the object of inducing them to emigrate to Saltcoats and Killarney, Canada; if so, whether Mr. McNeill received a commission from the Colonisation Board, the Kootenay Valley Railway Company, or other source, for engaging in this work; and whether his salary as Secretary to the Board of Supervision was paid him whilst thus employed; by whose permission he was allowed to engage in this work; and by whom were his travelling and maintenance expenses paid whilst so employed?
§ SIR G. TREVELYANMr. McNeill, the present Secretary to the Board of Supervision, was directed by Lord Lothian, as Secretary for Scotland, to receive applications from crofters in the Lews and elsewhere who were desirous of emigrating to Canada under the Government Colonisation Scheme; he was at that time Visiting and Inspecting Officer under the Board of Supervision, and he received remuneration from the Colonisation Board for the special and very laborious duty on which he was engaged, but from no other source. No inducements were used towards the crofters other than publication of the conditions of colonisation. Mr. McNeill's salary, travelling 295 expenses, and maintenance were paid as usual, and permission to engage in the duty was obtained from the Board of Supervision at the request of the Secretary for Scotland.