§ SIR C. W. DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what has been the result of the inquiries made by the Foreign Office of the Niger Company as to the publication of an annual Report showing especially the amount of Trade done under the Company's monopoly in spirit licences, in liquor, in arms, and in gunpowder; and whether it is the case that the Company's import trade in cheap liquor alone is estimated as having reached in 1893 an amount of between 300,000 and 400,000 gallons?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir E. GREY,) Northumberland, BerwickIn answer to the first question, the Company is unable to give any Return under its alleged monopoly, the current year being the first since the associated merchants of Liverpool, who had entered the territories soon after the issue of the Charter, amalgamated with the Company. The proportions of the total trade in the territories have averaged as follows during the seven years since the issue of the Charter—namely: 1887 to 1893 inclusive—spirits, 12 per cent. of the whole trade; flint guns and powder, 7 per cent. of the whole trade; cotton and silk goods, hardware, earthenware, and other goods, 81 per cent. of the whole trade. So that less than one-fifth of the trade has been done in spirits, flint guns, and powder. In answer to the second ques- 1340 tion, the aggregate of the trade liquors imported into the Company's territories in 1893 amounted to 318,831 gallons; but as no spirits have been imported during the current year, the Company do not anticipate that the average importation will at any time rise beyond that for the seven years since the issue of the Charter—namely, 163,023 gallons; that is to say, about one-fourth of the annual importation prior to the Charter.